Shelagh Delaney was known for putting working class women centre-stage. It is remarkable to think that she was only 19 when she penned A Taste Of Honey, a bleak depiction of working class life in post-war Britain where people did not live, but simply tried to exist.
It is even more significant that she was a young, uneducated, Northern woman succeeding in a theatrical world that was run for and by an educated elite of men. The National Theatre's excellent 2014 version now returns for a national tour before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios next year.
When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmy, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.
The National Theatre today announced that Bijan Sheibani's (Barber Shop Chronicles, Dance Nation) production of A Taste of Honey, the remarkable taboo-breaking 1950s play written by Shelagh Delaney when she was just 19, will transfer to the West End immediately following a nine-week UK tour. A Taste of Honey will play a limited 12-week run at Trafalgar Studios from 5 December in a co-production with Trafalgar Theatre Productions, with an opening night on Monday 9 December. Tickets will go on sale to the general public from 11 October.
Robert Icke's sold-out, five-star Almeida Theatre production, The Doctor, will transfer to the Duke of York's Theatre from 20 April a?' 11 July 2020, with press night on Wednesday 29 April. Olivier Award winner, Juliet Stevenson, 'delivering one of the peak performances of the theatrical year' (The Guardian), will reprise her role as Professor Ruth Wolff.
Could any fictional political tale top the latest dramatic entry in the Brexit Chronicles? Actor Simon Woods has a good crack at it with his debut play, featuring the powerhouse pairing of Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan and sure directorial hand of Simon Godwin. And if a few sharp lines have extra fizz, thanks to the current bewildering context of British politics, well, so much the better.
The Doctor is Robert Icke's final production in his role as Associate Director of the Almeida as he departs to pursue freelance projects. Let's see what the critics had to say.
Robert Icke, an associate director at the Almeida for the past six years, bids farewell in typically bold and epic fashion with his latest contemporary update. Arthur Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi, which premiered in 1912, has been skilfully reconfigured as an interrogation of 2019's preoccupation with 'identity'.
Director Rebecca Frecknall and actress Patsy Ferran recently picked up deserved Olivier Awards for their revelatory revival of Summer and Smoke. Now, they're back at the Almeida, bringing that fresh approach to well-known Chekhov instead of obscure Tennessee Williams.
The National Theatre today announced a UK tour of Bijan Sheibani's production of A Taste of Honey, Shelagh Delaney's remarkable taboo-breaking 1950s play, which was first produced in the Lyttelton Theatre in 2014, designed by Hildegard Bechtler and reconceived in an exciting new production, featuring a live on-stage band, for the tour.
The National Theatre today announced a UK tour of Bijan Sheibani's production of A Taste of Honey, Shelagh Delaney's remarkable taboo-breaking 1950s play, which was first produced in the Lyttelton Theatre in 2014, designed by Hildegard Bechtler and reconceived in an exciting new production, featuring a live on stage band, for the tour.
This new free exhibition at the National Theatre explores how designers use set models for theatre-making. Playing with Scale unfolds the idea of a scale model and explains the importance of models as a design tool. The exhibition features model boxes from productions at the NT, archive materials, films, audio and photography.
Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo play the famous fated couple in the National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra. Let's see what the critics had to say.
A pair of Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers make their return to the National Theatre for Simon Godwin's much-anticipated production of Antony and Cleopatra, that sees Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo follow in the footsteps of the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench. For those who can't make it to the theatre to see it, this production will be part of the NT Live series, and will be broadcast live to cinemas on Thursday 6 December.
Caesar and his assassins are dead. General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo play the famous fated couple. Simon Godwin (Twelfth Night) directs.
Caesar and his assassins are dead. General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love.
