Latin American Theatre Finds a Home at the Union
July 30, 2008
Latin American Theatre has found itself a new home at the family-run Union Theatre. The venue announced their intention to stage the Casa Theatre Festival, a three week festival of new plays from Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Ecuador. During the festival, two plays will be performed every night from Tuesday to Friday and all three plays will be performed on Saturdays by a repertory ensemble of seven actors. Read more
Halpern and Johnson
July 30, 2008
New End Theatre
23 July – 31 August
Joe Halpern is alarmed to see a blue eyed stranger wearing a suit and bearing a nosegay at his wife’s funeral. “You never bring flowers to a Jewish funeral” he says, but eventually he allows the blond man to place the flowers on the grave, turning aside with a mere vestige of a shudder when he crosses himself. Read more
The Big Interview: The Writers Of Tiata Delights 08
July 29, 2008
Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Ade Solanke, Yvonne Dodoo and Francis Aidoo are all playwrights participating in British-African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi’s Tiata Delights 08 season, in residence at the Almeida until 2 August 2008.
How did you get involved in Tiata Delights 08?
FA: It was actually a chance meeting at the Young Vic theatre where I was introduced to Femi Olufowoju jr. by my tutor at the time Micheal Bhim. Femi asked me to hand him a rough draft of the play I had written, a week later we met up for coffee, at this meting Femi informed me although the play was not what he was looking for he was willing to keep me mind for future work. I knew I could not leave the meeting empty handed so began to waffle - I told Femi I had a play he would be interested in, which was a lie I had no such thing. Femi seemed taken on this idea which I had just made up on the spot he gave me a week to hand the play back, I have never driven so fast to get home and begin writing the play which as far as Femi knew had been sitting on my bedroom table collecting dust. Read more
Gone Too Far!
July 29, 2008
The Royal Court – Jerwood Theatre
23 July – 9 August
After its short run in Sloane Square, Bola Agbaje’s Gone Too Far! – winner of an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre – goes on to play a few performances next month at the Albany in Deptford and the Hackney Empire. It will therefore have a chance to reach audiences for whom it is specifically targeted.
This is important. Agbaje’s first play appeared in the Court’s Upstairs theatre in February 2007 – director Bijan Sheibani has assembled exactly the same cast — as a result of a specific project to raise new black voices within the Young Writers Programme. It is an immensely vivid piece about national identity among a group of street kids on a South London estate. Read more
The Mikado
July 28, 2008
Union Theatre
23 July – 16 August
Deep beneath the train lines between London Bridge and Waterloo, there lies a gem of a musical that is bound to bring a little sunshine into vitamin D deprived Londoners’ lives.
The opening number of The Union Theatre’s Mikado, ‘If You Want To Know Who We Are’, sees the small stage filled to bursting point with men (for this is an all male version), choreographed to within an inch of their lives and singing quite, quite beautifully. For those new to Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera, a quick crib sheet: Nanki-Poo, betrothed to Katisha, is in love with Yum-Yum who is promised to Ko-Ko; and in a super bit of double-dealing, Nanki-Poo is really the son of the Mikado. Read more
Quick Question With … Mark Little
July 27, 2008
Mark Little, known to many as the man behind everyone’s favourite Neighbour, Joe Mangel, is getting ready to star in Cosi at the White Bear theatre which plays from 29 July – 24 August. Mark moved to the UK in 1992 and has since performed as a presenter, comedian and actor. His one-man production, Defending the Caveman, won a Laurence Olivier award in 2000.
Have you done much theatre work in the past?
Yes, I went to NADA drama school, the equivalent to RADA, and was classically trained. I left theatre school in 1980 but quickly became disillusioned with main stream theatre. It was mostly imported English theatre and there wasn’t much Australian theatre around. Luckily the Australian TV and film industry started to take off around 1981, so I went straight into doing a lot of film and TV. Read more
The Camden Fringe Festival Begins
July 27, 2008
Festival time is finally upon us but if you can’t make it up to sunny Scotland, never fear! The London fringe feast that is the Camden Fringe Festival runs from 28 July for four weeks bringing us pure uncensored creativity without stepping a foot out of the capital. Read more
Amazonia Launches at the Young Vic
July 25, 2008
The Young Vic celebrated the British launch of their one year long series of events and shows co-produced by the Young Vic and People’s Palace Projects today (24 July). Centering around linking the riverside Amazon city of Rio Branco and the Thameside community of London’s Waterloo, Amazonia explores and celebrates the popular culture of the people of the Amazon region, with a particular focus on the life and legacy of the world-famous environmental activist Chico Mendes and the vibrant beauty of the Quadrilha dance form. Read more
Romeo and Juliet
July 25, 2008
Coram’s Field
24 July – 9 August
It is a strange phenomenon that Great British summer traditions usually require a certain amount of stoicism and endurance, not qualities we are renowned for internationally, but this year we have had it easy. Cliff Richard wasn’t required to take the stage at Wimbledon, the tube has not yet become hot enough to cook in, and sandals were seen out at Glastonbury. Now, as the latest in a string of outdoor Shakespeare productions begins its run, the sun has come out and the evenings have become warmer, making the whole experience really rather enjoyable. Read more
I, Lear
July 25, 2008
Trafalgar Studios
21 July – 16 August 2008
As the vast army of comedians troop north to Edinburgh, there’s a couple of stalwarts staying behind to ensure we Londoners can still get our fringe fix. Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones, under the guise of thesps Chester ‘Chesty’ Blenheim and Hugh ‘Huge’ Carpenter, galavant through an evening of light-hearted japery very much in the Oxbridge, 80s Richard Curtis vein. It’s silly, it’s cheeky but underscoring it all is a basis of intelligence which ensures the tomfoolery sits on a solid bed of satire. Read more
