Rodney Ackland News

Dates and casting have announced for new National Theatre season!

Find out what coming to National Theatre!

1917. In a remote English village there are rumours of an enchanted wood. One of the inhabitants - a mysterious old man - invites eight strangers to stay. They all have something in common. When, one evening, the wood miraculously appears the guests feel compelled to enter. What happens there has the power to change their lives forever…

The Skinner family is the one for whom the word 'dysfunctional' was invented.

Natalie Simpson (Royal Shakespeare Company's recent productions of King Lear, Hamlet and Cymbeline) joins an eleven-strong cast to play Duchess Rosaura alongside the previously announced Stephen Boxer in THE CARDINAL at Southwark Playhouse. James Shirley's tragic masterpiece, directed by Justin Audibert, plays from 26 April - 27 May with a press performance on 28 April.

Casting has been announced for Salisbury Playhouse's new production of Rodney Ackland's Before the Party.

Casting has been announced for Salisbury Playhouse's new production of Rodney Ackland's Before the Party.

"All great men know, the soul of life is fame."

The Spring Season features three rediscoveries from Arthur Miller, B. S. Johnson and Victorian theatrical revolutionary T. W. Robertson, and three brand new plays including Dubailand which has just won the Finborough Theatre its tenth Channel 4 Playwrights Scheme Playwright in Residence Bursary, supported by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation, for new playwright Carmen Nasr.

Salisbury Playhouse's spring/summer 2017 season has been announced and includes a brand new commission from award-winning playwright Barney Norris. 

The first Central London production in eighty years of Rodney Ackland's After October opens at the Finborough Theatre for a limited four and a half week season on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.

The Finborough's Winter Season concentrates on unique rediscoveries with works from the 1930s, 1940s, 1970s and 1980s including the long overdue rediscovery of playwright James Bridie, one of the West End's most popular dramatists of the 1930s and 1940s. New writing is represented by the eighth consecutive year of Vibrant 2016 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights featuring our usual eclectic selection of staged readings by UK and international playwrights, developed, nurtured or championed by the Finborough Theatre. This year's festival also includes new filmmaking from the Earl's Court Film Festival, and the European premiere of the After Orlando International Theatre Action, a collection of 70 short plays in response to the massacre at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016.

Sheffield Theatres and Orange Tree Theatre present Deborah Bruce's The Distance. Charlotte Gwinner directs Michelle Duncan (Bea), Charlotte Emmerson (Alex), Daniel Hawksford (Dewi), Charlotte Lucas(Kate), Timothy Knightley (Simon), Steven Meo (Vinnie) and Joshua Sinclair-Evans (Liam). The production opens tonight 3 November, with previews from 29 October, and runs until 14 November at Sheffield Theatres, ahead of a run at Orange Tree Theatre from 26 November to 19 December.

Sheffield Theatres and Orange Tree Theatre today announce the cast for Deborah Bruce's The Distance. Charlotte Gwinner directs Michelle Duncan (Bea), Charlotte Emmerson (Alex), Daniel Hawksford (Dewi), Charlotte Lucas(Kate), Timothy Knightley (Simon), Steven Meo (Vinnie) and Joshua Sinclair-Evans (Liam). The production opens on 3 November, with previews from 29 October, and runs until 14 November at Sheffield Theatres, ahead of a run at Orange Tree Theatre from 26 November to 19 December.

They are two of the UK's best-loved stars of stage and screen, but have never performed together - until now. 

hey are two of the UK's best-loved stars of stage and screen, but have never performed together - until now. For the first time in their celebrated careers, TOM CONTI and GWEN TAYLOR are set to take to the stage in the wickedly satirical comedy BEFORE THE PARTY. Premiering at the Theatre Royal Windsor on 2 September ahead of a short run at 6 selected theatres, Tom Conti will also be directing this brand new production of writer Rodney Ackland's black comedy, having first directed it in 1980 at the Apollo Theatre in London starring Jane Asher and the late Michael Gough.

As previously announced, Red Bull Theater will present two RUSSIAN READINGS by Vladimir Nabokov and Alexander Ostrovsky this winter. The first took place last week on December 9 and the second is set for tonight, December 16 as part of its OBIE Award-winning Revelation Readings Series. The cast of tonight's reading includes Jonathan Groff, Tovah Feldshuh, Stephen Spinella, and more.

As previously announced, Red Bull Theater will present two RUSSIAN READINGS by Vladimir Nabokov and Alexander Ostrovsky on December 9 and December 16 as part of its OBIE Award-winning Revelation Readings Series. Today, the all-star casts for the two readings have been announced, boasting a roster which includes Jonathan Groff, Tovah Feldshuh, Stephen Spinella, and more.

Now in its fifth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre - the coalface of British Theatre - presents Vibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing, running between today, 6-25 October 2013