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Dateline:
20th January, 2002
New Durham
Theatre Opens with a Cancellation
The largest new regional theate to open in the UK for more than ten
years, the Gala Theatre in Durham, opened this week (on Tuesday 15th
January) but was forced to cancel its big opening celebration. Saturday
night was to have been the big event in a large marquee with pop band
Westlife but insufficient tickets were sold and the show - and the marquee
- had to be cancelled.
The theatre, developed by Millennium City, includes a cinema, an information
centre and the usual bars and restaurant. For the people of the area,
the name is evocative. For many years, the city has been the home of
the Durham Miners' Gala (pronounced "gay-la" locally), a major
event organised by the Durham National Union of Mineworkers, which featured
a procession through the city, led by the various colliery brass bands.
in which the banners of the many union lodges were paraded. As well
as a fairgroundf and picnic on the riverside racecourse, the Gala also
featured speeches by major Labour party figures.
Alan Ayckbourn's Damsel in Distress trilogy of plays (GamePlan,
FlatSpin and RolePlay) was the opening production and
it runs until 31st January.
New RSC Partnership
with Newcastle
Yet more news from the North East of England. The Royal Shakespeare
Company is to further develop its relationship with Newcastle-upon-Tyne
by premiering plays in the city during its future residencies. As a
first step, playwright Lee Hall, whose residency with Newcastle-based
company Live Theatre produced Cookin' with Elvis, has been commissioned
to write a new version of the Mystery Plays.
Adrian Noble has said that he is determined that the RSC will lanch
more plays in Newcastle, which he describes as the company's "second
home". These plays will not only be those commissioned from North
East writers, but also, whilst the company's Stratford home is being
redeveloped, those which otherwise would have been premiered at The
Other Place.
Cats
to Close on 21st Birthday
The West End's (and Broadway's) longest running musical, Andrew Lloyd
Webber's Cats, is to close on 11th May, 2002, its 21st birthday.
By then, it will have had almost 9000 performances and have been seen
by over eight million people at the New London Theatre.
Gagarin Way
Takes Over from the Monologues
The smash-hit of the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe, Gregory Burke's first play
Gagarin Way, is to tranfer from the Cottesloe to the Arts Theatre
on 27th February. It will replace Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monlogues,
which will close at the end of the current booking period, 23rd February,
and will move to the New Ambassadors on 26th.
A new cast starts in the Monologues on 4th February: singer
Lisa Stansfield and actresses Anita Dobson and Cecilia Noble.
New Short-Term Cast
for Art
Nigel Havers, Barry Foster and Roger Lloyd-Pack are to reprise their
roles in Art for three weeks from 28th January. The current cast
(Philip Franks, Leigh Lawson and Simon Shephard) finish their run on
26th and then go off on a national tour. A new cast will take over on
18th February.
Bennett's Single
Spies to Tour
Alan Bennett's Single Spies, which consists of his two short
plays An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution,
starts a national tour at Bath's Theatre Royal on 29th January, after
which it will go on to Oxford, Sheffield, Brighton, Northampton, Bradford,
Cheltenham, Coventry, Cambridge, Birmingham and Norwich. The production's
stars will be Liza Goddard and Robert Powell.
Hall's Lady Windermere
Casting Announced
In the cast of Sir Peter Hall's production of Lady Windermere's Fan,
which opens at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on 21st February (previews
from 13th) will be Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Googie Withers,
David Yelland and Jack Davenport.
Faustus at
the Young Vic
Jude Law is to play the title role in Marlowe's Dr Faustus at
the Young Vic between 7th March and 27th April.
Casualty
Star Has Hollywood Hopes
Jan Anderson, who plays Chloe Hill in the BBC hospital series Casualty,
is to leave the show to try her luck in Hollywood.
Peter Adamson Dies
Actor Peter Adamson, who played Len Fairclough in the ITV soap Coronoation
Street for 23 years, died earlier this week, aged 72. He was rushed
into hospital complaining of stomach pains and was discovered to have
advanced stomach cancer. He was axed from the soap in 1983 after allegations
of indecently assaulting two eight-year old girls in a swimming pool.
He was cleared at his trial but was written out of the soap when he
sold his story to a national newspaper.
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