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Dateline:
1st September, 2002
Annis and Sheen at
the Donmar
Francesca Annis and Michael Sheen are to star in Michael Grandage's
own two productions in his first season as artistic director at the
Donmat Warehouse. Annis will play the lead in Coward's The Vortex
(10th December to 15th February, previews from 5th December) and Sheen
the title role in Camus' Caligula (30th April to 14th June 2003,
previews from 24th April). No other casting for the season has been
announced.
Record Year for the
Fringe
Tickets sales for shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, which finished on Monday
26th August, were a record 918,509. The actual money taken at the various
box offices was £7,140,236. There were 1,491 shows and the fastest
selling was the three-day rehearsed reading of The Guys at the
Royal Lyceum, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, which sold out
within three hours of tickets going on sale.
Shared Experience to
Tour A Passage to India
Theatre company Shared Experience is to tour a new version of E.M. Forster's
A Passage to India, written by Martin Sherman. The tour will
open on 19th September in Richmond and will then go on to Bath, Milton
Keynes, Oxford, Warwick and Guildford, closing on 2nd November. The
company hopes that a West End transfer will follow.
25 Years at the Torch
Milford Haven's Torch Theatre celebrates its 25th anniversary this autumn.The
West Wales rep. theatre, the smallest in the UK, will present, as its
silver jubilee show, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Torch,
which also acts as a receiving house, is one of only four professional
producing theatres in Wales.
Mills Treated in
Hospital
Sir John Mills has been discharged from hospital after treatment for
a chest infection. The 94 year old actor was in Raigmore Hospital in
Inverness for a little over a week.
Lily Savage for West
End Musical
Paul O'Grady, best known for his drag queen act Lily Savage, is to join
the West End cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as the Child Catcher,
taking over from Richard O'Brien. He play from 16th September to 7th
December.
Branagh Wins Edinburgh
Film Award
Kenneth Branagh's lastest film Rabbit Proof Fence has won the
Audience Award (voted for by the audiences) at the Edinburgh International
Film Festival.
Everett to Star In
St Trinians Remake?
Producers of a remake of the St Trinians films are hoping that Rupert
Everett will star as the Headmistress and her brother. There is also
a rumour that Kylie Minogue may be interested in playing one of the
girls.
Thaw Documentary
for ITV
ITV has produced a documentary about John Thaw's acting career which
will air this coming Thursday (5th September). Featuring his brother
Ray, his wife Sheila Hancock and many actors who had worked with him,
the programme will also show excerpts from The Sweeney, Inspector
Morse and Kavanagh QC.
An Extended Party
The Hampstead Theatre's 25th anniversary production of Mike Leigh's
Abigail's Party has extended its run by six weeks. It will transfer
to the West End in December, although no dates or venue have yet been
announced.
"It's Wonderful,"
Says Jerry
Jerry Springer - The Opera is wonderful, Springer himself said,
after paying a surprise visit to see the show at Edinburgh's Assembly
Rooms. Describing it as "many layered", he dismissed the fact
that it is an unflattering portrait of him. "I hope the show comes
to America," he told The Observer. "I only wish I'd thought
of it first. I don't object to anything in it. The whole show is tongue-in-cheek,
so what is the problem?"
However he did say it is likely that the TV show's lawyers will probably
try to preevnt it being produced anywhere else because of concerns over
copyright.
Monologues
to Close
The West End production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues
will close on 12th October, the end of its current booking period. It
will have run for fifteen months, having originally been intended to
run for around six weeks. The final cast will be Trudie Styler, Natasha
Little and Deborah Weston. Although it was scheduled to finish on 12th
October, it was expected that it would transfer from the Arts Theatre
to another venue.
It starts a national tour on 9th September, visiting Bath, Salford,
Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, Sheffield, Glasgow, Brighton, Richmond and
Guildford.
Index
A-F
Index G-K
Index L-Q
Index R-Z
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
Please note that all three Archive
indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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