Mike Leigh News

Hampstead Downstairs and the Peter Wolff Trust present: The Wasp by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Jonathan Church's world premiere production of Taken At Midnight, a new play by Mark Hayhurst, will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a limited season previewing from tonight, January 15th. Returning to the West End after a five-year absence, Penelope Wilton reprises her role as Irmgard in this production which is currently enjoying a sold-out season in Chichester.

Real-life father and daughter Jeff Perry (Scandal) and Zoe Perry (upcoming feature film Cotton) star with Kevin McKidd (Grey's Anatomy) and Mary Mara (Nash Bridges) when Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents Anna Christie, opening Jan. 24 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. Former Long Wharf associate artistic director Kim Rubinstein directs Eugene O'Neill's 1922 Pulitzer Prize winner.

The producers of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG have announced that something has gone spectacularly right. With their advertising campaign encouraging people to 'SAVE MONEY - DON'T COME' which apparently has not worked, the show that they capitalised in the West End for £250,000 and opened at the Duchess Theatre at the beginning of September, written by and starring unknown out of work actors, has already recouped all of its production costs and is now turning a weekly profit.

The nominations for the 17th annual Moet British Independent Film Awards were announced today, at St Martins Lane, London by actor Jared Harris.

Jonathan Church's world premiere production of Taken At Midnight, a new play by Mark Hayhurst, will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a limited season previewing from January 15th. Returning to the West End after a five-year absence, Penelope Wilton reprises her role as Irmgard in this production which is currently enjoying a sold-out season in Chichester.

Now in its sixth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre presents Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing and part of its 20 Premieres season, running between 2-20 November 2014.

Tom Rothman's TriStar Productions and Film4 announced today that the three-time Oscar®-winner Ang Lee has chosen an adaptation of Ben Fountain's acclaimed novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk as his next film

Digital Theatre is delighted to announce its next title; Richard Eyre's five-star, multi award-winning revival production of Ibsen's Ghosts starring Olivier Award-winners Lesley Manville and Jack Lowden will be available to buy and watch online around the world from today 18 September 2014.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the 2014 NYFF Talks will feature Paul Thomas Anderson in conversation for On Cinema, and the HBO Directors Dialogues participants will be Mathieu Amalric, Pedro Costa, Mike Leigh, and Bennett Miller. All five events are sponsored by HBO.

A season of new plays exploring little-known true stories continues at Chichester with a drama featuring acclaimed actress Penelope Wilton. She plays Irmgard, the mother of celebrated lawyer Hans Litten who puts Hitler on the witness stand in 1930s Germany with devastating consequences.

The United States premiere of the internationally acclaimed new work written and directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne, The Valley of Astonishment, featuring Kathryn Hunter (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Kafka's Monkey), Marcello Magni (Fragments), and Jared McNeill (The Suit), begins previews Sunday, September 14, at 7:30pm for an opening Thursday, September 18,at 7:30pm and a run through Sunday, October 5, at Theatre for a New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place.

Mike Leigh connoisseur Shade Murray, who directed the Jeff Award-winning Abigail's Party for A Red Orchid in 2010, will direct Cole Theatre's inaugural production, Mike Leigh's Ecstasy. The production will star Boyd Harris, Maura Kidwell, Layne Manzer, Lauren Pizzi, Michaela Petro and Joel Reitsma.

The world premiere of Alecky Blythe's new play inspired by the 2011 London riots, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, LITTLE REVOLUTION, will play the Almeida Theatre. This is Alecky's first new London production after the success of London Road at the National Theatre.

The newly formed Equity Cole Theatre presents its inaugural production, Mike Leigh's Ecstasy, running August 21-September 28 in Old Town. An intensely naturalistic and darkly comic portrait of gloom and joy, violence and romance, Ecstasy is the story of six sharply drawn characters and their struggle against despair one evening in a run-down London flat.

Digital Theatre is delighted to announce its next title; Richard Eyre's five-star, multi award-winning revival production of Ibsen's Ghosts starring Olivier Award-winners Lesley Manville and Jack Lowden will be available to buy and watch online around the world from Thursday 18 September 2014.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the 30 films that will comprise the Main Slate official selection of the 52nd New York Film Festival (September 26 - October 12)

The 20th anniversary production of Kevin Elyot's Olivier and Evening Standard award-winning play My Night With Reg. The comedy will open at the Donmar Warehouse tonight, 31 July 2014, directed by current Donmar Warehouse Trainee Associate Director Robert Hastie.

The newly formed Equity Cole Theatre presents its inaugural production, Mike Leigh's Ecstasy, running August 21-September 28 in Old Town. An intensely naturalistic and darkly comic portrait of gloom and joy, violence and romance, Ecstasy is the story of six sharply drawn characters and their struggle against despair one evening in a run-down London flat. The production stars Boyd Harris, Maura Kidwell, Layne Manzer, Lauren Pizzi, Michaela Petro and Joel Reitsma. Mike Leigh connoisseur Shade Murray, who directed the Jeff Award-winning Abigail's Party for A Red Orchid in 2010, directs.

Casting is announced for the world premiere of Alecky Blythe's new play inspired by the 2011 London riots, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins. This is Alecky's first new London production after the success of London Road at the National Theatre.