Laura Hopkins News

imitating the dog, one of the UK's most original and innovative performance theatre companies are set to bring their unique theatrical vision to the stage this Spring when they premiere a bold retelling of Joseph Conrad's extraordinarily influential and timely novel - Heart of Darkness. The production will open at CAST, Doncaster from 5 Mar and will then tour till the 11 May 2019.

imitating the dog, one of the UK's most original and innovative performance theatre companies are set to bring their unique theatrical vision to the stage this autumn when they premiere a bold retelling of Joseph Conrad's extraordinarily influential and timely novel - Heart of Darkness.

A double-bill of hard hitting and deceptively simple short plays from Swedish master-playwright Lars Noren, directed by Anthony Neilson.

To answer the most burning question for many: Yes, Broadway's Kelli O'Hara can sing opera, acquitting herself nobly and well in the company of “real” opera singers and filling the huge Met Opera without a mike. (FYI: She did study opera herself in her early days.) She brought theatrical pizzazz and was a great partner, as the maid, Despina, for the wonderful, resonant British baritone Christopher Maltman (Don Alfonso) as the co-conspirators of the piece, in director Phelim McDermott's manic production.

In Robert Louis Stevenson's original Victorian-era novel, women don't seem to exist. They are erased from the narrative, yet their stories are probably some of the most important. In this reimagining, Placey positions our focus on Dr Jekyll's widow, Harriet, showing how she deals with grief and oppression.

The Festival's theater offerings feature four North American premieres from the U.K., Syria, and Israel, challenging audiences to look backward and forward, while offering perspectives that confront assumptions about human nature.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.

Annie Get Your Gun is another crowd-pleasing musical from Sheffield Theatres, featuring a winning performance from Anna-Jane Casey and showcasing many of Irving Berlin's finest songs.

At the end of a remarkable year for the Northampton venue, Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director James Dacre today announced details of Made in Northampton 2017. 

The English Touring Theatre/Sheffield Theatres adaptation of DH Lawrence's classic is a tender adaptation with an atmospheric soundscape. Even though it contains full-frontal nudity and sexual themes, the production is sensitive rather than shocking.

Many will remember Sideways as the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning 2004 film based on Rex Pickett's novel. The production now at the St James Theatre is directed by David Grindley and written by Pickett. Sideways is about a pair of middle-aged men drinking their way through California's wine country on a bachelor trip before one of them gets married.

Written by Told by an Idiot, music by Iain Johnstone, lyrics by Simon Armitage, directed by Paul Hunter, designed by Laura Hopkins, sound by Adrienne Quartly and lighting by Paul Anderson. I Am Thomas, opens at Wilton's Music Hall on the 20th April and runs til the 30th April. Press night 21st April, 7.30pm.

Norfolk & Norwich Festival, one of the biggest arts festivals in the UK, has today announced further events for its 2016 Festival. With the full programme still to be announced, further highlights revealed today include a brand new production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest directed by Artistic Director of Norfolk & Norwich Festival William Galinsky at the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome - Britain's only surviving purpose circus building erected in 1903 and Wild Life, an extraordinary collaboration between CAMPO's Artistic Collaborator Pol Heyvaert and young singer-songwriters from across Norfolk. Wild Life developed organically from the lives of the performers, and focuses on the songs they have written and what science tells us about how teenagers' brains work. The Festival have also announced Fierce Light, the world premiere event and exhibition from 14-18 NOW bringing together poets of international standing with contemporary film makers and visual artists to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War, Chris Thorpe's acclaimed plays Confirmation and Am I Dead Yet? about political extremism and what happens when we die respectively, an evening of French song and poetry with the powerful and unconventional ensemble troupe, I Fagiolini, a one-night only performance by the sensational singer-songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg and the English indie band Tindersticks.

imitating the dog, one of the UK's most original and innovative performance theatre companies are set to bring their latest theatrical vision to the stage this winter with the UK premiere of The Train, a new immersive theatrical venture which will take its audience on unforgettable journey in a moving auditorium.

Director Blanche McIntyre, winner of the TMA Best Director award in 2013 and the Critics' Circle Most Promising Newcomer award in 2011, this autumn directs at HOME Ted Hughes' adaptation of The Oresteia, Aeschylus' epic drama about war, bloodshed, revenge, and justice.

The Citizens Theatre returns to the Edinburgh International Festival for the first time in 17 years with a new adaptation by David Greig of Alasdair Gray's Lanark, directed by Graham Eatough.

Our interviewee is the beloved British actor and Dickens authority Simon Callow. He has mastered the stage but also appeared in Dr. Who (fittingly as Charles Dickens). In his lengthy acting career, he has acted in television, theatre, and film. At the moment, he is the librettist and director for Houston Grand Opera's A CHRISTMAS CAROL and the best person to we can discuss this fresh, modern take on the beloved Christmas story with.

American tenor Jay Hunter Morris will replace Anthony Dean Griffey in Houston Grand Opera's world premiere production of A Christmas Carol, it was announced today by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. Mr. Griffey has withdrawn for health reasons. The 90-minute opera, commissioned by HGO from composer Iain Bell and librettist Simon Callow, is written for a single singer performing the role of The Narrator. A Christmas Carol runs from tonight, December 5 through 21, 2014, at the Wortham Theater Center, and is suitable for ages 12 and up.

Frantic Assembly's acclaimed and award-winning Othello explodes onto the stage with this electrifying take on Shakespeare's most brutal and gripping thriller-tragedy. Frantic's Artistic Director Scott Graham restages this timeless story of paranoia, jealousy, sex and murder, setting it against the backdrop of Yorkshire during the race riots of 2001. Fusing a taut adaptation of the classic text with its trademark hard-hitting choreography, Frantic Assembly takes a scalpel to 21st century Britain, exposing prejudice, danger and fear.