As theatre comes roaring back, this autumn and winter see plenty of exciting new productions, including big West End musicals and intriguing plays. Here are the shows that we’re most looking forward to seeing.
FX has announced the complete cast for its new limited series, featuring stage talents Denise Gough, Sam Worthington, and the previously announced Andrew Garfield. The series recently began production in Calgary.
New names added to the cast are: Melissa Allan (Princess Mary), Samuel Awoyo (Ensemble), Ian Drysdale (French Ambassador), Jo Herbert (Lady Rochford), Andrew Hodges (Ensemble), Niamh James (Ensemble), Umi Myers (Helen Sadler / Dorothea Wolsey), Liam Smith (Walter Cromwell) and Nicholas Tizzard (Ensemble).
A director with a reputation for developing new writing, Holly directed Headlong's Hedda Tesman by Cordelia Lynn at Chichester Festival Theatre and The Lowry, Salford. She was an Executive Producer on Unprecedented, the BBC Four, Century Films and Headlong critically acclaimed drama anthology, directing House Party by April De Angelis and Penny by Charlene James for the series.
As previously announced Ben Miles will return to his role as Cromwell to complete the trilogy. Nathaniel Parker joins him, resuming his Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award nominated role as Henry VIII. The full cast of 23 will be the biggest yet in the series, with 13 actors announced today, five of whom - Miles, Parker, Nicholas Boulton (Duke of Suffolk), Matt Pidgeon (Stephen Gardiner) and Giles Taylor (Archbishop Cranmer) - return to their roles in the earlier plays.
Harold Pinter's 1960 two-hander seems to be near-ubiquitous of late, having been revived on the West End early in 2019 as part of an all-Pinter season and then again separately late last year at the Hampstead, in a run that was truncated by the pandemic.
The National Theatre kicks off its post-lockdown season with a brainteaser: what is the most meaningful or precious moment of your life? The question is central to After Life, Jack Thorne’s stage adaptation of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s acclaimed 1998 film, co-produced by Headlong, which unfolds in a purgatorial facility over the course of a single week.
Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light, adapted for the stage by the RSC, will get its West End premiere this fall! The production will premiere at the West End's Gielgud Theatre on 6 October, with previews from 23 September.
Today, on The Old Vic's 203rd birthday, THE OLD VIC: BACK TOGETHER Season. This Season has been announced. The seventh from Artistic Director Matthew Warchus will run from July 2021 to July 2022, and will be an uplifting and thought-provoking combination of both streamed and live shows.
Young Vic Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah announces a new season of work, welcoming theatre-makers and audiences back through the doors to create and experience live performance for the first time since the Young Vic's 50th Birthday celebrations in October 2020.
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will present a virtual presentation to announce the 2021 winner of one of the most prestigious playwriting awards, and the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights, today, April 7, 2021 at 3pm EST/ 8pm BST. Tune in right here at BroadwayWorld to watch the presentation, hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning Playwright and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner (1983) Marsha Norman.
The National Theatre today announces plans to reopen in June, welcoming audiences back to the South Bank for the first time since closing last December.
BAFTA Award winning Katherine Parkinson’s (Home, I’m Darling, The IT Crowd) debut play Sitting has been adapted for the screen, airing at 10.30pm on Wednesday 7th April on BBC Four. Jeremy Herrin directs the hour-long comedy-drama.
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for 2021 for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights.
The international sales success of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, made by Nicholas Hytner and Kevin Loader for BBC One this spring, has enabled its collective of writer, actors, directors, producer and heads of department to make their second substantial charity donation to help those most affected by Covid.
London Theatre Company has made plans to re-open the Bridge Theatre during September and October, assuming that the Government gives the go ahead for indoor performances with socially distanced audiences.
Reserve your seats, grab your friends and head to The Ridgefield Playhouse to enjoy the play that first established Arthur Miller as a playwright and received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.
Playing Sandwiches is certainly one of the darker stories within Alan Bennett's superb Talking Heads series. Written in 1998, this uncomfortable and disturbing piece originally featured David Haig. This update showcases a mesmerising performance by Lucian Msamati as park worker Wilfred Paterson; a seemingly ordinary man, with two very different sides to his character.
Legend has it that the distance between the front bench of the Government and that of Her Majesty's Opposition is the length of two swords tip to tip. Given that weapons have been banned from the House for centuries, writer James Graham has had to rely on good old-fashioned political fisticuffs for This House.