Theatre News

Plays Extend: Noises Off, Lion in Winter Adds Matinee

The Old Vic’s revival of Noises Off, Michael Frayn‘s multi-award winning 1982 comedy, has extended its booking period at the Old Vic until 10 March 2012. The production had previously been on sale until 25 February 2012.

The Old Vic’s all-star production has a cast which includes Celia Imrie, Janie Dee, Aisling Loftus, Jonathan Coy, Robert Glenister, Paul Ready, Karl Johnson, Jamie Glover and Amy Nuttall.

Lindsay Posner‘s revival is the first major London outing for the popular play since Jeremy Sams’ 2000 production at the National Theatre. It opened on 13 December (previews from 3 December 2011) to critical acclaim.

Sams’ production enjoyed two West End stints, first at the Comedy Theatre and then at the Piccadilly following a UK tour. Noises Off was first produced at the West End’s Savoy Theatre in 1982, winning an Olivier for Best Comedy and running for five years.

The farce’s backstage imbroglio follows a touring company who mount a chaotic production of the trouser-dropping Nothing On. Amongst all the confusion, frayed tempers, broken hearts and off-stage explosions, can the show go on?

Following Noises Off at the Old Vic, Eve Best will play the title role in Jamie Lloyd‘s revival of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. One of the great Jacobean tragedies, the play opens on 27 March 2012 (previews from 17 March) playing a limited run to 9 June 2012.


  • In other play news Trevor Nunn‘s production of James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter starring Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley has added an extra matinee date to its run on Tuesday 24 January at 2.30pm. The production, which completes Nunn’s stint as artistic director of the Haymarket, will complete its run on 28 January 2012. It is followed into the venue by One Man, Two Guvnors which starts performances on 2 March 2012, moving from the Adelphi.
  • Finally, Graham Linehan‘s stage adaptation of the 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers has extended its booking period at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre by two months to 14 April 2012. The production, which opened in the West End on 7 December (previews from 26 November 2011) following a try-out run in Liverpool, features an all-star cast of James Fleet, Peter Capaldi, Ben Miller, Clive Rowe and Stephen Wight.