Theatre News

Opening: Bud, Weep, Married, Blasted & Merrily

Amongst the major London openings, in the West End and further afield, this week are:

OPENING MONDAY, 25 October 2010 (previews from 21 October), Brett Neveu’s new play Red Bud, set at a Motocross championship, premieres at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, where it continues until 13 November.

ALSO ON MONDAY (previews from 20 October), DC Jackson’s Edinburgh Fringe hit My Romantic History, directed by Lyndsey Turner, comes to the Bush Theatre for a run to 20 November.

ALSO ON MONDAY, The Death of Tintagel, Peter Morris’ interpretation of Maeterlinck’s symbolist play La Mort de Tintagiles, is directed by the RSC’s Vik Sivalingam at the People Show Studios, East London, until 6 November.


OPENING TUESDAY, 26 October 2010 (previews from 18 October), Bush artistic director Josie Rourke directs Men Should Weep, Ena Lamont Stewart’s portrayal of impoverished 1930s Glasgow, in rep at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Northern Broadsides’ adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 arrives for a week-long run at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, as part of a national tour.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Alan Ayckbourn’s 1975 play Absent Friends, revolving around six friends who reflect on their lives after one experiences a tragedy, is revived at the Union Theatre for a three-week run.


OPENING WEDNESDAY, 27 October 2010 (previews from 19 October), Roy Hudd, Maureen Lipman and Sam Kelly are amongst the all-star cast in a revival of JB Priestley’s 1938 comedy about marital disharmony, When We Are Married, at the Garrick Theatre. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, it continues for a limited season to 26 February 2011.


OPENING THURSDAY, 28 October 2010 (previews from 26 October), Libby Skala performs Lilia!, her self-penned play about her grandmother, the Oscar-nominated Austrian actress, architect and political refugee Lilia Skala, at Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 26 October), a rare revival of Tennessee Williams’ partially autobiographical The Two-Character Play, last seen in 1997 at the Lyric Hammersmith, plays at the Jermyn Street Theatre until 20 November.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 22 October), the late Sarah Kane’s seminal, and highly controversial, 1995 play Blasted is revived at the Lyric Hammersmith, helmed by artistic director Sean Holmes for a run to 20 November.


OPENING FRIDAY, 29 October 2010 (previews from 27 October), Tiata Fahodzi stages an all-female version of Joe Penhall’s award-winning Blue/Orange, running at the Arcola Theatre until 20 November.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 26 October), Benet Catty directs Andrew Ollins’ new play Life After, a semi-autobiographical modern morality tale, at the New End Theatre in Hampstead until 20 November.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 26 October), Edward Bond‘s new play There Will Be More, a “harrowing portrait of a world gripped by endless war”, receives its world premiere at the Cock Tavern as part of the venue’s season of the acclaimed dramatist’s work. Until 13 November.


ON SUNDAY, 31 October 2010, Daniel Evans, Julian Ovenden, Samantha Spiro and Anna Francolini reunite at the Queen’s Theatre for the Donmar Warehouse’s one-off concert performance of Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, which was staged to great acclaim at the Donmar ten years ago.

ALSO ON SUNDAY, Ruthie Henshall performs her concert show Sounds of Hollywood at the Royal Festival Hall for one night only.