Royal Shakespeare Company News

The Royal Shakespeare Company today announces the professional actors cast in the national tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream, leading the RSC's celebrations for the Shakespeare anniversary year in 2016. This national celebration of Shakespeare will visit each region and nation of the UK. In each area the 18-strong professional company will be joined by local amateur theatre companies who will play the Mechanicals and schoolchildren who will form part of Titania's fairy train. Playing opposite the 14 amateur Bottoms cast from across the country, Ayesha Dharker will take on the role of Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

New Theatre's 2016 Season line up continues the company's legacy of staging productions that will challenge ideas and discuss issues.

James Dacre, Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, today announced the Spring and Summer programme for Made in Northampton 2016 in his third year at the Northampton venue - and spoke to BWW:UK about the line-up.

Rubicon Theatre celebrates the holidays with the company's first presentation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a World Premiere adaptation written by Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns and directed by Brian McDonald. Rubicon's A Christmas Carol features a 24-member cast (the largest ensemble since the company's production of Fiddler on the Roof and the largest ever for a play).

Rubicon Theatre celebrates the holidays with the company's first presentation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a World Premiere adaptation written by Producing Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns and directed by Brian McDonald. Rubicon's A Christmas Carol features a 24-member cast (the largest ensemble since the company's production of Fiddler on the Roof and the largest ever for a play).

According to the Daily Mail, SHERLOCK star Andrew Scott might take on Shakespeare in the coming year. Baz Bamigboye writes that he is currently in talks to play Hamlet, directed by Robert Icke at the Almeida Theatre- possibly in late 2016-early 2017.

Award-winning playwright David Ireland (Can't Forget About You, Everything Between Us) has turned his hand to writing our panto script this year, and with our trusted director/designer Kenny Miller at the helm, SLEEPING BETTY promises to be a hoot, filled with all the usual Glesga patter, hilarious slapstick and general nonsense.

This Christmas, Southampton's Nuffield will be transformed into the enchanting, mythical kingdom of Camelot to tell the story of young MERLIN and his childhood friends Arthur and Gwen as they embark on an action-packed journey of a lifetime, encountering powerful magic forces, mystical characters and adventures beyond their wildest dreams. MERLIN will run tonight 26 November 2015 - 3 January 2016, with press night set for Tuesday 1 December 2015.

Broadway kids remind us to show appreciation for family, friends and those who make our lives richer.

Celebrated National Theatre and RSC actor, Olivier Award nominee Nicholas Le Prevost, returns to the Arcola to voice the role of Isonzo in an immersive audio experience in a Howard Baker double bill, directed by the RSC's Robyn Winfield-Smith, at the Arcola Theatre, tonight, 25th November to 19th December 2015. Press night is Friday 27 November, 8pm. The title role of Judith will be played by Coronation Street actress Catherine Cusack.

Bad news comedy fans, after spending most of your Black Friday in a post-shopping, tryptophan-induced coma, you will not be able to share your evening with the hilarious cast of NBC's live sitcom UNDATEABLE. Preempted by the holiday favorite, the National Dog Show, the Black Eyes Bar crew will be back with an all-new live episode next Friday; well, actually two all-new episodes, since the UNDATEABLE gang performs each episode twice, once live for the East Coast, and again live for the West Coast. One of the joys of my Monday morning is watching both versions back-to-back on Hulu to see what jokes were added for the second broadcast.

Disney Theatrical Productions announced today that Dean John-Wilson will play the role of Aladdin alongside Jade Ewen as Jasmine in the West End premiere of the new musical based on the classic Academy Award-winning animated film. BroadwayWorld previously reported that the duo were in negotiations for the show, but the official word came today.

TIME Magazine's #1 Show of the Year, MATILDA THE MUSICAL, will make its Boston premiere! Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Dodgers, the first national tour of MATILDA THE MUSICAL will be coming to the Boston Opera House for a limited two week engagement June 14-26, 2016 as part of the 2015-2016 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season.

 Exeter Northcott Theatre will produce a new adaptation of Harold Pinter's Betrayal which will mark artistic director Paul Jepson's directorial debut for the theatre.

David Mirvish is pleased to present Patrick Hamilton's classic mystery thriller GASLIGHT. Performances begin Sunday January 17 and play through Sunday February 28, 2016 at the newly reconfigured 1,384 seat Ed Mirvish Theatre. Media night is Wednesday January 20 at 8pm.

Theatre for a New Audience, Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director, will present William Shakespeare's Pericles directed by Trevor Nunn, featuring OBIE Award-winner Christian Camargo in the title role and leading a diverse company of twenty-two actors. Pericles marks Mr. Camargo's third Shakespeare title role for Theatre for a New Audience, and the first time not only that Trevor Nunn has directed this play, but the first time he has directed a Shakespeare with a U.S. company.  The production begins previews February 14 and opens February 25 for a scheduled run through March 27 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place.

World renown British actor/playwright Ray Cooney will be performing the zany farce Cash on Delivery, written by his son Michael Cooney, on the mainstage of the El Portal in Noho December 3-20.  Cooney performed Out of Order at the El Portal in 2001, and was a tremendous hit. In our conversation Cooney, who was bestowed the honor of OBE (Order of the British Empire) by the Queen, and wife Linda talk about the play, and among other topics, theatre and its importance in our world right now. Linda is a landscape painter and former actress, and her work will be exhibited in the El Portal lobby during the run of the play and on to January 1, 2016.

The full cast for the Melbourne Season of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of MATILDA THE MUSICAL was announced today, including the young actresses who will share the title role. They are (in alphabetical order) Dusty Bursill, Tiana Mirra, Alannah Parfett and Ingrid Torelli. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the four ladies!

CLICKBAIT is a darkly comic new play about society's attitude to porn and the women who make it for themselves. From the exciting all female writer/director team behind A First World Problem (Milly Thomas and Holly Race Roughan) comes this blistering study of how pornography is changing women's relationship to sex in the 21st Century.

The Roundhouse opens its 2016 Music Programme with a brand new series of intimate performances staged in the round. Utilising its legendary Main Space in a rarely seen fully seated concert set-up and with a limited number of tickets available, In the Round will be a unique opportunity to see some of the world's leading artists perform up close within the venue's iconic architecture.