Opening: NT Connections, Forbidden & Korcjak

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 1 July 2009, New Connections, the National Theatre’s annual showcase of drama written for and performed by teenagers, runs in the Olivier and Cottesloe audoritoria, featuring plays by writers including David Mamet, Anthony Horowitz, [Anthony Neilson, William Boyd, Ben Power and Georgia Fitch (See News, 27 Feb 2009). Until 7 July.

OPENING THURSDAY, 2 July 2009 (previews from 25 June), Forbidden Broadway, the long-running Off-Broadway institution which lampoons Theatreland’s top musicals, opens at the Menier Chocolate Factory (See News, 17 Apr 2009).

The show, which only recently finished its record-breaking 27 year run in New York, was conceived and written by Gerard Alessandrini (See Our Interview, 25 Jun 2009), and was last seen in London ten years ago, when it was staged at the fringe Jermyn Street Theatre before transferring to the West End’s Albery Theatre (now the Noel Coward) for a month (See News, 8 Mar 1999). It continues at the Menier to 13 September 2009.

OPENING FRIDAY, 3 July 2009 (previews from 30 June), the Manchester Royal Exchange production of David Greig’s Dr Korcjak’s Example opens at the Arcola Theatre. It centres on Dr Januzs Korczak, founder of the Jewish orphanage, who finds his pacifist principles pushed to the limit by the Nazi regime and the arrival of Adzio, a boy who believes in fighting back. Directed by Amy Leach, it runs until 18 July.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 30 June), A Lament for Medea, presented by Zecora Ura and The Urban Dolls Project (the same team behind the recent Hotel Medea), opens in the Arcola’s Studio Two. Billed as “an intimate barefooted experience for 20 people in a flooded room”, it continues to 25 July.