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Dateline:
20th July, 2003
New Barnes Play for
Regent's Park
Leonardo's Last Supper, Peter Barnes' latest play, is to be performed
as part of the Late Nights in the Park season at the Regent's Park Open
Air Theatre. Described as a kind of Six Feet Under for the Renaissance,
it is a macabre comedy about what happens when Leonardo da Vinci's burial
is entrusted to an impoverished family of undertakers.
Kids' Week Approaches
The Society of London Theatre's Kids' Week will launch this year on
Wednesday 20th August and runs to Sunday 31st - a longer than usual
week! Aimed at kids between 5 and 16, Kids' Week offers free events,
from comedy workshops with the Reduced Shakespeare Company to dancing
lessons at the English National Ballet. Shows offering events include
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour
Dreamcoat, The Lion King, Fame, Grease, The
Woman In Black, Mamma Mia, Jus’ Like That and
Blood Brothers.
As well as offering opportunities to sing dance and act alongside professionals,
there will also be workshops for aspiring writers, backstage tours and
mystery treasure hunts. Over 25 of London’s best shows are running
special Kids Week offers in which a child accompanied by a ticket-buying
adult can go for free (and two others can go for half price). Bella
Pasta, Maxwells and Planet Hollywood are all offering a free kids meal
with every full price paying adult.
For full details, go to the Kids' Week homepage.
Bourne Smash Hits Return
Two of Matthew Bourne's smash hit productions will return to London
when his Nutcracker!
will run at Sadler's Wells from 2nd December 2003 to 24th January 2004.
Next summer, from 13th July to 4th September, the Wells will host a
revival of his all-male Swan Lake.
Play What I Wrote
to Tour Again
The Right Size's comedy based on the work of Morcambe and Wise starts
another UK tour on 10th sepotember in Oxford, after which it goes to
Malvern, Bath, Stoke-on-Trent, Brighton, Plymouth, Edinburgh, Richmond,
Cambridge, Birmingham, Glasgow and Salford, finishing on 13th December.
Sher to Star in RSC
Othello
Antony Sher is to star in the forthcoming Royal Shakespeare Company's
Othello which opens in Stratford at the Swan on 11th February (running
until 3rd April). Sher will play Iago to South African actor Sello Maake
ka Ncube's Othello.
Soap Stars at Richmond
Two of Britain's favourite soap baddies, John Altman (EastEnders)
and Nigel Pivaro (Coronation Street) are to star in John Godber's
Bouncers at the Richmond Theatre from 4thn to 9th August.
O'Hanlon to Make West
End Debut
Irish comedian and actor Ardal O’Hanlon is to make his West End
debut later this year at the Albery wheh he appears with Nigel Havers
in See You Next Tuesday, an adaptation by Ronald Harwood of French
writer Francis Veber’s Le Diner de Cons, which opens on
2nd October (previews from 17th September). The play was orginally performed
at Dublin's Gate Theatre last year.
New Art Tour
Yasmina Reza's Art, which ran in the West End for over six years,
is to be revived for a new national tour. Starring Les Dennis, Christopher
Cazenove and John Duttine, the play will open at Harrogate on 12th September
and then goes on to Dartford, Ipswich, High Wycombe, Hull, Cheltenham,
Worthing, Poole, Liverpool and Bradford.
Asian Hobson
Extends and Tours
Tanika Gupta's reworking of Harold Brighouse's Hobson's
Choice, now at the Young Vic, has extended its booking period
by a week to 16th August. From 28th August it will tour to Oxford, Salford,
Cheltenham, Nottingham, Poole and Warwick.
New Joseph
Touring Production
The latest touring version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat opened at the Theatre Royal Windsor on Thursday and will
continue there until 26th July. Then it moves on to Newcastle, Torquay,
Reading, Grimsby, Llandudno, Bristol, Cambridge, Sunderland, Glasgow,
Eastbourne, Preston, Ipswich, Cardiff, Bromley, Sheffield, Oxford, Cheltenham
and Woking.
The show stars Andrew Derbyshire, who was a contestant in the Pop
Idol TV show and then starred in We Will Rock You.
Incidentally, Joseph holds the world record for being the longest
running touring musical.
Dorian Gray
on Tour
A new production of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray will also
begin a tour at Windsor next month. Starring Robert Powell and Simon
Ward, the production runs at the Theatre Royal from 19th to 23rd August
before moving on to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Nottingham, Mold, Newcastle,
Westcliff, Leeds, Belfast, Reading, Wolverhampton and Bromley.
And Another Windsor
Tour!
Yet another tour is to begin at Windsor in August: this time it's Somerset
Maugham's The Constant Wife, which began its successful West
End revival last year at Windsor. It has been recast and will feature
Liza Goddard, Michael Praed, Susan Penhaligon and Sara Crowe, who was
in the West End show. After Windsor it goes on to Mold, Plymouth, Ipswich,
Edinburgh, Westcliff, Guildford and Nottingham.
All three tours are produced by Bill Kenwright.
Chichester Seagull
Casting
In the cast of the Chichester Festival's production of Chekhov's The
Seagull will be Sheila Gish (Arkadina), Philip Quast (Trigorin),
Desmond Barrit (Sorin) and Michael Feast (Dorn). Also in the cast is
Gish's daughter Kay Curram.
The Seagull is in rep from 1st August to 4th October.
New Plater at Newbury
Alan Plater's latest play, Last Days of the Empire, will run
at Newbury's Watermill from 23rd July to 30th August. It features original
music by jazz musician John Dankworth.
Extending and Closing
The following have announced extensions to their booking periods:
- High Society (Open Air) : eight additional performances between
8th & 13th September
- Hobson's Choice (Young Vic) : one week to 16th August
The following will close early:
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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