Top 5 theatre openings: 17 – 23 July
© Savannah Photographic
5. Disco Pigs
Trafalgar Studios, until 19 August
Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch returns to the stage for the 20th anniversary production of Enda Walsh‘s Disco Pigs. Directed by John Haidar, the show follows the unorthodox friendship between two teenagers nicknamed Pig and Runt, born on the same day at the same time in the same hospital. Accompanying Lynch is Colin Campbell (Dublin by Lamplight, Through A Glass Darkly).
Watch our 90 second interview with Evanna Lynch
© Sharron Wallace
4. Summer in London
Theatre Royal Stratford East, until 29 July
The first play in mainstream theatre led by an all-trans cast, this farcical romance sees four friends pursuing the same woman in a love tryst through the heart of London. The ensemble is composed of Tigger Blaize, Mzz Kimberley, Tyler Luke Cunningham, Emma Frankland and Victoria Gigante, Ash Palmisciano and Kamari Romeo. Theatre veteran Rikki Beadle-Blair writes and directs the comedy in its world premiere.
Read our interview with Rikki Beadle-Blair here
© Catherine Ashmore
3. Dessert
Southwark Playhouse, until 5 August
"Society becomes a casino that only a few hundred people understand and everyone else is subject to what happens." So said Oliver Cotton of his new play, Dessert, directed by Trevor Nunn, centred around an opulent dinner party where things quickly go awry. Cotton’s previous play Daytona, starring Maureen Lipman, transferred to the West End in 2014.
Read Emily Jupp’s interview with Oliver Cotton
© Johan Persson
2. Fiddler on the Roof
Chichester Festival Theatre, until 2 September
Starring Omid Djalili and Tracy-Ann Oberman, the classic tale of Tevye and Golde is returning once more to the stage. The performance also marks Djalili’s return to musicals following his performance as Fagin in the West End run of Oliver!. Filling out the creative team is director Daniel Evans, whose recent productions include Show Boat and My Fair Lady, designer Lez Brotherston (Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake) and choreographer Alistair David (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).
See the production images in our gallery here
© Tristram Kenton
1. Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare’s Globe, until 15 October
Matthew Dunster, responsible for last year’s re-imagining of Cymbeline with Imogen, returns to the Globe with his own take on Much Ado, here transported to Mexico in the midst of revolution. Expect explosions of colour, Latin music and political discourse in what will end up being the final show in Emma Rice‘s concluding summer season. Matthew Needham and Beatriz Romilly take on the iconic parts of Benedick and Beatrice.
