Joe Orton News

This winter, The Hope Theatre – the acclaimed 50 seat pub theatre in the heart of Islington - will present the world stage premiere of 21 Round For Christmas by Matthew Ballantyne and Toby Hampton.

The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble re-opens its re-envisioning of the Odyssey's 1969 West Coast premiere of The Serpent, the Obie award-winning play by Jean-Claude van Itallie. The production initially opened in March, 2020 as part of the Odyssey's 50th Anniversary “Circa '69” Season, but was shuttered five days later by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Final casting was announced today for the smash-hit Leeds Playhouse production of C.S. Lewis' classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which begins a major tour of the UK and Ireland on November 2, 2021.   TV and theatre star Samantha Womack completes the cast to play Narnia's evil White Witch.

Closed since March 2020, this acclaimed 50 seat pub theatre in the heart of Islington reopened in June and has recently announced its autumn season, starting with in-house show FEVER PITCH, running from 31 August – 25 September in the 7pm early slot.

Fever Pitch will star Ashley Gerlach as 'Pete/Ensemble', Gabrielle MacPherson as 'Sarah/Ensemble', Jack Trueman as 'Nick' and Louise Hoare as 'Louise/Ensemble'.

Running alongside Fever Pitch in the late slot will be THE GOOD DAD from 31 August – 11 September, followed by KING, from 21 – 25 September. RAT KING will play from 5 – 9 October, LOVESICK will play from 2 – 6 November, followed by DARLING from 9 – 27 November, and this year's festive offering will be a live adaptation of one of the Hope at Home shows put out digitally during the pandemic, 21 ROUND FOR CHRISTMAS, playing from 30 November – 18 December.

The Pevensie children are:  Ammar Duffus as Peter, Shaka Kalokoh as Edmund, Robyn Sinclair as Susan and Karise Yansen as Lucy.   Aslan is played by Chris Jared, Mr Tumnus by Jez Unwin, Mr Beaver by Sam Buttery and Maugrim by Michael Ahomka-Lindsay. 

An exhilarating, moving and brutally funny love letter that will appeal to football obsessives and football haters alike. FEVER PITCH charts over two decades of one man's total and utter obsession with Arsenal Football Club.

The prolific playwright and regular denizen of the Los Angeles theatre community Justin Tanner will world premiere his latest piece MINNESOTA for Rogue Machine online June 26, 2021, with a virtual reception to follow. Justin was most quick to respond to my questions on MINNESOTA and the L.A. theatre community.  

As The Hope Theatre looks towards reopening at the end of June, the Board of Trustees has announced that Kennedy Bloomer will be stepping down as the Artistic Director of The Hope Theatre, Islington in August 2021 to pursue a career in teaching and theatre fundraising. 

Closed since March 2020, this acclaimed 50 seat pub theatre in the heart of Islington will reopen on the public on 29 June at full capacity, in accordance with the government's roadmap.

Playwright Dan O'Brien made a splash in LA theatre back in 2017 when The House In Scarsdale: A Memoir For The Stage received multiple Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Nominations. Now, O'Brien has published four of the essays under the title, A Story That Happens, as a primer for burgeoning playwrights.

This week's list includes new music from Josh Groban and Broadway songs from Seth MacFarlane. In addition, The SpongeBob Musical is coming to DVD, and the lyrics of Hadestown are now available!

Check out this week's list of new and upcoming book and music releases, including a book of Broadway musical Christmas carols, socially distanced theatre games, and more!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the 101 greatest Beatles songs, including some of the fab four's solo works. They're all here: 'Twist and Shout,' 'In My Life,' 'Helter Skelter,' 'Imagine,' 'Something,' 'Maybe I'm Amazed,' 'Let It Be.' See if your favorites made the grade!

In the latest archive recording released by Curve, their 2017 production of What The Butler Saw a?" co-produced with Theatre Royal Bath a?" is now available to stream online until the end of the lockdown period.

Leicester's Curve theatre has announced a host of online initiatives to bring theatre into audiences' homes during lockdown. A full list of content, which will be regularly updated, can be viewed here.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge says, 'This episode of Broadway Rewind features a heart, a hustler and a hoofer.' We give you a sneak peek at the Broadway musical 'The Drowsy Chaperone', which welcomed back to Broadway, Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and introduced us all to Bob Martin as Man in Chair. We also met the cast of Mark St. Germain's play, 'The God Committee', but the episode starts at the opening night of Roundabout's production of Joe Orton's comedy 'Entertaining Mr. Sloane' which featured a stellar cast including Chris Carmack, Alex Baldwin and the late great Jan Maxwell, whom Richard Ridge says, 'was one of the greatest actresses of her generation'.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

Aurora Theatre Company today announced that it will cancel its upcoming run of Joe Orton's LOOT, previously scheduled April 3 - May 3, out of concern for public health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.