Opening: Grass, Shoes, Anna Nicole, WOS Awards

Amongst the major London openings, in the West End and further afield, this week are:
OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 14 February 2011 (previews from 9 February), Lucy Bailey directs a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 2002 play Snake in the Grass, about two middle-aged women returning home to confront the ghosts of their youth, at new Notting Hill venue The Print Room, where it continues until 5 March.

OPENING TUESDAY, 15 February 2011 (previews from 8 February), Richard Thomas and Stephen Mears’ dance revue Shoes – taking audiences on a journey “from the lows of the croc via the agony and ecstasy of the stiletto, to the highs of the platform boot” – transfers to the West End’s Peacock Theatre for a run to 3 April.
ALSO ON TUESDAY, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville returns in rep to “London’s Little Opera House”, the King’s Head in Islington, directed by Robin Norton-Hale and running until 25 March.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 16 February 2011 (previews from 10 February), Druid Theatre’s production of Enda Walsh’s latest play Penelope, which sets four men at the bottom of drained swimming pool à la The Odyssey, transfers to Hampstead Theatre, running until 5 March.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 10 February), Australian playwright Tom Holloway’s play about an incestuous relationship, Fatherland, receives its world premiere at the Gate Theatre, running until 12 March.

OPENING THURSDAY, 17 February 2011, Anna Nicole, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Richard Thomas’ opera about the tragic life of Playboy model turned billionaire’s widow Anna Nicole Smith, premieres at the Royal Opera House in a limited season to 4 March.
ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 11 February), Martina Cole’s crime drama The Graft is adapted for the stage at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running until 12 March.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (preview from 15 February), Darren Murphy’s Irish Blood, English Heart, about a family’s struggles over the legacy of their estranged father, opens at the Union in Southwark, where it runs until 5 March 2011.

OPENING FRIDAY, 18 February 2011 (previews from 17 February), The Blue Dragon, Robert Lepage’s sequel to The Dragons’ Trilogy, arrives at the Barbican Theatre for a run to 26 February.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 11 February), Colin Morgan stars in the UK premiere of Colombian playwright Pedro Miguel Rozo’s Our Private Life in the Royal Court Upstairs, directed by Lyndsey Turner (Posh) and running until 12 March.

ON SUNDAY, 20 February 2011, the winners of the 11th annual Whatsonstage.com Awards – the only major theatre prize to be decided by the theatregoing public – are announced in a star-studded concert at the Prince of Wales Theatre, hosted by Christopher Biggins, Sheridan Smith and Miranda Hart.