Shelley Maxwell News

The National Theatre today announces plans to reopen in June, welcoming audiences back to the South Bank for the first time since closing last December.  

The Royal Opera House has shared early plans for its 2021/22 Season, the first full Royal Opera House Season since 2019.   

Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, today announces programming for Spring 2021, including a live stream of the staged rehearsed reading of Girl on an Altar - a newly commissioned work by Marina Carr, and Kiln Collaborations, a series of online panel discussions from leading industry figures.

A first-look image has today been released for the National Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet, a feature film for broadcast on Sky Arts and PBS this April. The image features Romeo, played by Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) and Juliet, played by Jessie Buckley (Chernobyl, Judy), as they meet by moonlight at Juliet’s balcony. The image was taken during filming at the National Theatre.  

The National Theatre's new filmed version of Romeo & Juliet for television is coming soon! The play was originally to have played to theatre audiences in the NT's Olivier auditorium from Summer 2020.

Tickets for the brand new musical Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical are finally on sale today.

Behind the Curtains is a podcast centring and celebrating the off-stage roles in theatre. We shine a spotlight on Black creatives who work backstage in roles that are often the backbone of the industry.

The Black British Theatre Awards 2020 championed the artistic excellence and achievements of the black creatives and performers across all aspects of theatre. The program's first television broadcast on Sky Arts highlighted a cross section of some of the 2020 award-winners. 

The National Theatre has today announced it is creating a new filmed version of Romeo & Juliet for television, temporarily transforming the vast stage spaces of its Lyttelton theatre into a film studio to capture Shakespeare's timeless play for a new generation of audiences.

Siana Bangura and Christina Nicole, in partnership with English Touring Theatre, today announce a new podcast series Behind the Curtains, spotlighting Black creatives in the theatre industry. The series, hosted by Siana Bangura and Christina Nicole and co-produced by ETT, Bangura, and Nicole, will feature conversations with Black theatre-makers and creatives about their career experiences and navigating the current creative landscape.

The new multimedia production company Bennu Creative House Limited formed in May 2020 by Celise Hicks, Shelley Maxwell, Michelle McGivern, and Clement Ishmael, is opening its doors to build innovative artistic concepts encompassing content across film, television, theatre, and digital media.

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre have today confirmed the lead creatives for Romeo and Juliet and Carousel, which play during their 2020 season. Creating Romeo and Juliet (27 June a?" 25 July), director Kimberley Sykes is joined by Naomi Dawson (designer), Shelley Maxwell (movement director), Lee Curran (lighting designer) and Giles Thomas (sound designer and composer). Joining the already announced director Timothy Sheader and choreographer Drew McOnie to create Carousel (31 July a?" 19 September) are Tom Scutt (set and costume designer), Tom Deering (musical supervisor), Aideen Malone (lighting designer) and Nick Lidster for Autograph (sound designer).

The National Theatre has announced its upcoming lineup for December 2019 - June 2020.

Check out the current standings in the 2019 BroadwayWorld UK Awards and cast your vote!

According to The Stage, the inaugural Black British Theatre Awards took place at Old Finsbury Town Hall in London on October 27.

Voting continues for the 2019 BroadwayWorld UK Awards, brought to you by TodayTix! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favourites. Check out the current standings and cast your vote.

Today, the shortlist is announced for the 2019 BroadwayWorld UK Awards, celebrating the best long-running West End productions and best new productions from around the country. CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Athol Fugard's 1982 play, set in 1950s Port Elizabeth, is inspired by his own boyhood in apartheid-era South Africa a?' as Fugard says in a programme note, it's a?oethe most intensely personal thing I have ever writtena??. Like his teenage character Harold (Fugard's actual first name), his father was disabled and his mother tried to keep them afloat via a struggling tearoom. And, crucially, Fugard also had a complex relationship with Sam and Willie, their black employees a?' encapsulated here in an increasingly gripping 100-minute piece of atonement.

Production images have been released for 'Master Harold'… and the boy, featuring Lucian Msamati (Amadeus, Kiri) as Sam, Hammed Animashaun (Barber Shop Chronicles, A Midsummer Night's Dream) as Willie and Anson Boon (Blackbird, The Alienist) as Hally, and directed by Roy Alexander Weise (Nine Night, The Mountaintop).

The National Theatre has announced its productions on-sale for October 2019 a?' March 2020