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Off-West End Announcements - 30 October 2009

Faustus In Stratford
A major new production of Doctor Faustus will open at Stratford Circus in the new year (12 January – 6 February), courtesy of Present Moment  Christopher Marlowe’s devil-dealing tale will be relocated to a modern metropolis, not unlike the ever-expanding 2012 Olympic site nearby. Playing Faustus is Babou Ceesay, whose credits include The Overwhelming at the National and Max Stafford Clark's African Macbeth for Out of Joint. Joss Bennathan directs.

The Bard and His Bitches
Marlowe’s contemporary, meanwhile, is getting the female treatment in a new one act play, Shakespeare’s Women. Slipping in and out of consciousness on his death bed in Stratford, the long-suffering playwright is visited by a series of women made famous in his own plays. Previewing at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch this Sunday, this Lights of London production runs at the Rose Theatre, Bankside, from 5-7 November and at Baron’s Court Theatre later in the month.

History Lessons On A Plate
Mad Kings and Englishmen: History Hung, Drawn and Quartered is the latest lunchtime treat at the Bridewell Theatre. Directed by Jessica Swale, the show sees 2000 years worth of history crammed into two bite-sized and improvised instalments. The stories have been adapted from Charles Dickens A Child’s History of England, but come with a big adults-only warning. Expect sauce, sleaze and scandal - history by way of Heat magazine if you will. Until 20 November.

Gregory’s Other Girl Returns
Eighties icon Clare Grogan heads the cast of two new short plays by Russell Barr next month. Premiering at the Oval House Theatre from 17 November – 5 December, Lobster and Vantastic explore what it means to live in confined spaces and promise more of Barr’s unique brand of surrealist humour. Character actors Richard Syms (Secrets and Lies) and Eileen Nicholas (Trainspotting) co-star with Grogan, directed by Luke Kernaghan.

And Finally...
Two ways to celebrate Halloween or El Día de los Muertos ('the day of the dead') as it’s known in warmer climes. Join Casa Londres this Sunday at Jamboree in Limehouse for a foot-stomping fundraiser for the Latin Amercian Theatre Festival. Then on Tuesday (3 November), head to Soho Theatre to see four of Crick Crack’s top-notch storytellers dance hand-in-hand with that dynamic trio - God, the Devil and Death. Happy Halloween everyone!

- by Nancy Groves - Theatregoer Reporter

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