Royal Shakespeare Company News

According to the Daily Mail, Saskia Reeves and Danny Webb are set to star in THE MISTRESS CONTRACT in the Vicky Featherstone-helmed production of Abi Morgan's play at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. The show begins January 30, 2014.

Multi-award-winning HOMELAND star and frequent stage actor Damian Lewis has apologized to Broadway, West End and Hollywood legend Sir Ian McKellen for recent disparaging comments referring to McKellen's role as a wizard in the popular LORD OF THE RINGS films and general career trajectory.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the Artistic Direction of Diane Paulus, iwill present the second production of the 2013/14 Season:David Farr's The Heart of Robin Hood, directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson, to begin performances Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. The production runs through Sunday, January 19, 2014.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) is proud to announce that the acclaimed THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS: SCENES FROM LIFE IN THE COUNTRY, written and directed by Richard Nelson, will be recorded for television by THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET the week of December 16, following the end of the epic run at The Public Theater on Sunday, December 15. All four plays will be captured for posterity and broadcast at a future date. Fans of THE APPLE FAMILY PLAYS can attend a taping of one or all four of the plays by visiting www.publictheater.org.

The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Dodgers today announced that Paige Brady, Gabriella Pizzolo, Ripley Sobo, and Ava Ulloa have joined the Broadway company of MATILDA THE MUSICAL and will begin performances in the title role over the course of the next few weeks.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines. Embraced by audiences as one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor is an energetic romp with the lovable rogue Sir John Falstaff, performed by Scott Jaeck, as he charms and conspires against the townspeople of Windsor, only to be outsmarted by Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, performed by Kelli Fox and Heidi Kettenring. Chicago Shakespeare's production will transport audiences to post-war England in the late 1940s with a soundtrack of spirited dance music. The Merry Wives of Windsor will run in CST's Courtyard Theater now through January 19, 2014. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

CinemaLive and Digital Theatre previously announced the second production to be distributed as part of the West End Theatre Series - the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Noel Coward's Private Lives, directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Toby Stephens and Anna Chancellor.

Ben Miles will play Thomas Cromwell and Lucy Briers will play Katherine of Aragon in the Royal Shakespeare Company's much-anticipated double bill of Hilary Mantel's Man Booker prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, adapted by Mike Poulton.

Broadway Records celebrates their first ever Grammy nomination for the Original Broadway Cast Recording of the Tony Award winning MATILDA THE MUSICAL. Broadway Records released this cast album in conjunction with Yellow Sound Label. MATILDA THE MUSICAL was the third original cast album, sixteenth album overall, released by the two-year old record label dedicated to Broadway and Off Broadway-related recordings.

In an October 2013 interview with The Guardian, HOMELAND actor Damian Lewis discussed his beginnings at the Royal Shakespeare Company and his eventual desire to leave the world of stage acting. In the course of his response, Lewis said he worried he could become like, 'one of these slightly over-the-top, fruity actors who would have an illustrious career on stage, but wouldn't start getting any kind of film work until I was 50 and then start playing wizards.' Sound familiar?

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, composed by Mel Mercier, with lighting design by Jean Kalman and Mike Gunning, set design by Chloe Obolensky and choreography by Kim Brandstrup, will play the BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St), tonight, December 10 - 22, 2013 as part of the Next Wave Festival.

92Y presents an evening with the stars and director behind the new Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County, on Sunday, January 5 at 7:30 pm. Four-time Tony Award-nominee Kelli O'Hara (Francesca) and Steven Pasquale (Robert Kincaid) join Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher for a conversation moderated by Tony Award winning composer/lyricist Adam Guettel. The evening will also include a few performances of songs from the show.

Today, Monday 9 December, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama hosts its annual Graduation Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall. Alongside a class of new graduates, Central awards fellowships to three extraordinary members of the industry: Stephen Poliakoff, Jenny Sealey and Kevin Whately.

The Broadway production of Shakespeare's timeless love story ROMEO AND JULIET, starring international film star Orlando Bloom in his Broadway debut opposite two-time Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, closes today, December 8, 2013, after 27 previews and 93 regular performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 West 46th Street). Directed by five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux, Romeo and Juliet began previews on Saturday, August 24, 2013 and opened on Thursday, September 19, 2013.

Ahead of a performance by cast members on next Monday's broadcast of the Royal Variety Performance, Stage Entertainment and Syco Entertainment have announced full casting for I CAN'T SING!, the brand new musical comedy from Harry Hill & Steve Brown which opens in the West End next Spring.

Marc Elliot, playing Mr. McQueen, joins the previously announced Richard Fleeshman as Bobby Strong, Jenna Russell as Penelope Pennywise and Jonathan Slinger as Officer Lockstock in the multi Tony Award-winning URINETOWN The Musical, directed by Jamie Lloyd (Macbeth, The Hothouse, The Pride) at the St James Theatre.

Trustus Theatre is bringing a new adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol To the Thigpen Main Stage this December. This new script by Patrick Barlow, the Tony-award winning playwright of The 39 Steps, is a whirlwind telling of the classic holiday story where five actors take on all of the roles. Trustus will be one of only four theatres who have the rights to produce this new adaptation as the show also makes its Off-Broadway premiere this holiday season. Scrooge and all of his ghostly counterparts will come to the Thigpen Main Stage as A Christmas Carol opens tonight, December 6th at 8:00pm.

London director, Ian Marshall Fisher has rediscovered the long lost play written by the unique collaboration of Orson Welles and Cole Porter, AROUND THE WORLD. This historical Welles and Porter partnership (Citizen Kane & Touch Of Evil meets Kiss Me, Kate & Anything Goes) is based on their take on Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days. AROUND THE WORLD will play a series of 'Benefit/Fundraising' performances in London's Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells, and will be unveiled to Americans for the first time in over seventy years at New York's Mint Theatre.

On Monday 9 December, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama will host its annual Graduation Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall. Alongside a class of new graduates, Central will award fellowships to three extraordinary members of the industry: Stephen Poliakoff, Jenny Sealey and Kevin Whately.

Working Theater, in its 29th season off-Broadway, will in collaboration with the Harold Clurman Lab Theater, offer a piercing perspective on healthcare reform in the United States, with MERCY KILLERS, written and performed by Michael Milligan. The play, directed by Tom Oppenheim will make its off-Broadway premiere on January 7th at the Stella Adler Studio's Theater 2B, 31 West 27th Street. The production will have its official opening on January 15th and will be performed in various communities throughout New York City in order to directly realize Working Theater's mission to bring theater to communities where working people live.