Peter Forbes News

Taking your family to a production of Charles’ Dickens A Christmas Carol is almost as expected as taking them to your local pantomime with at least three major productions running this year alone. No stranger to reinterpreting classic works, Mark Gattis’ (Sherlock, Dracula, Dr Who) 2021 production returns to haunt the Alexandra Palace this festive season.

Mark Gatiss's acclaimed retelling of Dickens' winter ghost story returns to the hauntingly atmospheric Alexandra Palace with a brilliant new cast. Star of stage and screen Keith Allen (Shallow Grave, Robin Hood, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Pembrokeshire Murders, The Homecoming) will play the role of Scrooge with Peter Forbes (Follies) as Marley. 

The nights may be getting longer and darker, but the West End is bright with fabulous new productions this November.

Mark Gatiss' acclaimed retelling of Dickens' winter ghost story returns to the hauntingly atmospheric Alexandra Palace with a brilliant new cast. Star of stage and screen Keith Allen (Shallow Grave, Robin Hood, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Pembrokeshire Murders, The Homecoming) will play the role of Scrooge with Peter Forbes (Follies) as Marley.

The nominees for this year’s UK Theatre Awards have been announced. Among those with many nominees are Lyric Theatre Belfast, Sheffield Theatres, and more. Check out the full list of nominees here!

Full casting has been announced for the revival of Mark Gatiss' acclaimed adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Blazing new production of strange and unsettling musical that leaves you with much to consider

Audiences will be catapulted into the American political arena where music, folklore and show-business collide head-on with the American Dream, for the first major production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins since the composer’s death in 2021. 

The Audio Publishers Association has announced finalists for the 2023 Audie Awards®, the premier awards program recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Winners across 26 competitive categories will be revealed at the Audie Awards Gala on March 28. The ceremony will be streamed to the public from Chelsea Piers’ Pier Sixty in NYC. 

All new photos have been released from Sheffield Theatres' Climate Emergency Double Bill, The Contingency Plan, by Steve Waters.

Steve Waters’ climate-emergency double bill is brought up to date, specially revised for this Sheffield run thirteen years after their acclaimed debut in 2009. Check out photos here!

Sheffield Theatres has announced the full cast for the double bill of climate change plays by playwright Steve Waters: Resilience and On The Beach, part of The Contingency Plan, which will open at the Crucible, Sheffield on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 October respectively.

Jack Absolute Flies Again! Originally scheduled for the Spring of 2020, it took two years, a director change, and a cast reshuffling for the show to get off the ground. It finally lands at the Olivier in a flashy production that has very little substance. One wonders how such a play ended up on one of the most coveted, prominent stages in London.

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will open at Curve on 3 September, before touring to Liverpool Playhouse 22 September – 2 October, Marlowe Theatre 6 – 9 October, The New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich 12 – 16 October, Theatr Clwyd 19 – 23 October, concluding at Mast Mayflower Studios Southampton 26 – 30 October.

The autobiographical play about growing up in 1980's Zimbabwe following independence opens at York Theatre Royal on 14 September, with previews from 9 September, until 18 September, with tour dates for 2022 to be announced.

Leicester’s Curve theatre, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and English Touring Theatre revealed the full company for the upcoming co-production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Almeida, which will open at Curve on 3 September, and then tour venues across England and Wales.

I owe a lot to Follies - friendships with fans and actors and occasional pieces of journalism have resulted from the show - but it made me realise how transformative live theatre can be. Thinking about it, it's ironic that a show signalling the death of old Broadway should ignite such a passion, but isn't that the point of Follies?

It's a big week for Imelda Staunton. Following rumors that the stage and screen star was in talks to take over as Queen Elizabeth is season 5 and 6 of The Crown, it was announced that she would take on the iconic role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in a new West End production of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!

Following the final performance of Follies in the Olivier on 11 May, the National Theatre announces the CD release of Stephen Sondheim's legendary musical Follies - 2018 National Theatre Cast Recording this Friday, 17 May.

Follies returns to the NT for its final eight performances at the National Theatre on 6 May. Stephen Sondheim's legendary musical includes such classic songs as 'Broadway Baby', 'I'm Still Here' and 'Losing My Mind'. Featuring a cast of 40 and an orchestra of 21, Follies is directed by Dominic Cooke.