Off-West End Announcements – 10 April 2009

Rent at the Broadway Studio Theatre Jonathan Larsen’s Tony Award winning rock opera Rent (22 April – 17 May) is coming to London for a four week run at Catford’s Broadway Studio Theatre.  Based on Puccini’s La Boheme, Rent is set in New York City’s East Village and focuses on a group of bohemian artists as they endure poverty, AIDS and death.  Acclaimed Off-West End director Thom Southerland brings this new production of Rent to the London stage.

G&I at the New End Theatre Set in the spring of 1994, Anton Burge’s G&I (8 April – 3 May) follows actress/singer Gertrude Lawrence as she prepares for an E.N.S.A. tour.  Accompanied by a young G.I., Gertrude must face her own dilemmas while also entertaining the British and American troops.  G&I is directed by Ninon Jerome and features performances by Anita Harris, Brenda Longman and Ben Stock.

Jackson’s Lane to Host Sprung and Stop Breaking My Balls The double bill touring productions of Mimbre’s Sprung and the Gandinis’ Stop Breaking My Balls come to London’s Highgate venue 17 – 18 April. Directed by Flic Ferdinando, Sprung features acrobatic performances by Emma Norin, Lina Johansson and Silvia Fratelli, accompanied by the music of Toby Park. Stop Breaking My Ballsuses juggling to tell the real life love story of Sean Gandini and Kati Yla-Hokkala. The music of Guy Bellingham is choreographed by Gill Clarke, and the piece is directed by John Paul Zaccarini.

Theatre Royal Stratford East Hosts Bad Blood Blues Paul Sirett’s new drama Bad Blood Blues (21 April – 9 May) uses the TRSE stage to shed light on HIV/AIDS drug trials in Africa. The play stars Martina Laird as a senior research academic and Nathaniel Martello-White as a student hospital administrator, both working in environments testing the drugs.

A Door Must Be Open or Shut at the King’s Head Tartuffe productions will revive the class 19th century Alfred De Musset’s comedyA Door Must Be Open or Shut (29 April – 24 May) at the Islington venue, the King’s Head. Directed by Candida Benson, the play aims to merge French literature with British theatrical talent while retelling the budding love affair between a Marquise and a Count.

Getting Out at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre Co-directors Francis Watson and Gillian Foley bring Sarah Henley’s Getting Out (21 April – 9 May) to the London stage for the Lion and Unicorn’s Spring 2009 Season. The play is set during the peak of the credit crunch in a London law firm. The show highlights the oftentimes awkward office scenarios between the eleven employees.

Farley’s Date at the Brockley Jack Theatre Little Homma Productions presents Mark Homer’s drama, Farley’s Date (6 – 9 May). The play’s protagonist, Farley, is thirty-something and going nowhere while best friend Jace is engaged and living life to the fullest. The friends decide to plan an Easy Rider-style trip, but first must gain the bride-to-be’s permission. Farley’s Date is directed by Rob Crouch and stars Mark Homer, Helen Barford, Matt Warman and Jayne Denny.

Above the Stag Theatre Hosts Minor Gods Tony Special directs Chad Lindsey and Brian Patacca in Charles Forbes’ Minor Gods (13 – 31 May). Set in Washington, D.C., the play follows geneticist Henry the night before he is to present his life’s work to a Senate sub-committee.  Minor Gods confronts the heavy topics of genetics, ethics, sin and lust after Henry hires a rent boy and the two men discover a connection that has plagued them for years. 

-Katie Blemler