The Collector
August 31, 2008
Arcola Theatre
26 August – 20 September
Based on the 1963 James Fowles novel of the same name, The Collector covers hazardous territory, particularly in the light of the recent Fritzl case. Following the interactions of Miranda, a young art student and her captor, Frederick Clegg, an inauspicious job centre worker turned retired lottery winner, the play is set in a prison-like bedroom fashioned out of an underground basement, where Miranda is kidnapped and forced to live. Read more
Northern lines
August 30, 2008
In the third of our handy guides to theatregoing beyond the West End, we head north to see what’s on offer.
Almeida Theatre
Built in 1837 as a reading rooms and lecture hall (where Egyptian mummies were on display), the Almeida went through various incarnations before being turned into a unique 325-seat performa
nce space in 1980 and then undergoing complete modernisation in 2001. Refurbished or not, the Almeida has always had an impressive international reputation for producing high quality theatre.
Almeida Street, Islington, N1 (Highbury & Islington tube, 020 7359 4404)
Hampstead Theatre
Fast approaching its 50th birthday, Hampstead Theatre started in a scout hall, then moved into a prefab in the 1960s before the current new purpose-built theatre was finally opened five years ago 
with an auditorium “built for writers who understand actors”. The philosophy here has always remained the same – finding and producing important new writers and challenging established ones.
Eton Avenue, NW3 (Swiss Cottage tube, 020 7722 9301) Read more
Five Reasons To See … Me and My Girl at the London Palladium
August 28, 2008
Amy Abrahams is the assistant producer of Showtime’s production of Me and My Girl, which will appear for one performance only at the 2,000 seat London Palladium on Sunday 26 October 2008 following an astounding 48 hour rehearsal period which begins on the Friday night. The concept follows the success of Showtime’s performances of Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for the British Heart Foundation and Into the Woods for the Oxford Radcliffe Children’s Hospital. Me and My Girl will be raising money for the Anthony Nolan Trust. Read more
Announcements: Tricycle, New End, Jackson’s Lane
August 27, 2008
Amongst the shows and seasons announced at Fringe and Off-West End theatres across London over the past week are:
Tricycle
August Wilson’s Radio Golf will receive its British premiere from 6 October to 1 November (previews from 2 October). It tells of Harmond Wilks, an upwardly mobile, charming and powerful property developer with ambitions to become the first black mayor of a decrepit Pittsburgh town. Read more
Romeo and Juliet
August 27, 2008
Middle Temple Hall
20 August – 13 September
Steeped in history, there is an unmistakable sense of excitement and wonder at seeing Romeo and Juliet at the Middle Temple Hall, particularly as Shakespeare’s company performed here in 1602. However, as a member of the cast starts to play a medieval guitar and the audience gently bustles their way to their seats, there is a sense of calm from the knowledge of our continuity at being about to watch a Shakespeare play as our ancestors were more than 400 years ago. Read more
Black Mamba
August 27, 2008
New Wimbledon Theatre – Studio
26 August – 20 September
Black Mamba is a South African satirical sketch show which has come down from the Edinburgh Fringe to the Wimbledon Studio.
If Henry Fielding was right when he claimed that satire’s true purpose is to expose vice and folly, then Black Mamba does a good job. Read more
September in the Rain
August 27, 2008
Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch
22 August – 13 September
Holidays aren’t what they used to be. Many of us jet off in search of sunshine and new experiences in foreign countries several times a year. John Godber’s play of 1964 September in the Rain takes us back to the days when England still had a mining industry and a week away was an annual event to be anticipated and then stored as a treasured memory. Read more
Quick Questions With … Deon Newbronner
August 26, 2008
Deon Newbronner is the executive director of Abandon, a professional theatre company who aim to make a real difference in people’s lives using theatre. Their latest project, in which Deon stars alongside his fellow Abandon members, sees them producing two plays, The Other Day and Connected, which will appear as a double bill at the White Bear Theatre from 11 September – 5 October. Both of the plays tackle difficult and sensitive subjects and in an unusual twist, instead of putting the plays back to back, the company will be performing them simultaneously. We talked to Deon about how the project is going and what he hopes Abandon will achieve in the future. Read more
Sueno Lorca / Lorca Dreams
August 26, 2008
Arcola
25 August – 06 September 2008
‘A love for life that will never die as long as we keep on moving’. Words that provide a clue to the intentions of this energetic Spanish language production based on extracts from Lorca’s works and devised by the cast. Billed as a ‘collage of “Federicos” in love with life and freedom’, this show is actually an enviable exploration of his work and interpretation of his life. Following a string of successful hits at the Arcola, Baraka Theatre Company have returned to create another colourful Andalusian portrait that goes some way in echoing the tone and rhythm of Federico Lorca’s poetry. Read more
Thérèse Raquin
August 22, 2008
Riverside Studios
19 August – 7 September
Thérèse Raquin at the Riverside Studios, is a new translation by Pauline McLynn of Emile Zola’s own stage adaptation of his first major novel, which was published in 1867, with the stage play emerging a few years later.
In a narrative that was controversial in the nineteenth century but which has subsequently become the stuff of countless Hollywood films, Thérèse’s overbearing aunt forces her into an unhappy marriage with her sickly and selfish first cousin, Camille. Thérèse has an affair with Camille’s friend, Laurent. The lovers murder the husband and marry. Inevitably they come to regret their actions and they pay a heavy price. Read more
