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Opening: Soho Six Pack, Present, No Way, HSM 2

Amongst the major London openings this week are:

OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 17 August 2009 (previews from 14 August), the National Youth Theatre returns to the Soho Theatre with Six Pack, a series of six new plays, each one with a single body part as its title and stimulus for the play’s theme. One of three double bills - Tits/Teeth, Foot/Mouth and Eye/Balls - appears each night, until 12 September.

OPENING THURSDAY, 20 August 2009 (previews from 18 August), Nick Ward's play The Present, set in Melbourne, Australia in the immediate aftermath of John Lennon's assassination in December 1980, is revived at the Cock Tavern Theatre. The production, presented by Cock Tavern resident company Good Night Out Presents, marks the play's first UK revival since premiering at the Bush Theatre in 1995. It continues to 5 September.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 18 August), CandyKing Theatre presents A Doll's House, Ibsen's classic drama of money, fraud, blackmail and love, in a new translation by Ida Forde, at Greenwich Playhouse. Directed by Maria Chiorando, it continues until 13 September.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 18 August), a new version of Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1943 existentialist black comedy No Way Out (Huis Clos) opens at Southwark Playhouse. The play, which gave us the phrase “Hell is other people”, looks at the various jealousies, desires and power struggles between three people trapped in an empty room. Until 12 September.

OPENING FRIDAY, 21 August 2009 (previews from 18 August), a double-bill of works from Brazilian playwrights Rodrigo de Roure and José Vicente opens at the Old Red Lion Theatre. Under the banner Brazil x2, the evening features de Roure's comedy The Last Days of Gilda, returning following its sell-out run at the Arcola earlier in the year, and the UK premiere of Vicente's The Assault, set and written in urban São Paulo in 1969. Until 5 September.

OPENING SATURDAY, 22 August 2009, Les Dennis and GMTV competition winner Liam Doyle lead the cast of the UK-wide tour of High School Musical 2 Live on Stage!, the latest stage instalment of the Disney phenomenon, which opens at the New Wimbledon Theatre (See News, 16 Jul 2009).

As with the series’ original screen-to-stage crossover, High School Musical 2 Live on Stage! has a book by David Simpatico (adapted from the original movie script by Peter Barsocchini), and is directed by Jeff Calhoun, with scenic design by Kenneth Foy and choreography by Lisa Stevens. The score features all the songs from the film soundtrack, including “What Time Is It?”, “You Are the Music in Me” and “Fabulous”.

- by Theo Bosanquet

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