Natasha Gordon's debut play opens the new season at the Dorfman Theatre. 2018 marks 70 years since the Empire Windrush brought many hopeful Jamaicans across to Britain, some were specifically recruited (due to labour shortages) to work in hospitals, the postal service or the transport system, others simply hoped to provide a better life for their families. However, rather than commemorating the invaluable service to the country, the anniversary has launched a political storm as a lack of British citizenship and the threat of deportation hang over people's heads. The recent departure of the Home Secretary definitely did not go unnoticed amidst the pre-show audience buzz.
This May, following a sell-out run at Shoreditch Town Hall, award-winning theatre company Access All Areas and The Lowry will present MADHOUSE re:exit - an immersive piece examining the experiences of five artists with learning disabilities and their isolation from society. This ground-breaking production, part of Week 53 festival, will be the first major event at Barton Arcade's new underground venue which plans to bring innovative events to central Manchester.
On Tuesday 24 May, the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) welcomed NYT Royal Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex to their rehearsal rooms in Holloway Road for a special showing of their upcoming production of The Fall by award winning writer James Fritz.
Historically, Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre was a well-known champion of new talent. However, until now, Artistic Director Paul Miller and Executive Director Sarah Nicholson were yet to stage a debut play. Joe White is an alumnus of the Orange Tree Writers Collective, and his first play has clearly impressed them. Mayfly is based on the heartbreakingly short life cycle of a mayfly; a lifetime can happen in just one day. It is a grandiose idea and one that White makes a courageous and often very successful attempt to explore.
Kevin Armento's play puts the narratives of five different and complex women on stage; whilst at the same time places an intense glare upon Bill Clinton's illicit relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
The 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Anthem, the cultural center of Southwest D.C.'s new District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow.
The 34th Annual Helen Hayes Awards will take place on Monday, May 14, 2018 at The Anthem, the cultural center of Southwest D.C.'s new District Wharf, with a celebratory party to follow. Esteemed Washington theatre artists Michael J. Bobbitt, five-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, choreographer and Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC, and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan, recipient of last year's Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play-Hayes Production for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, will host an evening showcasing the vibrant and diverse community of professional theatre artists in the Washington region. There are 258 Helen Hayes Award nominations-selected from 202 eligible productions from 64 theatres in 2017. Tickets for the event are $100 for reserved seating and $275 for VIP premium seating. Reduced-priced tickets will be available to artists and administrators in the community at an industry rate, subsidized by Artist Supporter tickets. All tickets are now available for purchase through the theatreWashington website.
Alistair Toovey (An Octoroon, National Theatre/Orange Tree; The Box of Delights, Wilton's Music Hall; Lord of the Flies, Regents Park Open Air Theatre), Helena Wilson (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Old Vic; The Lady from the Sea, Donmar Warehouse) and Gianbruno Spena (Romeo and Juliet, Custom/Practise; Boy Stroke Girl, Tristan Bates Theatre; Save, Theatre76) will star in the world premiere of Michelle Barnette's Love Me Now at Tristan Bates Theatre.
No matter where we are, our surroundings are a living consequence of the decisions we make. The organs that form the makeup of society are pumped by our actions, and this spirt flows through the city, being present wherever we go. However, if you look closely enough, you'll realise that not everyone is a positive effect to our environment. Some people are viruses, causing damage. It's not always intentional, but it's almost definitely destructive.
Slyly exhuming the little blue dress that launched the biggest media circus of a generation, the five women who were at the centre of this infamous scandal collide on stage: A First Lady, a secretary, a daughter, a confidant, and an intern. A theatrical battle emerges over how it all went down, who were the heroes and villains, and why, twenty years later, we're only beginning to grapple with one of the most challenging questions in American political history: How do we respond to women seeking power, and the men who abuse that power?
Alistair Toovey (An Octoroon, National Theatre/Orange Tree; The Box of Delights, Wilton's Music Hall; Lord of the Flies, Regents Park Open Air Theatre), Helena Wilson (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Old Vic; The Lady from the Sea, Donmar Warehouse) and Gianbruno Spena (Romeo and Juliet, Custom/Practise; Boy Stroke Girl, Tristan Bates Theatre; Save, Theatre76) star in the world premiere of Michelle Barnette's Love Me Now at Tristan Bates Theatre.
THE HUB continues its 2017-2018 season in March with the return of Hub's inaugural play, THE PAVILION by Craig Wright. Hailed by critics as an 'an Our Town for our time,' this play is by turns poetic and comic, romantic and philosophical. Peter returns to his twenty-year high-school reunion with dreams of winning back Kari, the girl he left behind after an unexpected pregnancy ended their relationship. Standing in Peter's way is Kari's bitter-as-ever resentment, her husband and the fact that Peter still hasn't grown up. As the night progresses, both Peter and Kari are led, through their interactions with a host of characters all played by a virtuosic Narrator, to face the consequences of choices made long ago and start back into life with newfound strength and bittersweet resolve.
The world premiere of Kevin Armento's thrilling political drama Devil With The Blue Dress will star: Emma Handy (Handbagged, Tricyle Theatre; Miss Julie, Chichester Festival Theatre; Flare Path, Theatre Royal Haymarket), Dawn Hope (Follies, National Theatre; The Scottsboro Boys, Young Vic Theatre and Garrick Theatre; Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, New Players Theatre and National Tour), Daniella Isaacs (Hear Me Raw, Soho Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Underbelly Edinburgh; Fleabag, BBC/Amazon; Mush and Me, The Bush, Holden Street Theatre Award winner at Adelaide Fringe, Underbelly - Ideas Tap Underbelly Award winner), Flora Montgomery (Gaslight, Royal Alexandra Toronto; Arcadia, English Touring Theatre; Quirk, BBC1) and Kristy Philipps (Hush, Paines Plough; Clean Break, ITV1; Vera, ITV).
Back on the road by phenomenal popular demand, multi-award-winning comedy The Play That Goes Wrong crashes back onto the Belgrade Theatre's Main Stage this March following its sell-out success in January 2017.
Louis Greatorex (Safe, Netflix; The Last Post, BBC1; Last Tango In Halifax, BBC1), Madison Clare (The Dark Things, Linbury Studio Theatre; War Whores, Courtyard Theatre; Close, Landor Space), Mark Weinman (Captain Amazing, Soho Theatre/Live/UK Tour; The Gamechangers, BBC2; Press, BBC1) and Thomas Coombes (Barbarians, Tooting Arts Club - winner of Best Male Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards; Hatton Garden, ITV; Him & Her, BBC Three) will star in Plastic by BAFTA-nominated playwright Kenneth Emson. This powerful new play explores how the insecurities of childhood can follow us into later life in this unflinchingly honest drama about time, memory and escape.
It's 2014 and I'm sitting in Toynbee Hall in east London, watching the first sharing of Bryony Kimmings' A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer. A woman walks nervously across the stage and starts to speak. She is not an actor. Her name is Lara Veitch. She is 25 years old.
A girl plays jingles on a Casio keyboard, whilst the audience choose between a chair and a beanbag for a seat. I of course chose a beanbag, because how often does that opportunity come around? You get comfortable and take in the surroundings. We're in a child's bedroom; the walls are painted with an overwhelming blue gloss, and decorated with various pictures of celebrities and golden retrievers.
The Hub Theatre announced today that Helen R. Murray, Hub's Founding Artistic Director will be stepping down at the end of the current season to move into her new role as Executive Producer of the Aurora Fox Arts Center in Aurora, CO.
