Opening: Revenger, Topless, Love, Labour & Leary

Amongst the major openings in London this week are:

OPENING MONDAY, 2 June 2008 (previews from 28 May), Ron Hutchinson’s new play Topless Mum receives its London premiere at the Tricycle Theatre. A satire on media manipulation, it examines the consequences of a newspaper editor buying ‘fake’ pictures from a soldier invalided out of Afghanistan. It runs until 28 June 2008 prior to a national tour (See News, 3 Apr 2008).

OPENING TUESDAY, 3 June 2008 (previews from 29 May), Iceland’s Theatre Vesturport returns to west London’s Lyric Hammersmith with the world premiere of Love, a new musical set in an old people’s home, which runs until 21 June (See News, 19 May 2008).

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 30 May), the West Yorkshire Playhouse co-production of Steve Waters’ Fast Labour, a revealing account of the life of a Ukranian asylum seeker, opens at north London’s Hampstead Theatre for a run to 21 June 2008.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, south London’s Union Theatre presents Prose and Cons, six plays by former and current prisoners. The short plays have all been selected through the Koestler Trust’s annual competition ‘Writing for Stage’, and continue until 21 June 2008.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 4 June 2008 (previews from 27 May), Thomas Middleton’s bloody Jacobean classic The Revenger’s Tragedy is revived at the National Theatre, running in rep in the NT Olivier as part of the Travelex £10 Season. Directed by Melly Still, it stars Rory Kinnear as Vindice, who plots revenge against the licentious old Duke who murdered his beloved. Kinnear, who won Laurence Olivier and Ian Charleson Award for his performance in last year’s The Man of Mode at the NT Olivier (See News, 25 April 2008), is joined in the cast by Adjoa Andoh, Elliot Cowan and Ken Bones. The production runs in rep until 7 August 2008.

** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to THE REVENGER’S TRAGEDY on 15 July 2008 – including a FREE drink at our post-show cast reception – all for just £15! – click here for more info! **

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (previews from 29 May), Contractions, a new play by Mike Bartlett, is performed in a backstage location at the Royal Court, running for a limited season until 14 June 2008 (See News, 8 Nov 2007). Anna Madeley and Julia Davis star.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Group XIX de Teatro performs Hysteria in the Great Hall of St Bartholemew’s Hospital as part of the Barbican’s bite 2008 season.

OPENING THURSDAY, 5 June 2008 (previews from 3 June), Noel White’s Minnesota-set comedy The Smilin’ State premieres at Hackney Empire, where it runs until 21 June 2008.

ALSO ON THURSDAY, (previews from 3 June), Philip de Gouveia’s debut play The Six Wives of Timothy Leary opens at Riverside Studios, running until 26 June 2008.

– by Theo Bosanquet