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Dateline:
23rd March, 2003
End of the Line for
the Mermaid
At their meeting last Tuesday (18th March), the Corporation of London
planning committee decided to accept the revised plans for the site
of which the Mermaid Theatre forms a part. This means that the site
will be redeveloped without any replacement for Sir Bernard Mile's
theatre, although there will be "compensation" of £6m
to be paid by the developers to the Theatres Trust instead.
National Henry
V Casting
The casting has been announced for the first ever production of Shakespeare's
Henry V at the National Theatre. The cast will be Adrian Lester
(Henry V), Ian Hogg (King of France ), William Gaunt (Archbishop of
Canterbury/Burgundy), Penny Downie (Chorus), Jude Akuwudike (Pistol),
Peter Blythe (Exeter), Robert Blythe (Fluellen), Tony Devlin (Warwick/MacMorris),
Felicite Du Jeu (Princess Katherine), Jamie Harding (Le Fer), Robert
Horwell (Nym), David Kennedy (Bardolph/Michael Williams), Adam Levy
(Dauphin), Tom McKay (Scroop/Gloucester), Marian McLoughlin (Alice),
Iain Mitchell (Constable of France), Cecilia Noble (Mistress Quickly/Mistress
of France), Nick Sampson (Cambridge/Orleans), Faz Singhateh (Westmoreland),
Rohan Siva (Mountjoy), Mark Springer (Grey/Bourbon), Russell Tovey (Boy),
Tim Treloar (Bedford/Bates), David Weston (Bishop of Ely/Sir Thomas
Erpingham), and Rupert Wickham (Gower/French Ambassador) .
The production, by new artistic director Nicholas Hytner, opens on
13th May (previews from 6th) and will initially be booking until 1st
July.
RSC Transfer to Old
Vic
The Royal Shakespeare Company productions of The
Merry Wives of Windsor and Coriolanus
are to transfer to the Old Vic from 6th June, running for twelve weeks.
The productions began life at the Swan in Stratford and then had a national
tour and a visit to the US.
More Strikes at ENO?
English National Opera is now facing the possibility of a strike by
technicians. BECTU members at the Coliseum have been told by management
that 89 jobs will have to go, 48 of the full-time positions. Members
of the ENO chorus have already taken strike action over the proposals
to reduce their numbers by a third and further action is planned for
3rd April.
Theatre at the Tate
Modern
Lloyd Newson, of physical theatre company DV8, is choreographing a theatre
piece specially for the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. It is designed
to show off the architecture of the building and will begin in the massive
groundfloor turbine hall and move up to the seventh storey. Entitled
Living Costs, the piece will include dance, circus, physical
theatre and multimedia.
Living Costs is part of the gallery's Tate and Egg season and
opens on 19th May.
Archers
Star to Appear in Premiere
Graham Seed, star of the long-running BBC radio soap The Archers,
is to join Shirley Anne Field in the world premiere of new playwright
Philip Sagar's play My Sainted Aunt! which opens at the new End
Theatre in London on 11th April (previews from 8th). It runs until 18th
May.
Henshall to Return
to Chicago
It is reported that Ruthie Henshall is to return to the West End production
of Chicago, only this time she will play Velma, not Roxie, the
part she originally played when the show opened in 1997.
Through
the Leaves Returns
Through the Leaves, the two-hander by Franz Xaver Kroetz which
stars Simon Callow and Ann Mitchell is to have a West End run at the
Duchess Theatre from 28th April to 24th May. The play originally had
a sell-out run at the Southwark Playhouse.
Extending
A number of extended runs have been announced this week:
- Simply Heavenly
(Young Vic) extends by a week until 19th April
- My Brilliant
Divorce (Apollo) also extends by a week until 17th May
- Chicago is now booking until 31st January, 2004
- No. 2 (King's Head)
extends by three weeks until 13th April
- Exclude Me (Chelsea Theatre) has extended by four weeks to
12th April
Closing
Two Edinburgh Fringe transfers into the West End have announced
their closing dates:
- Zipp!, the musical in which Gyles Brandreth and his cast
perform "100 musicals in 100 minutes" is to close on 19th
April after a three month run at the Duchess.
- Auntie and Me, which stars Alan Davies, will close on 26th
April. It is currently playing at Wyndham's.
News
Indices
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News
Archive A-L
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Production News Archive
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