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Dateline:
16th February, 2003
Top Film Award
for Caine
Sir Michael Caine, now 69, has been voted Actor of the Year by the London
Film Critics' Circle in their annual awards for his part in The Quiet
American.
Other British award-winners were
- Best British Actor : Hugh Grant for About a Boy
- Best British Actress : Lesley Manville for All or Nothing
- Best British Supporting Actor : Kenneth Branagh for Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Best British Supporting Actress : Emily Watson for Red
Dragon
- Best British Newcomer : Keira Knightley (Bend It Like Beckham)
and Martin Compston (Sweet Sixteen)
- British Film of the Year : All or Nothing
The Mousetrap Man Dies
Sir Peter Saunders, who became known as The Mousetrap Man because he
produced the world's longest running play, Agatha Christie's The
Mousetrap, has died after a long illness.
Richardson not Kidman
in Nunn's Ibsen
Natasha Richardson will star in Trevor Nunn's production of Ibsen's
The Lady from the Sea which was originally expected to play at
the National and star Nicole Kidman. Now it will open Michael Attenborough's
first season at the Almeida on 15th May (previews from 8th). It will
run until 28th June.
Perry to Join Driver
in Mamet Play
Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler in Friends, is
to join Minni Driver in the new production of David Mamet's Sexual
Perversity in Chicago at the Comedy Theatre. The play opens on 14th
May (previews from 3rd).
Quick in New Shared
Experience Production
Diana Quick is to star in After Mrs Rochester, written and directed
by Polly Teale, who is joint artistic director of Shared Experience.
Produced in association with Northampton Theatres, it will open at the
Theatre Royal, Northampton, on 6th March and will tour to Ipswich, Oxford,
Ollerton, London, Cambridge, Guildford and London. The London production,
from 22nd April to 10th May, will be at the Lyric, Hammersmith.
ENO Appoints New Artistic
Director
The troubled English National Opera, which is facing strike action by
its chorus and has had to be bailed out by the Arts Council because
of its increasing debt, has appointed Sean Doran as artistic director.
Doran has been director of the Perth Festival in Australia since 1999.
ACE Has New Logo
 |
The Arts Council of England
has a new logo (left) and a new name. From henceforth it
will be known as Arts Council England, having dropped two words:
"the" and "of". The cost of the new logo and
name is £70,000, the amount paid to the consultants who are
responsible for the new look. This is in addition to the over £70,000
paid to a previous group of consultants who suggested the name Aesthetica,
which was rejected. |
Bogdanov Premieres
New Musical in Cardiff This Week
This week the Welsh College of Music and Drama premieres a new musical
by Michael Bogdanov, best known for his radical Shakespearean productions
with the English Shakespeare Company. Speakeasy! - which has
lyrics and book by Bogdanov and music by John Gould - was originally
planned to be premiered at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis but the
money was not available, so when Bogdanov was approached to produce
a piece with the WCMD, he offered it to them.
Speakeasy! - a comedy set in Al Capone's Chicago in 1933 at
the end of prohibition - opened at Cardiff's Sherman Theatre on Valentine's
Day and runs until 22nd February.
Alright! I'll Take
It
Peter O'Toole will after all accept his honorary Oscar at the ceremony
on 23rd March. It is reported that he changed his mind after being assured
that it would still be possible for him to receive a "genuine"
Oscar.
Kelly to Go Ahead with
Tour
Matthew Kelly is to go ahead with a tour playing Lennie in Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men, in spite of facing allegations of child abuse
in the 70s. He is currently bailed to appear at Guildford police station
on 12th March. The production opened last week at Liverpool Playhouse
and will tour to Darlington, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Poole, Eastbourne,
Malvern, Salford, Birmingham, Nottingham, Plymouth and Richmond before
closing on 17th May.
(Kelly was later cleared of all charges. See this page)
Office Suite
on Tour
Alan Bennett's Office Suite set out on tour last week, opening
at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and going on to Guildford, Coventry, Stratford,
Chelmsford, Cambridge and Cheltenham, with more venues to be announced,
before finishing on 5th April. The production stars Lesley Joseph and
Edward Hardwicke and is the play's first major stage production. It
began life as a TV play in 1978 and consists of two one-act plays, A
Visit from Miss Prothero and Green Forms.
Paige Returns in Farce
Elaine Paige is to star in a new production of Feydeau's Where There's
a Will, produced by the Peter Hall Company and opening at the Yvonne
Arnaud, Guildford, on 28th April. It will then go on a national tour
before opening in the West End on 23rd June.
Lion King
Extends
Disney's The Lion King is now booking until 28th September.
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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