Ellie Kurttz News

After running at the RSC's Swan Theatre last year, Erica Whyman's quietly captivating production of Mark Ravenhill's play Ben and Imo now makes its way south to the Orange Tree Theatre.

A Thousand Splendid Suns comes to Birmingham Rep from Fri 11 Apr – Sat 3 May 2025, based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini, adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma, and directed by Roxana Silbert. See photos from the production.

It finally feels like the world is waking up to the epidemic of violence perpetrated by men towards women and girls, but John Donnelly’s new play has come up with a new way of countering this: vampirism! Clearly this is a supernatural ‘what if?’, but it raises some interesting questions and lays bare some unpleasant truths - in society at large, and even in the audience.

It is said that we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. In April De Angelis's Playhouse Creatures, she celebrates five women who were clever innovators and brave pioneers of the stage at a time when female actors were openly objectified, judged and derided.

You can now get a first look at production images for Playhouse Creatures at the Orange Tree ahead of opening night tonight. Learn more about the production and see how to purchase tickets.

Orange Tree Theatre has released photos from inside rehearsal for its upcoming revival of April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures directed by Michael Oakley.

And so to the final new production of English National Opera’s season; Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s opera was last heard in London at Sadler’s Wells back in 1980, after premiering in Edinburgh in 1977, with Musgrave herself conducting.

During these dark and cold nights, something magical is happening on stage at the Lyric Hammersmith. Play On! was originally created by director Sheldon Epps and writer Cheryl L. West back in 1997, transferring from San Diego to Broadway. Talawa theatre company have stripped the show back and have created a truly joyful production to delight the most curmudgeonly of audiences.

Hairspray returns with charm to the Kings Theatre in Glasgow this week. The classic musical follows Tracy Turnblad, an ambitious teen with big dreams of dancing on TV and tackling racial segregation in 1960s Baltimore.

Though we admit that venturing as far as saying that the witch looks like a mix of Margaret Thatcher and the old Queen might be just us being fastidious with our interpretative vein, the links are there to see and analyse. Yes, it’s a bit cheesy and adults playing children is always slightly jarring, but it’s also a prime example of how we can navigate world politics with your kids.

Superb performances from a cast entirely at ease with themselves and their director make this show a must-see

“I love you like Mary Shelley loved her monster.” Being in the right place at the right time can change your life. So, when young producer Marcia Jeffries stumbles upon a drunken Larry Rhodes while she’s recording a radio segment somewhere in the southern States, it seems like it’s fate. A gifted singer songwriter with a charming bluntness to him, Rhodes is immediately offered a slot on her show and his rise to stardom begins. Based on the 1957 film that launched Andy Griffith’s career, A Face in the Crowd is now only a creaky musical with an attractive cast. Written by Elvis Costello and Sara Ruhl, it’s Kwame Kwei-Armah’s swansong as Artistic Director of the Young Vic.

On the press night for My English Persian Kitchen, the smell of chopped onion, mint, and garlic wafts down the stairs of Soho Theatre. Hannah Khalil’s atmospheric play, combining true storytelling and live cooking, turns these scents into stories rooted in real life. Fresh from the Traverse programme at Edinburgh Fringe, the show comes to Soho for its London run.

See photos from inside rehearsal for the UK premiere of Play On!, the jazz-fuelled, Twelfth Night-inspired musical that will tour the UK from September 2024 – February 2025.

Check out rehearsal photos from A Face in the Crowd at Young Vic Theatre, starring Ramin Karimloo, with original music from Elvis Costello, and a book by Sarah Ruhl, here!

'Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.' Aside from a couple of Horrible Histories songs, most people probably know Cleopatra for her unique manner of death - almost certainly an apocryphal story (it's far more likely that she simply poisoned herself), but that and her ill-fated relationship with Mark Antony clearly piqued William Shakespeare's interest.

Opera Holland Park close out another acclaimed season with a rollicking Yeomen Of The Guard.

Laura Waldren lifts the veil off an eating disorder unit. While the characters try hard to cope with an alienating structure that fails many of its patients, Waldren examines institutional callousness and human failure. Chosen from a staggering 1,468 scripts, Some Demon it’s an excellent pick. Though far away from an easy watch, it’s rife with urgent necessity.

Jude Christian's new production playfully inverts Shakespeare's misogyny

After conquering the West End and Broadway, the 5 star ‘theatrical phenomenon’ embarks on its biggest adventure yet. Don’t miss the West End and Broadway spectacle on its first ever UK tour.