Olivia Williams in The Changeling
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Opening: Changeling, Shrieks, Dying City & Product

Amongst the major shows opening in London this week are:

OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 15 May 2006 (previews from 11 May), Olivia Williams (pictured) and Will Keen star in Cheek by Jowl’s new production of Jacobean tragedy The Changeling at the Barbican Theatre, for a limited run to 10 June 2006. The company celebrates its 25th anniversary with Middleton and Rowley’s 1622 play - in which a desperate heiress conspires with her deformed servant to murder her unwanted fiancé - which visits the Barbican as part of an international tour.

OPENING TUESDAY, 16 May 2006 (previews from 11 May), 21-year-old Moses Raine’s debut play Shrieks of Laughter premieres at Soho Theatre for a run to 3 June 2006 (see News, 28 Apr 2006). Imogen Stubbs plays India, mother of Henry (played by recent drama school graduate Tom Payne), an unsettled young man who the audience follows on a journey into his murky subconscious.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 17 May 2006 (previews from 9 May), Out of Joint’s Max Stafford-Clark directs the UK premiere of JT Rogers’ The Overwhelming at the National’s Cottesloe Theatre (See News, 15 Feb 2006). The production, which launches a regional tour following its repertory season at the NT, marks the UK debut for American dramatist Rogers. Seizing the opportunity to research a book, Jack Exley (played by Matthew Marsh) uproots his family from Illinois to Rwanda in early 1994.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 12 May), Christopher Shinn’s Dying City premieres at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs (See News, 11 Oct 2005). Laurence Olivier Award winner Andrew Scott and Sian Brooke star, directed by James MacDonald. The limited season continues until 10 June 2006.

OPENING THURSDAY, 18 May 2006, I Remember the Royal Court, an evening of artists’ memories of working at the venue to celebrate its 50th anniversary, is held in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. Closer author Patrick Marber directs.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 16 May), Silverland, a new play by Benjamin Davis set just before the 2012 Olympics, opens at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, north London for a season to 10 June 2006.

OPENING FRIDAY, 19 May 2006, Product, a one-man play written and performed by Mark Ravenhill, arrives at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, where it continues until 27 May 2006. Olivia is a hot young starlet; all she needs is the script to save her from B movie hell. James thinks he's got the perfect pitch, a script which combines a torrid love story with the dark spectre of terrorism and big, big explosions. If only he can persuade Olivia, he's got the perfect product.

- by Caroline Ansdell

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