Opening: Norman, No Man\’s, Mine, Devil, La Clique

Amongst the major openings in London this week are:

OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 6 October 2008 (previews from 11 September), Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy The Norman Conquests (Table Manners, Living Together and Round and Round the Garden) is presented in rep in the Old Vic’s transformed in-the-round auditorium (See News, 20 May 2008). Green Wing’s Stephen Mangan stars as Norman alongside Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Paul Ritter, Ben Miles and Amanda Root. Directed by Matthew Warchus, the three play run in rep until 20 December 2008.

ALSO TONIGHT, Joseph Marcell and Danny Sapani feature in the British premiere of Radio Golf, the final play in the late August Wilson’s epic ten-play ‘Pittsburgh cycle’, at the Tricycle Theatre until 1 November 2008.

OPENING TUESDAY, 7 October 2008 (previews from 27 September), Michael Gambon, David Walliams, David Bradley and Nick Dunning star in Rupert Goold’s Gate Theatre, Dublin production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land at the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre (See News, 2 Jul 2008). The production marks Little Britain star Walliams’ West End debut. In the play, a wealthy Hampstead aesthete, Hirst (Gambon), who meets a shabby and penniless poet, Spooner, and invites him home for a late-night session of drinking and games, overseen by his henchmen, Briggs and Foster (Walliams). It’s currently booking until 3 January 2009.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 8 October 2008, Brazilian theatre company Nós do Morros brings its production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona to the Barbican Pit, for a limited season until 18 October.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 7 October), US dance theatre company Momix returns to the Peacock Theatre with artistic director Moses Pendleton’s “other-worldly” dance production Lunar Sea, which runs until 25 October 2008 prior to a transfer to the Liverpool Empire.

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ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 3 October), the Menier Chocolate Factory presents John Webster’s Jacobean tragedy The White Devil with a cast led by Claire Price, Darrell D’Silva and Aidan McCardle (See News, 9 Sep 2008). Directed by Jonathan Munby, it runs until 15 November 2008.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 7 October), Hackney Empire studio presents the UK premiere of Debra Ehrhadt’s autobiographical one-woman show Jamaica, Farewell, about her girlhood desire to flee her home country for America, which runs until 25 October 2008.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 7 October), Pilot Theatre’s tenth anniversary tour of their award-winning production of Lord of the Flies visits the Richmond Theatre, where it runs until 11 October.

OPENING THURSDAY, 9 October 2008 (previews from 2 October), Ashley Walters stars in the European premiere of In the Red and Brown Water at the Young Vic, the first instalment in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Brothers/Sisters trilogy. The production is set on a specially designed flooded stage, and runs until 8 November 2008.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 7 October), Shared Experience presents Mine at Hampstead Theatre, written and directed by Polly Teale, about the relationship of two young parents with the birth mother of their newly adopted child. Part of a national tour, it runs until 25 October 2008.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 7 October), Ed Gaughan performs a new version of his Edinburgh hit Radioplay at Lyric Hammersmith Studio, until 25 October 2008.

OPENING FRIDAY, 10 October 2008 (previews from 2 October), international troupe La Clique takes up residence at the historic Hippodrome, bringing their unique blend of circus, cabaret and burlesque to the capital for the first time (See News, 27 Aug 2008). It’s initially booking through to 1 February 2009.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 8 October), Southwark Playhouse presents a new production of Fin Kennedy’s award-winning play How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found, directed by Ellie Jones, until 1 November 2008.

ALSO ON FRIDAY (previews from 8 October), Alan Franks’ new play Augusta, about the chance connection between a biographer and his subject, premieres at the New End Theatre, where it runs until 2 November 2008.

OPENING SUNDAY, 12 October 2008, concert series Notes from New York stages Jason Robert Brown’s song cycle The Last Five Years for three successive Sundays at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring Julie Atherton and Paul Spicer (See News, 28 May 2008). First seen in Chicago in 2001, The Last Five Years was staged Off-Broadway in 2002 and received its UK premiere at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory two years ago.

– by Theo Bosanquet