World Music Unites Sheffield & Donmar???

Steve Waters' World Music is tipped to transfer to London's Donmar Warehouse in the new year. The drama - which explores how the bloody relationship between Africa and Europe spills into the personal lives and loves of two generations in Central Africa - was first seen at the Sheffield Crucible in May 2003 as part of the theatre's month-long Sheffield First season of new plays. The production would mark the first crossover between the two venues, which are linked through Michael Grandage, associate director at Sheffield and, since December 2003, artistic director of the Donmar. In his "Changing of the Guard" interview with Whatsonstage.com, Grandage explained his view about sharing work between the two audience-differentiated theatres: "Very occasionally, there will be the opportunity to present work from one theatre in the other and when those opportunities arise - and they are entirely led by the project - we will do so" (See Features, 21 Jul 2003). For the Donmar, the presentation of World Music would also be significant as the first entirely new play staged as part of Grandage's repertoire, which has seen a strong return to revivals of European classics. While in November, Grandage himself will direct the stage premiere of Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, that piece is an adaptation of Marber's earlier film inspired by Strindberg's 1888 classic. The theatre is currently presenting Robin Lefevre's revival of John Osborne's Hotel in Amsterdam, first seen at the Royal Court in 1968.

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