Marianka Swain - Page 49

Black Theatre Live's fourth touring show will be Britain's first all-black HAMLET. This co-production with Watford Palace Theatre and Stratford Circus Arts Centre is directed by Jeffery Kissoon and will tour from September 2016. The eight-venue consortium's previous productions include Macbeth, She Called Me Mother and The Diary of a Hounslow Girl.

Award-winning playwright David Greig has announced the details of his first season as Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Scotland's largest producing theatre. The 2016/17 season features 11 main stage productions, including the revival of an iconic political play, a new twist on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, Caryl Churchill's A Number, and a large-scale production featuring the citizens of Edinburgh.

London is never short of theatre temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From two buzzy Shakespeare productions and satirical opera to dance at the Old Vic, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews…

Coinciding with International Dance Day, Latitude Festival has announced its dance line-up for this summer. Sadler's Wells returns to the Waterfront Stage for a ninth year, with highlights including an excerpt from !VAMOUS CUBA! and Hofesh Shechter's THE BAD. Latitude has also announced that the Jane Horrocks-starring IF YOU KISS ME, KISS ME joins the theatre line-up, and Louis Theroux will be in conversation with Adam Buxton.

David Haig, Luke Norris and Daniel Kaluuya star in the revival of Joe Penhall's BLUE/ORANGE at the Young Vic, directed by Matthew Xia. The production runs May 12 to July 2, and works from a slightly updated version of Penhall's Olivier Award-winning play. Blue/Orange, which centres on a man confined to a psychiatric ward, examines race, ethics, sanity and prejudice in a sharp state-of-the-nation examination. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.youngvic.org

Zoe Wanamaker stars in Nick Payne's new play ELEGY at Donmar Warehouse, which opens tonight. She's joined in the cast by Nina Sosanya and Barbara Flynn, and directed by Donmar artistic director Josie Rourke. Elegy imagines a very-near future in which radical and unprecedented advances in medical science mean that it's now possible to extend life.

Coinciding with the Season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington opened in the title role of DOCTOR FAUSTUS at Duke of York's Theatre in the West End last night. Jamie Lloyd's contemporary take on Marlowe's play features modern additions by Colin Teevan, replacing the contested middle section, designs by Soutra Kilmour, sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, and movement by Polly Bennett. The cast also includes Jenna Russell as Mephistopheles, Jade Anouka (Wagner), Tom Edden (Good Angel), Danielle Flett (Valdes), Brian Gilligan (Cornelius), Forbes Masson (Lucifer) and Craig Stein (Evil Angel) and ensemble member Gabby Wong.

Details have been announced today for Park Theatre's Autumn-Winter 2016 Season. Mark Gatiss, who recently won an Olivier Award for Three Days in the Country at the National Theatre, will join forces with husband Ian Hallard for a revival of THE BOYS IN THE BAND, Golden Globe winner Anne Archer stars in the London premiere of THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA, and there's new work from Jonathan Maitland and Peter Quilter, as well as a major JB Priestley revival.

From August 3, Claire Sweeney will play the role of Baroness Bomburst in Music & Lyrics and West Yorkshire Playhouse's production of the much-loved Sherman Brothers musical CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. The production is touring across the UK and Ireland until February 2017. Michelle Collins, who currently plays Baroness Bomburst, leaves the production on July 30.

Last night, the Sheridan Smith-starring revival of FUNNY GIRL opened at the Savoy Theatre in the West End. The transfer follows a sold-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and the show is booking until October 8. Smith takes on Barbra Streisand's iconic role of Fanny Brice, the Brooklyn singer and comedienne who became a Broadway sensation under producer Florenz Ziegfeld. The cast also features Darius Campbell as Nicky Arnstein, Marilyn Cutts as Mrs Brice, Maurice Lane as Mr Keeney, Valda Aviks as Mrs Meeker, Gay Soper as Mrs Strakosh, Natasha J Barnes as Emma/Mrs Nadler, Bruce Montague as Florenz Ziegfeld, and Joel Montague as Eddie Ryan.

Developing Artists, Refuge Productions and the Young Vic have united to bring QUEENS OF SYRIA to the UK. The play, an adaptation of Euripides' great anti-war treatise Trojan Women, was first staged in Amman in 2013 and became the subject of an award-winning documentary. The all-female cast of Syrian refugees will open at the Young Vic in July before embarking on a three-week UK tour, with stops including Oxford, Brighton, Liverpool, Leeds and Edinburgh.

The Quiet House, Gareth Farr's blistering and honest new play about a couple's journey to start a family, will play at Park Theatre from June 7 to July 9, with a press night on June 8, following its world premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre next month. It was inspired by Gareth's own experience, and is his second play following his 2014 Bruntwood Prize-winning debut, Britannia Waves The Rules.

Casting has been announced for a new UK and Ireland touring production of DIRTY DANCING. Lewis Griffiths (Jersey Boys, Ghost and Legally Blonde tours, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Rent and Whistle Down the Wind in the West End) will star as Johnny Castle, while recent Central graduate Katie Hartland makes her professional musical theatre debut as Baby Houseman. Carlie Milner, who began as part of the Dirty Dancing ensemble in 2014 and subsequently took over the role of Penny, reprises her performance.

Barbara Flynn, Nina Sosanya and Zoe Wanamaker star in Nick Payne's new play ELEGY at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Artistic Director Josie Rourke. The show runs April 21-June 18. 

Jon Brittain and Matt Tedford's MARGARET THATCHER QUEEN OF SOHO, which gives the Iron Lady a Soho awakening on the eve of the Section 28 vote, has had a remarkable evolution over the past few years. From 10-minute short at Theatre503 to fully-fledged cabaret-cum-theatre show, it's enjoyed runs at the Edinburgh Festival, Brighton Comedy Festival and Leicester Square Theatre, and now has three dates at the Udderbelly Festival on the South Bank as part of a national tour. Jon talks mixing styles, gay rights and the ongoing process of development.

Casting has been announced for George Bernard Shaw's THE PHILANDERER at the Orange Tree Theatre. Rupert Young (High Society at the Old Vic, Sir Leon in BBC's Merlin) plays Leonard Charteris, the philanderer of the title. He's joined by Helen Bradbury, Joe Idris-Roberts, Michael Lumsden, Dorothea Myer-Bennett, Christopher Staines, Mark Tandy and Paksie Vernon.

Following a sold-out Menier Chocolate Factory run, Sheridan Smith leads Michael Mayer's production of FUNNY GIRL into the West End. The Broadway classic is now playing at the Savoy Theatre, booking until October 8. As well as Smith's Fanny Brice, it features Darius Campbell as Nicky Arnstein, Marilyn Cutts as Mrs Brice, Maurice Lane as Mr Keeney, Valda Aviks as Mrs Meeker, Gay Soper as Mrs Strakosh, Natasha J Barnes as Emma/Mrs Nadler, Bruce Montague as Florenz Ziegfeld, and Joel Montague as Eddie Ryan.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced new details of its 2016 London season. The Alchemist and Doctor Faustus will transfer directly from the Swan Theatre to the Barbican, playing in rep for a four-week run from August, with the same cast directed by Polly Findlay and Maria Aberg respectively. They will be followed by Cymbeline and King Lear, transferring from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, playing an eight-week run in rep from late October, directed by Melly Still and Gregory Doran respectively. In addition, following their Chichester Festival Theatre run, Love's Labours Lost and Much Ado About Nothing will travel to the West End's Theatre Royal Haymarket in December.

Tony Award-winning actor Owen Teale will play Briggs in Sean Mathias's production of Harold Pinter's NO MAN'S LAND, which tours the UK in August, finishing with a limited run at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End from September. Teale joins theatrical legends Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, with further casting still to be announced.

Following an acclaimed premiere at London Theatre Workshop last December, Ray Rackham's Judy Garland musical drama THROUGH THE MILL will transfer to London's Southwark Playhouse in July. It features musical supervision and arrangement by Simon Holt, musical direction by Jordan Li Smith, choreography by Chris Whittaker, set design by Johnson Williams and sound design by Ed Shaw.