News: 2021-22 shows at the National Theatre
Plays update November 2021
Casting updates for the Young Vic’s Best of Enemies, Hampstead Theatre’s Peggy For You, audio drama Ghost Walk and the Royal Court’s A Fight Against…
The Young Vic has revealed the complete cast and creative team for James Graham’s bold new play Best of Enemies, directed by Jeremy Herrin, in a co-production with Headlong.
1968 – a year of protest that divided America. As two men fight to become the next President, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F Buckley Jr., and the iconoclastic liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs slung as these political idols feud nightly in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a shattered nation. Little do they know they’re about to open up a new frontier in American politics, and transform television news forever…
Charles Edwards plays Gore Vidal and David Harewood plays William F. Buckley Jr. The complete cast also includes Margo Cargill, Emilio Doorgasingh, Clare Foster, Tom Godwin, John Hodgkinson, Justina Kehinde, Syrus Lowe, Kevin McMonagle and Sam Otto. Continue reading “Plays update November 2021”
Get a vaccine and get the ‘Rhythm of Life’
Ours is not to reason why but Josie Rourke has made a star-studded video, written by herself and James Graham, of Sweet Charity’s ‘The Rhythm of Life’ in order to encourages COVID-19 vaccination take-up ahead of the NHS’s 73rd birthday.
Nicola Roberts and Sandra Marvin do the lion’s share of the singing of Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’ iconic song, with the likes of David Walliams, Asa Butterfield, Derek Jacobi, Don Warrington and Russell Tovey adding in their own tuppence-worth to persuade naysayers to get the jab. Continue reading “Get a vaccine and get the ‘Rhythm of Life’”
News: Young Vic and Old Vic announce new programmes
Theatre returns at both end of The Cut – programmes announced for both the Old Vic and the Young
- Queers Curated by Mark Gatiss, 2 Jun, 30 Jun
- Home? Curated by Noma Dumezweni, 14-20 Jun
- The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, 7-10 Jul
Directed by Jeremy Herrin and starring Daniel Mays and David Thewlis - Bagdad Cafe by Percy and Eleonore Adlon, adapted by Emma Rice, 19 Jul-21 Aug, streamed 25-28 Aug
Starring Patrycja Kujawska, Le Gateau Chocolat and Sandra Marvin - Camp Siegfried by Bess Wohl, 7 Sep-30 Oct
Directed by Katy Rudd and starring Patsy Ferran and Luke Thallon - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Jack Thorne, 13 Nov-8 Jan
Directed by Matthew Warchus - A Number by Caryl Churchill, 24 Jan-19 Mar
Directed by Lyndsey Turner  and starring Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu - Into the Woods – Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, 16 Apr-9 Jul
Co-directed Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman
- Changing Destiny by Ben Okri, 9 Jul-21 Aug
Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah - Klippies by Jessica Siân, 4–13 Aug
Directed by Diyan Zora - AI developed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Nina Segal, written alongside GPT-3 OpenAI technology, 23–25 Aug
Created by Jennifer Tang and Company - Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 25 Sep-13 Nov
Directed by Greg Hersov and starring Cush Jumbo - Best of Enemies by James Graham, 2 Dec-22 Jan
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
News: Nottingham Playhouse reveals a Spring Loaded season of 23 events
Nottingham Playhouse has announced a season of live and digital productions that celebrate local stories and support East Midlands’ talent. The shows and events range from dance, music, drama, and Bollywood to horror, comedy and romance. Most the productions will be available to rent for On Demand viewing over five days, with others livestreamed. Prices start from just a small suggested donation to its Curtain Up appeal, to £20 per household. Bookings for live events will go on general sale on Tuesday 23 March. On Demand productions will steadily become available for rental from 16 March 2021 through to June 2021. Continue reading “News: Nottingham Playhouse reveals a Spring Loaded season of 23 events”
News: NT Public Acts reveal We Begin Again
Written by the Olivier award winner James Graham and produced by the Guardian in partnership with the National Theatre, this short musical film is a unifying song for the country to take stock of the extraordinary year gone by and reset for the year ahead.
A multi-generational cast reflects on their lives and the impact 2020 has had on them, while a supporting company of 100 community members from the National Theatre’s Public Acts programme in Doncaster and London sings a hopeful chorus encouraging everyone to ‘begin again’. Filmed on location and remotely, this online musical is a clear product of these unique times
News: October UK theatre news update
We’re beginning to see the fruits of some more of the lockdown programming that has seen theatres across England respond in a variety of impressive ways
Nottingham Playhouse’s Unlocked Festival continues to rocket up the must-see list as it announces more details. Their local writing commission has ended up with two winners – Wayward Thread’s Hand Me Down and Lapelle’s Factory’s Shuck, both of which will now receive work-in-progress performances as part of the festival.
Casting has also been announced for James Graham’s Bubble, which will star the marvellous Pearl Mackie and the equally marvellous Jessica Raine. They join the likes of Mark Gatiss and Jade Anouka reading ghost stories on
Halloween, new work from Naomi Obeng and a concert starring Rosalie Craig, Sandra Marvin and Jodie Prenger. Continue reading “News: October UK theatre news update”
TV Review: Unprecedented, Episode 1
Episode 1 of Unprecedented features strong writing from James Graham, Charlene James and John Donnelly
“It’s clear that everything’s going to be different…
and then again, I’m scared that things won’t be different”
It is with an admirable speed with which Headlong and Century Films have pulled together Unprecedented, a theatrical response to the impact of lockdown on society. Conceived, written, filmed and produced in lockdown, and now airing on BBC4, some of our most exciting playwright and a cast of over 50 really have pulled together impressively and this first instalment of three short plays is certainly promising.
Necessity is the mother of invention, or something, and so all three use digital conferencing technology in one way or another and if anything, there’s no bigger marker in the way that our relationships to each other have been altered than this. How many of us even knew what Zoom was in January? And between them, writers James Graham, Charlene James and John Donnelly deftly sketch some of these changes. Continue reading “TV Review: Unprecedented, Episode 1”
News: National Theatre at Home Phase 3
The National Theatre has today announced further productions that will be streamed live on YouTube every Thursday at 7PM BST via the National Theatre’s YouTube channel as part of National Theatre at Home; the new initiative to bring content to the public in their homes during the Coronavirus outbreak. The titles announced today include productions from partner theatres which were previously broadcast to cinemas by National Theatre Live. Continue reading “News: National Theatre at Home Phase 3”
News: cast announced for Unprecedented: Theatre from a State of Isolation
Headlong and Century Films have today announced a cast of over 50 UK actors taking part in Unprecedented: Theatre from the State of Isolation. A series of new digital plays written in response to the current Covid-19 Pandemic, Unprecedented will be broadcast across the nation during lockdown as part of BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative.
Written by celebrated playwrights and curated by Headlong, Century Films and BBC Arts, Unprecedented explores our rapidly evolving world, responding to how our understanding and experiences of community, education, work, relationships, family, culture, climate and capitalism are evolving on an unprecedented scale. The series will ask how we got here and what the enduring legacy of this historic episode might be. Continue reading “News: cast announced for Unprecedented: Theatre from a State of Isolation”