Wanamaker News

Following a sell-out season at the Abbey Theatre as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising, as well as a successful Irish and US tour, The Plough and the Stars comes to the Lyric Hammersmith as a co-production with the Abbey Theatre.

NOTHING - THE MOD MUSICAL stars Carol Harrison as Kay Marriott and Chris Simmons as Steve Marriott, as well as Samuel Pope as Young Steve Marriott, Stefan Edwards as Kenney Jones, Stanton Wright as Ronnie Lane, Alexander Gold as Ian McLagan, Edward Elgood as Jimmy Winston, Karis Anderson as P.P. Arnold and Russell Floyd as Don Arden. Also in the cast are Daniel Beales, Alfie Harrison-Foreman, Dani Acors and Emily Daniels. David Shute and Danielle Johnson will play Steve Marriott and Kay Marriott at certain performances. ALL OR NOTHING's limited season will run at the Arts Theatre, London from 6 February to 11 March.

A retitled production of John Dryden's 1675 play Aureng-zebe, The Captive Queen continues the Globe's winter season and acts as a swansong for Northern Broadsides' Barrie Rutter. The artistic director takes the role of the Emperor and also directs for the company for the final time. A rarely performed play, this project has been in the works for some time and is something of a labour of love for Rutter and his company.

The Board of Shakespeare's Globe has appointed Margaret Casely-Hayford as its new Chair. The Globe is recognised internationally as the authority on Shakespeare's work in performance. Its operation includes the iconic Globe Theatre, candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, exhibition and tour, as well as extensive education resources and research. Commercial and development activities contribute to the organisation's £27 million turnover, which continues to operate without annual public subsidy. Margaret Casely-Hayford takes over from Lord Bichard, who has served three years as Chair and ten years as a Trustee.

Theatr Clwyd and the National Theatre today announce star of Welsh crime drama Hinterland, Richard Harrington will join the previously announced Katherine Parkinson in the world premiere production of Laura Wade's Home, I'm Darling. Making her National Theatre debut, Tamara Harvey, Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd, will direct this first-time co-production which opens in the Emlyn Williams Theatre on the 3 July with previews from the 25 June ahead of transferring to the Dorfman Theatre in July.

The magical world of artist Marc Chagall and his wife Bella will be tenderly brought to life onstage at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) next month in director Emma Rice's production of Daniel Jamieson's The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk.  Partners in life and on canvas, Marc and Bella are immortalized as the picture of romance. On the painter's canvas they flew, but in real life they walked through some of the most challenging times in 20th Century history-navigating the devastation of war, the Russian Revolution and each other. Following the artistic heights of Brief Encounter and 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, Kneehigh and Rice return to The Wallis with a production that combines the visuals of Chagall's paintings with the music and dance of the Russian-Jewish tradition. Performances begin February 23 and run through Sunday, March 11, 2018 with opening night set for Saturday, February 24 at 7:30pm. The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is made possible in part by the generous support of Camille and Arnon Adar. Theater @ The Wallis Series is sponsored by Montage Beverly Hills and Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills.

On Today, January 26, Amazon Prime Video will premiere all nine episodes of original dramatic series BRITANNIA in the US.

After a short stay at the Bristol Old Vic, and an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Daniel Jamieson's play about the life and love of Marc and Bella Chagall begins a UK/US tour at Wilton's Music Hall in east London. Directed by Emma Rice, it follows in the wake of Romantics Anonymous and precedes the return of Brief Encounter and the debut of her brand new theatre company Wise Children.

Tonic Theatre announced that Natasha Bucknor, executive director of Talawa Theatre Company, Karena Johnson, artistic director of Hoxton Hall, and casting director Sam Jones will make up the panel for the sixth Tonic Celebrates event, which will take place at Hoxton Hall on Wednesday 21 February, as part of Hoxton Hall's all-female season.

Sonia Friedman Productions is thrilled to announce a new production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party which will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre, 60 years since the play's debut, from 9 January to 14 April 2018 with an Opening Night on Thursday 18 January 2018. Book tickets here!

The soundtrack to the highly anticipated new Jez Butterworth drama Britannia has been released today, following the UK launch of the series on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV last night.

It's 60 years since Harold Pinter's play premiered - and flopped - at Lyric Hammersmith, baffling critics (with one exception) and audiences alike. Now, we expect the sinister subversion of both the seemingly mundane setting and the dramatic form that Pinter the jobbing actor knew from rep: that of the sub-Christie mystery thriller. But played well, as it is here by a starry cast, the play still has the power to unsettle.

The forthcoming summer programme may have been announced, but The Winter Selection at Shakespeare's Globe continues apace the latest show to open is the only Shakespeare play in the season, the rarely played All's Well That Ends Well. Caroline Byrne returns to direct, following her Irish production of The Taming of the Shrew at the Globe itself in 2016.

Full casting is announced for the West End season of the critically acclaimed ALL OR NOTHING THE MOD MUSICAL, based on the story of the Small Faces. Joining the previously announced Carol Harrison as Kay Marriott and Chris Simmons as Steve Marriott, will be Samuel Pope as Young Steve Marriott, Stefan Edwards as Kenney Jones, Stanton Wright as Ronnie Lane, Alexander Gold as Ian McLagan, Edward Elgood as Jimmy Winston, Karis Anderson as P.P. Arnold and Russell Floyd as Don Arden. Also in the cast are Daniel Beales, Alfie Harrison-Foreman, Dani Acors and Emily Daniels. David Shute and Danielle Johnson will play Steve Marriott and Kay Marriott at certain performances. ALL OR NOTHING's limited season will run at the Arts Theatre, London from 6 February to 11 March, with a press night on Thursday 8 February.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica and Bated Breath present the U.S. Premiere of Shakespeare his wife and the dog by Philip Whitchurch, featuring its originating cast: Whitchurch as Shakespeare and Sally Edwards as Anne Hathaway, and directed as it was in the U.K. by Julia St John, for twelve performances only, January 18 through 28 with a press opening on January 19.

Actor Peter Wight's career varies from Robert Icke's recent Hamlet to a range of classical and contemporary work with the National Theatre, Royal Court and RSC, plus multiple Mike Leigh films. His current project is the 60th-anniversary revival of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, now in previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Due to vocal indisposition, Christine Rice has had to withdraw from singing the role of Penelope in The Return of Ulysses. The role will now be performed by Australian mezzo-soprano Caitlin Hulcup.

On Friday, January 26, Amazon Prime Video will premiere all nine episodes of original dramatic series BRITANNIA in the US.

During their session for Acorn TV Originals Girlfriends and Striking Out, Series 2 at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour, Acorn TV General Manager Matthew Graham announces Acorn TV's first series commission with the return of one of its most popular series, the fun, mystery series AGATHA RAISIN, Series 2 in 2018.

Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Samuel Hodges, today announces the full cast for the company's inaugural production at NST City the world premi re of Howard Brenton's The Shadow Factory, which Hodges directs. Veteran of stage and screen Anita Dobson joins the cast as Lady Cooper/Ma (Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre; The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC; Frozen, National Theatre) along with Shala Nyx who plays Polly. Dobson, known for playing the iconic role of Angie Watts in EastEnders, and Nyx join David Birrell (Fred/Hugh), Catherine Cusack (Lil/Sylvia), Lorna Fitzgerald (Jackie Dimmock), Hilton McRae (Lord Beaverbrook) and Daniel York (Len Gooch) to complete the company. The Shadow Factory opens on 15 February, with previews from 7 February, and runs until 3 March.