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Dateline:
19th May, 2002
Clark Takes Over
at Hampstead
Former Associate Artistic Director at the Birmingham Rep, Anthony Clark,
is to take over from Jenny Topper as the Hampstead Theatre's Artistic
Director when Topper leaves in July next year. He will become Associate
Artistic Director in January, working alongside Topper, to ensure a
trouble-free handover.
He has said that he wants "to extend the repertoire, to develop
the complementary community and education program, and to reinforce
the infrastructure that has given so much support to established and
first-time playwrights."
London Premiere
for Frozen
The National Theatre gives Bryony Lavery's Frozen its London
premiere at the Cottesloe on 28th June. The play, which won a Barclays
Award for Best New Play at its original production at Birmingham Rep
in 1998, will feature the original cast - Anita Dobson, Tom Georgeson
and Josie Lawrence - and will be directed by former Birmingham Rep Artistic
Director Bill Alexander.
25th Cast for Art
Yasmina Reza's long-running hit Art (Whitehall Theatre) gets
is 25th cast on 27th May, when Ben Cross, Alex Ferns and Sanjeev Bhasker
take over from Jamie Theakston, Stephen McGann and Christopher Luscombe
for a 12 week run. The new cast will be directed by Nigel Havers.
Gillian Anderson
to Appear in the West End
Gillian Anderson is he latest in a long line of US film and TV stars
to make their West End debut. The X-Files star has confirmed
that she will be appearing in What the Night Is For, a new play
by Michael Weller, but no theatre has yet been announced.
Sheffield Hits
Out at RSC
Graham Sheffield, Artistic Director of the Barbican, has hit out at
the Royal Shakespeare Company for abandoning the London venue. Speaking
at the launch of BITE:02, he said he regretted the departure of the
RSC and "the manner of their going." Adding that his biggest
regret was the fact that the Barbican's audience would not see, as they
should, "the potential of a genuine partnership between a great
world arts centre and the world's leading repertory Shakespeare company",
he pointed out that the two stages were designed "for the RSC and
to RSC specification!"
He described the events as a "sorry spectacle" and criticised
the Arts Council of England for the fact that it "miserably failed
to exercise either responsibility or common sense throughout the entire
process."
Ironically he noted that the 2002 BITE season is "generously funded
by money surrendered by the RSC", a reference to the fact that
the company is paying a huge sum (thought to be in the region of £13m)
to the venue for ending their contract.
Culture Capital Judges
Named
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has announced the panel of the judges
which will decide which city is to be named European Capital of Culture
in 2008.
Then panel will be chaired by Sir Jeremy Isaacs, General Director of
the Royal Opera House, and will consist of:
- Miranda Sawyer (author and journalist)
- Tessa Sanderson (Olympic medallist and TV presenter)
- Barry Douglas (Art Historian)
- Marc Jordan (businessman)
- Hilary Lade (Chair of the Royal Parks Advisory Board and member
of the British Tourist Authority Board)
- Magnus Linklater (former chair of the Scottish Arts Council)
- Stewart McGill (Artistic Director of the Playbox Theatre, Warwick)
- Peter Stead (academic, writer and broadcaster)
- Ruth Wishart (journalist and broadcaster)
Bradford, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Canterbury
and East Kent, Cardiff, Inverness and the Highlands, Liverpool, Newcastle
and Gateshead, Norwich and Oxford are the areas bidding for the title.
New Cast for Monologues
Samantha Bond, Andrea Oliver and Jenny Eclair will join the cast of
The Vagina Monologues from 20th May.
Les Mis
Goes to School
A special schools' edition of the long-running musical Les Miserables
is to be made available for performance - on school premises only -
on 4th November. The schools' version will be premiered on 14th October
by Stanwell School at the International Festival of Musical Theatre
at Cardiff.
“The future of the theatre is all about developing and nurturing
a passion for musicals and plays among the young," said Cameron
Mackintosh, producer of what is one of the most popular musicals of
the last fifty tyears. "This is where new audiences will come from.”
Cats
to Tour
Although the West End production of Cats has now closed, there
will be a new touring production, starting in the spring of 2003.
70s Ayckbourn Hits
on Tour
Two of Alan Ayckbourn's most popular plays of the 1970s, Time and
Time Again and Just Between Ourselves, are to embark on a
national tour this summer.
Time and Time Again, starring Robert Duncan, John Challis and
Sue Hllderness, has just opened at the Churchill, Bromley and will go
on to Cambridge, Eastbourne, Bath, Malvern and Worthing, whilst Just
Between Ourselves, starring Jean Boht and Les Dennis, opens in Malvern
on 1st July and goes on to Brighton, Richmond, Guildford, Plymouth and
Bath. Other dates may be added later.
Index
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Index R-Z
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
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