Tim Wright News

"You'd let everyone have the vote? Imagine what idiots would get elected then" is one of many knowing jokes from Richard Bean's latest farce The Hypocrite. We're following the roguish Sir John Hotham, Governor of Hull and MP for Beverley as he tries to sense which way the wind is blowing on the eve of the English Civil War.

Caryl Churchill has rightly claimed her spot as one Britain's greatest living playwrights but her latest work Escaped Alone, falls short of her best.

'I'm the greatest star, I am by far, but no one knows it' is the claim by aspiring vaudeville music show actress Fanny Brice at the top of Funny Girl.  Fanny is no ordinary showgirl- no 'Miss Atlantic City'. Her gift is to use that backstreet Brooklyn wit on the stage and tear up the rulebook set by the shows impresarios.

As a nation, we spend a lot on entertainment. But whether it's premier league football, tickets to your favourite band or even the humble cinema ticket, all have seen price increases. West End theatre is certainly no exception. But is it sustainable?

It's ironic that this first production of The Ustinov Studio's German season should be concerned with that most British of subjects- class. British theatre has a rich history of playwrights poking our sensitivities about guilt, entitlement and shame. Marius von Mayenburg's Plastic does it with wit, ingenuity…and a mud-slinging machine (no, that's not a metaphor).  

We're in Dublin and it's 1986. Jimmy and his musician friends are fed up of art school synth music and want to bring soul music back to the people. The Commitments is adapted from Roddy Doyle's novel of the same name (that in turn was made into a cult hit film). However, for a show that proclaims on countless occasions that soul is 'the music of the people' and eulogises about it's importance- it is evening strangely devoid of that very thing.

This seasons offering from Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory is a story of politics, love and being an outsider in a world that mistrusts you.

Circle X Theatre Co.'s world premiere of playwright Susan Rubin's LIANA AND BEN presents one of the best technical productions I've seen in small LA theatres. Walking into the Atwater Village Theatre, more than a number of entering audience members do a double take at the optical illusion right in front of their faces. The lighting design of Dan Weingarten combined with the very basic, very clever set of set designer Alan E. Muraoka lead one to believe they're looking...

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview on Thursday, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play,LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview today, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

The Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) has announced casting for the Providence engagement of the National Theatre production of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, the Tony Award-winning new play by Simon Stephens, adapted from Mark Haddon's best-selling novel.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play,LIANA AND BEN, written by Susan Rubin and directed by Mark Bringelson.  LIANA AND BEN will preview on Thursday, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, February 18 at 8pm and run through Saturday, March 26 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

The Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) has announced casting for the Providence engagement of the National Theatre production of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, the Tony Award-winning new play by Simon Stephens, adapted from Mark Haddon's best-selling novel.

This show is the perfect antidote to the celebrity stuffed pantos offered up by more commercial outfits. The show demonstrates that Christmas shows don't have to be formulaic or even familiar. They can be wonderfully inventive pieces of storytelling every bit as worthy as the rest of the years programming.

The National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the Tony Award-winning new play by Simon Stephens, adapted from Mark Haddon's best-selling novel, will soon launch its North American tour.

The National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the Tony Award-winning new play by Simon Stephens, adapted from Mark Haddon's best-selling novel, has just revealed casting for its North American tour.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, ICU, written by Fielding Edlow and directed by Brian Shnipper. ICU opens tonight, September 25 at 8pm and run through Saturday, October 31 at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, ICU, written by Fielding Edlow and directed by Brian Shnipper.

Circle X Theatre Co. is thrilled to announce the world premiere of a new play, ICU, written by Fielding Edlow and directed by Brian Shnipper.

Members of the 'Pro99' movement of Actors' Equity Association have issued an open letter to AEA's newly elected president, Kate Shindle, in response to her victory and to her inaugural address as president of the national union for actors and stage managers. The open letter is signed by over 400 Equity members (listed below), including such notable names as Ed Asner, Francis Fisher, Sally Kirkland and Alfred Molina. The 'Pro99' movement formed in late 2014 in opposition to AEA's rollout of a new plan that will effectively force 'intimate theaters' in Los Angeles to pay Equity actors minimum wage, go 'non-union' or even close - despite an overwhelming vote against the plan by 66% of the Los Angeles membership on an advisory referendum. 'Pro99' members around the nation, who take their name from the current AEA '99 Seat Plan' that allows members to volunteer in smaller venues, oppose AEA's new promulgated plan. They are requesting that Equity leadership put a moratorium on the plan until local members' voices can be heard, and that the union work with its members to develop an alternative plan that will more realistically address the needs of the Los Angeles theater community.