Opening: Internationalist, White, Green & Triptych

Amongst the major openings in London this week are:

OPENING TUESDAY, 8 April 2008 (previews from 3 April), The Internationalist receives its UK premiere at west London’s Gate Theatre, where it marks New York playwright Anne Washburn’s UK debut (See News, 15 Feb 2008).The satire, which puts business trips and global travel under the microscope, stars Elliot Cowan as American businessman Lowell who finds himself lost in translation abroad. Gate joint artistic director Natalie Abrahami directs. The production continues until 3 May.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 25 March), The Black and White Ball, a new musical fashioned around various Cole Porter songs, kicks off the new in-house season at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington, running until 4 May (See News, 5 Mar 2008). Set in 1960s New York, Leah is trying to solve the mystery of the murder of her stepfather, Jay St John, 20 years ago. Matthew White directs a cast including Chris Ellis Stanton, Mark McGee, Kaisa Hammarlund and Katherine Kingsley.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (preview from 3 April), octogenarian Warren Mitchell returns to the West End to recreate his title performance in Jeff Baron’s multi award-winning 1996 play Visiting Mr Green, which runs at Trafalgar Studios 1 until 10 May (See News, 25 Mar 2008).
Jewish widower Mr Green is almost hit by a speeding car driven by corporate executive Ross Gardiner. Found guilty of reckless driving, Ross is ordered to spend the next six months making weekly visits to Mr Green. Family secrets are revealed and old wounds reopened as both men come to understand and tolerate one another’s differences. Gideon Turner co-stars.

** DON’T MISS the chance to catch VISITING MR GREEN for only £17.50 – offer ends 12 April 2008 – click here for more info! **

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 9 April 2008, Toby Hadoke’s one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf opens at the Arts Theatre for a run to 19 April ahead of a regional tour.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, the Wrestling School celebrate its 20th anniversary with the world premiere of Howard Barker’s new play I Saw Myself, which is at the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre until 19 April.

** DON’T MISS the chance to get two-for-one tickets to I SAW MYSELF – offer ends 16 April 2008 – click here for more info! **

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Farber Foundry and Oxford Playhouse present Molora, a contemporary South African reworking of the Oresteia trilogy, at the Barbican Pit for a season to 19 April.

OPENING THURSDAY, 10 April 2008 (previews from 8 April), director Aaron Paterson returns to the Blue Elephant Theatre with a new staging of Euripides’ Hippolytus, which runs until 26 April.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 8 April), Mercurial Theatre premieres Briefing, based on Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a Descent into Hell, at Camden People’s Theatre, where it runs until 26 April.

OPENING FRIDAY, 11 April 2008 (previews from 9 April), Triptych – Edna O’Brien’s poetic three-hander which tells the intertwining stories of a wife, a daughter and a mistress – is presented at Southwark Playhouse for a season to 10 May. Terry Norton plays the cheated wife with Irish actress Orla Brady, from TV’s Mistresses, playing the mistress. The London production is directed by Sean Mathias, who directed Norton in a South African production of the play at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

– by Terri Paddock