Opening: Eigengrau, Long Kesh, Gods & Whistle

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

OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 15 March 2010 (previews from 10 March), Penelope Skinner’s black comedy Eigengrau receives its world premiere at west London’s Bush Theatre (See News, 12 Feb 2010). Directed by Polly Findlay, examines the lives of four young professionals, living in London and struggling to find meaningful connections or make any impact in a city where Gumtree and Facebook often feel like their closest friends. Geoffrey Streatfeild has replaced Laurence Fox in a cast that also comprises John Cummins, Sinead Matthews and Alison O’Donnell. The production runs until 10 April.

OPENING TUESDAY, 16 March 2010 (preview 15 March), after success at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Martin Lynch’s award-winning play Chronicles of Long Kesh gets it London premiere at north London’s Tricycle, where it continues until 10 April (See News, 8 Dec 2009). Based on interviews with more 40 ex-prisoners, officers, welfare workers and family members connected to the infamous Northern Irish prison, which closed in July 2000 as a result of the Good Friday Agreement, the play with music is performed by a six-strong Irish ensemble.

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ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 11 March), acclaimed choreographer Anthony Van Laast directs the world premiere of new street dance show Blaze, which is at the Peacock Theatre until 28 March.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 17 March 2010 (previews from 11 March), Jeremy Irons returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company after an absence of 23 years to star in Dennis Kelly’s new play The Gods Weep, running at north London’s Hampstead Theatre until 3 April (See News, 7 Jan 2010). Irons was last with the RSC in 1986/7 playing Leontes in The Winter’s Tale and the title role in Richard II. In Kelly’s Shakespeare-inspired tale of corporate greed, he plays Colm, a CEO who has spent his life building a global empire with brutal rigour. But when Colm decides to divide power between his subordinates, his world begins to fracture and a bloody power struggle ensues. He’s joined in the cast by Helen Schlesinger. Maria Aberg directs.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Jermyn Street Theatre contributes to this year’s celebrations of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday with a revival of his 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle, for a run to 17 April (See News, 4 Jan 2010). Despite initial failure – closing after just nine performances on Broadway – the piece, about a corrupt and bankrupt town that invents a miracle to attract tourists, went on to achieve cult status. Issy van Randwyck, David Ricardo-Pearce and Rosalie Craig star.

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