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Dateline:
2nd December, 2001
Now Topper Goes
Yet another artistic director of long standing is to leave the theatre
with which she is associated. Following news of the departures of Tervor
Nunn from the National, Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid from the Almeida,
and Sam Mendes from the Donmar, comes the announcement this week that
Jenny Topper is to leave the Hampstead Theatre.
Like the others, Topper has given plenty of notice: she will leave
in mid-2003, after having seen through the completion of the new theatre.
Like them, too, Topper has been a long time in her present post: she
was appointed in 1988.
The Hampstead Theatre is one of the country's premier new writing theatres.
Under Topper's thirteen year directorship, it has produced ninety premieres,
21 West End transfers, eighteen national tours and two Broadway transfers.
Kent's Last Show
Jonathan Kent's last production at the Almeida will be King Lear,
it was announced this week. It will run from 12th February to 30th March
(previews from 31st January). RSC stalwart Oliver Ford Davies will play
Lear and the cast will also include James Frain and Tom Hollander.
January to March
at the National
between 14th January and 30th March, 2002, the following changes will
take place at the national Theatre:
Opening
Monologue by Harold Pinter (Cottesloe): five performances between
14th and 24th January
Syringa Tree by Pamela Giens, who also performs (Cottesloe):
opens 14th February
Hinterland by Sebastian Barry (Cottesloe): opens 4th March
Tartuffe by Molière (Lyttelton): opens 4th March. Cast
inlcudes Martin Clunes.
Closing
Gagarin Way (31st January)
Good Hope (5th February)
Wonder of Sex (16th February)
Private Lives
Extends
Noel Coward's Private Lives (Alberry), directed by Howard Davies
and starring Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman, has extended its run by
eight weeks. It will now close on 30th March, 2002.
We Will Be Rocked
at the Dominion
The new musical based on the music of Queen, We Will Rock You,
will open at the Dominion on 14th May, 2002 (previews from 22nd April).
Mother Clap Moves
House
The RNT production of Mark Ravenhill's Mother Clap's Molly House
is to transfer to the Aldwych. Previews will begin on 6th February,
2002, but no date for the actual opening has yet been set.
Whitfield and
Briers Set for West End return
June Whitfield and Richard Briers are set to return to the West End
in 2002 with a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce. The
production will play first for two weeks at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford,
opening on 11th March, and then move for a week to the Richmond Theatre.
A West End transfer is then expected, although no venue or date has
yet been announced.
Fame
to Tour Again
A new touring production of the hit musical Fame goes on the
road in January. It will open at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, on 28th
January, and will then play at Woking, Stoke-on-Trent, Norwich, Milton
Keynes, Liverpool, Richmond, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Plymouth,
York, Southampton, Reading, Bristol, Belfast, Blackpool, Bradford, Jersey
and Bromley up until July, when a new list of venues for the second
leg of the tour will be announced.
Pop Star Britney
for Chicago Film?
Film production company Miramax is reported to have approached pop star
Britney Spears to play a small part in the upcoming film of the Kaner
and Ebb musical Chicago. It is also reported that the film will
star Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere and Rene Zellweger.
On the Piste
to Tour
Hull Truck is to tour a new production of John Godber's skiiing comedy
On the Piste. It opened this week in Hull and will continue there
until 12th January, after which it will tour to Salford, Scunthorpe,
York, Preston, Darlington, Huddersfield, Worcester, Kendal, Buxton,
Harrogate, Wakefield and London. The tour is due to end in April.
Birmingham's Maverick Theatre Returns
After a two-year closure, Maverick TC opens again in the New Year. The
full story is here.
Index
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Index R-Z
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
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