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Dateline:
1st December, 2002
Elliott Leaves Exchange
for the Court
Marianne Elliott is to leave the Manchester Royal Exchange, where she
is artistic director, to become an associate director of the Royal Court,
replacing Dominic Cooke. Elliott became artistic director of the Manchester
venue in 200 and will move to the Royal Court in April. Cooke is leaving
to freelance.
Teale Joins McKellen
and De la Tour in Dance
Owen Teale is to join Sir Ian McKellen and Frances de la Tour in Strindberg's
Dance of Death when it opens on 4th March at the Lyric Theatre
in London's West End.
Fiennes Junior at the
National
Joseph Fiennes makes his debut at the National Theatre in February when
he appears in Trevor Nunn's final production Love's Labour's Lost.
Playing Berowne, he will join Denis Quilley (Boyet), Robin Soans (Holofernes)
and Simon Day (the King of Navarre). The production opens on 21st February.
Polycarpou to Replace
O'Grady
Peter Polycarpou is to take over the part of the Childcatcher in Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang from 9th December for a period of three months.
The show, which opened on 6th April, is now extending its run until
27th September 2003. It was booking until 15th March.
Attenborough Joined
by Old Colleagues
Two Royal Shakespeare Company staff - Neil Constable and Maggie Lunn
- are to join artistic director Michael Attenborough at the Almeida.
Constable, the RSC's London manager, will be the Islington theatre's
executive director and Lunn, a former producer and casting executive,
will become an artistic associate. Attenborough moved to the Almeida
from the RSC where he was an associate director.
Passage
Coming to London
Martin Sherman's adaptation of E. M. Forster's A Passage to India,
produced by Shared Experience, is to transfer to the Riverside Studios
on 22nd January, 2003. It will run until 22nd February.
Nat King Cole Musical
to Open at London's New End Theatre
The New End Theatre in Hampstead is to premiere The House that Nat
Built, a new musical about Nat King Cole, starring Colin Roy and
directed by Mark Clements, the artistic director of the Derby Playhouse,
whose previous jazz musicals include Lady Day at Emmerson's Bar and
Grill. The show runs from Tuesday17th December to Saturday 18th
January.
Welsh Theatre Awards
The Theatre in Wales website
has announced its 2002 Welsh Theatre Awards. Nominations are invited
in five categories:
Best Production (English language)
Best Production (Welsh language)
Best new writing (in either language)
Best Performer (male or female)
Best Design
and should be sent to Keith Morris, the site's webmaster, by 19th December.
Closing
Somerset Maugham's Home and Beauty is to close early on 11th
January. It had been booking until 1st March.
In spite of anouncing a major extension to its booking period in the
last few weeks, the South African Umoja has posted early closing
notices. It ends its run on 8th February, after which it is expected
to set off on a world tour. A spokesperson for the producers did not
rule out it returning to the West End in the future.
Lipman on Tour
Maureen Lipman is to tour in a revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk
Garden in the spring of 2003. The play will be produced by Bill
Kenwright and directed by Sheridan Morley. It is hoped that it will
transfer to the West End later in the year.
Musical R&J
in Trouble
It is reported that Romeo and Juliet - The Musical is in serious
trouble, playing to houses of only 20-25%. The show, with lyrics by
Don Black, opened at the Piccadilly on 4th November to almost uniformly
bad reviews.
Another Pop Musical
On Its Way
Cliff - The Musical, based on the pop career of Cliff Richard,
will open at the West End's Prince of Wales Theatre on 14th March, 2003,
and will run till 10th May.
Summer Holiday
on Stage
Still on the subject of Cliff Richard, a stage version of his 1963 film
Summer Holiday is to open at Plymouth's Theatre Royal in April
2003, ahead of a regional tour and a possible West End transfer.
Stomp
Extends
The musical Stomp, which opened on 28th September at the Vaudeville,
has extended to 31st May.
Death of Reg Birks
Reginald Birks, the founder of the National Council for Civic Theatre,
has died, aged 87. An accountant who retrained as an actor, then moved
into theatre management, and then turned to writing and directing, Reg
Birks was director of the UK's first Civic Theatre, the Sunderland Empire
from 1962 to 1971. he had previously worked in rep in Perth and Colchester,
turned to management at the Theatre Royal Margate, and then directed
for a while at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow.
(It was, incidentally, at the Sunderland Empire that he gave a young
theatre photographer by the name of Peter Lathan his first professional
theatre experience!)
Index
A-F
Index G-K
Index L-Q
Index R-Z
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
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