RUG to produce its own programmes
The Really Useful Group is to produce all the programmes for its London theatres. Each theatre's programme will have its own front cover, cast list and production details, but all other content will be the same. The new publication will be called Theatregoer and the company hopes that it will also be sold through normal news outlets as well as in the theatres.
Currently the RUG has the following theatres: Adelphi, Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue, Cambridge, Duchess, Garrick, Gielgud, Her Majesty's, London Palladium, Lyric, New London, Palace, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Queen's.
Rylance signs for a further three years
Mark Rylance, artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, has agreed to a further three years in the job when his current contract expires next year. One of his reasons for staying on, he said, is the sense of being part of a community of actors and audiences which he feels he would not get from any other theatre.