Theatre News

Plays Extend: Young Menagerie, Wilde Husband

| London's West End |

24 November 2010

The Young Vic’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ classic The Glass Menagerie has extended its run by two weeks, taking booking up to 15 January 2011.
The production, which is directed by Young Vic deputy artistic director Joe Hill-Gibbins and stars Olivier Award winner Deborah Findlay, alongside Sinead Matthews, Leo Bill and Kyle Soller, opened earlier this month (17 November 2010, previews from 11 November) as part of the venue’s 40th anniversary season.

Williams’ autobiographical 1944 play centres on Tom, a young would-be poet, who struggles to support his overbearing mother and delicate sister. The last major London production, directed by Rupert Goold, starred Jessica Lange in the West End.

The Glass Menagerie features a new score written by Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning composer Dario Marianelli, and is designed by Jeremy Herbert.

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Lindsay Posner’s production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre, starring real-life husband and wife Alexander Hanson and Samantha Bond, has extended its run until 26 February 2011.

In Wilde’s 1895 satire, Mrs Cheveley (Bond) attempts to ruin the career of politician Robert Chiltern (Alexander Hanson) by producing incriminating evidence about his past. However, she hasn’t reckoned on the faithfulness and good memory of his devoted wife (played by Rachael Stirling), nor the assistance of his philandering friend Lord Goring (Elliot Cowan).

The production, which opened on 10 November 2010 (previews from 4 November), also features Caroline Blakiston, Charles Kay and Fiona Button. It’s designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis, lit by Peter Mumford and produced by Kim Poster for Stanhope Productions.

Several West End shows have announced additional dates over the Christmas period:

At the Apollo, The Country Girl as added matinee performances on 21 and 29 December 2010. Rufus Norris’ revival of Clifford Odets’ 1950 play stars Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove, and has brought forward its closing date to 22 January 2011, when it makes way for a four-week February season of Leslie Jordan’s one-man, Off-Broadway hit My Trip Down the Pink Carpet.

Rock ‘n’ roll musical Dreamboats and Petticoats has added matinee performances on 22, 29 and 31 December. The show, which is currently booking at the Playhouse Theatre until 26 November 2011, is based around the Fifties and Sixties hits from the compilation album series of the same name and features rock ‘n’ roll classics from the likes of Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury and Chuck Berry..

West End long-runner Blood Brothers has added two matinee performances to its festive schedule, on 22 and 29 December. The Willy Russell musical currently stars 70’s pop star Lyn Paul as Mrs Johnstone, who makes way from 24 January 2011 for Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton. Blood Brothers premiered in 1983 and has been at the West End’s Phoenix theatre since 1991.