Opening: Dorian Gray, Twelfth, Helium, Joan Rivers

Amongst the major openings in London this week are:

OPENING TUESDAY, 2 September 2008, Matthew Bourne’s new dance drama Dorian Gray, freely adapted from Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, opens at Sadler’s Wells. It premiered on a high at the Edinburgh International Festival last month (See News, 8 Aug 2008), after becoming the biggest-selling dance show in EIF history. It runs until 14 September, prior to a short national tour.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 1 September), Filter Theatre company brings its irreverent re-interpretation of Twelfth Night at north London’s Tricycle Theatre, where it runs until 27 September as part of a national tour.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 3 September (previews from 31 August), Guy Retallack directs Liberty, Glyn Maxwell’s stage adaptation of Anatole France’s 1912 novel Les Dieux ont Soif, set during the French Revolution, at Shakespeare’s Globe (See News, 27 Nov 2007). It runs in rep as part of the Totus Mundus season until 4 October 2008, prior to a national tour.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, the Barbican presents the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award-winning entry Helium by Slung Low theatre company, with Patrick Stewart providing the voice of Max, the grandfather with a hidden past. Part of the Barbican’s Bite:08 season, it runs until 20 September 2008.

OPENING THURSDAY, 4 September 2008 (previews from 29 August), following a sell-out season at the Edinburgh Fringe, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress launches the new Leicester Square Theatre, previously The Venue, where it runs until 18 September, and then returns from 2 December to 29 January 2009 prior to a Broadway transfer.

During Rivers’ second stay in London performing her self-penned, autobiographical comedy, the American comedienne (pictured) will also be performing hostess duties at the launch party for the 2009 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards at the Café de Paris on 5 December (See News, 26 Jun 2008).

** DON’T MISS the chance to sponsor the 2009 Whatsonstage.com Awards & get exclusive access to the Café de Paris launch party!! – click here for more info! **

OPENING FRIDAY, 5 September 2008 (previews from 3 September),
playwright-in-residence James Graham’s new play Sons of York, set in Hull during the 1978 ‘winter of discontent’, opens at the Finborough Theatre, where it runs until 27 September.

– by Theo Bosanquet