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Dateline:
4th July, 2004
Peter Blythe Dies,
Aged 69
Actor Peter Blythe has died at the age of 69. His most recent appearance
onstage was as the Duke of Exter in Nicholas Hytner's 2003 production
of Henry V. He was a member of the 1997 Peter Brook Company which played
at the Old Vic and appeared in a number of more in recent Hall productions:
Mrs Warren's Profession, The Royal Family and Amadeus.
His West End credits include Humble Boy, Absurd Person Singular
and Clandestine Marriage. He also appeaed in many films and TV
shows, among them Foyle's War, The Alan Clark Diaries,
Only Fools and Horses and Sword of Honour.
He is survived by his partner Harriet Walter and a daughter.
Bat Boy
West End Transfer
The musical Bat Boy, currently having its UK premiere at the
West Yorkshire Playhouse, will transfer to the Shaftesbury Theatre,
opening on 8th September, after previewing from 18th August. The Leeds
run ends on 17th July.
With music by Lawrence O’Keefe and book by Keythe Farley and Brian
Flemming, the show, which was inspired by a "bat boy" found
in the hills of West Virginia, will be directed by Mark Wing Davey.
National Theatre Casting
Casting has been announced for two National Theatre productions.
- The cast for David Hare's Stuff Happens (opening on 10th
september, previews from 1st) will include Alex Jennings as George
W. Bush and Adjoa Andoh as Condoleezza Rice. The production will be
directed by Nicholas Hytner.
- In Rebecca Lenkiewicz' The Night Season, which will be directed
by Lucy Bailey, the cast includes David Bradley and Annette Crosbie.
The Night Season opens on 3rd Auguust (previews from 23rd July).
Panto returns to
the West End
Hot on the heels of the announcement that Ian McKellen is to play Widow
Twankey in Aladdin at the Old Vic this Christmas comes the news
that pantomime will return to the West End this year for the first time
since the mid-nineties. The Victoria Palace will play host to Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs starring Lily Savage (Paul O'Grady) from
17th December to 23rd January.
The West End was the home of panto, with theatres such as Drury Lane,
Covent Garden and Lincoln Inns Fields being the places where the genre
developed but costs became so prohibitive in the nineties that panto
vanished from the West End scene. The Victoria Palace panto will be
produced by QDOS entertainment and will be the same production that
has been seen in various venues throughout the country over the last
few years. Last year, for instance, it was in Bristol and, the year
before, Manchester.
The return of panto to the South Bank and the West End coincides with
the publication of a new book on the subject, It's Behind You! -
The Story of Pantomime, by none other than BTG editor Peter Lathan,
which is due to be published by New Holland Publishers in the autumn.
NToS - Ireland Applies
Kenny Ireland, artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh,
for more than ten years until he stepped down recently, has applied
for the job of director of the National Theatre of Scotland. "There’s
no way I wasn’t going to apply for this job," he told The
Scotsman.
No one else has admitted to applyuing for the job, but many names have
been rumoured to be in the running, including Richard Wilson, Ian McDiarmid.
The board hopes to be able to announce the director later this month.
Extending
Two West End shows have extended their booking periods by five months:
- Fame (Aldwych) is now booking to 25th February, 2005
- Journey's End (Playhouse) is now booking to 2nd April
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