Features

Top 5 theatre openings: 15 – 21 May

A new play from Timberlake Wertenbaker and a West End transfer for ”Our Ladies…” make this week’s highlights

Ben Hewis

| London | London's West End | Off-West End |

15 May 2017

Natalie Dew in rehearsals for Deposit — Natalie Dew in rehearsals for *Deposit*
© Becky Paris

5. Deposit

Hampstead Theatre, 17 May to 10 June

If you've ever had to worry about saving up a deposit to buy a house then Matt Hartley's new play, about two couples who move in with each other to do just that, might just be for you. Natalie Dew returns to the stage following acclaimed performances in Bend It Like Beckham and Human Animals.

Click here to read our casting announcement.

Bettrys Jones in Life of Galileo — Bettrys Jones in *Life of Galileo*
© Johan Persson

4. Life of Galileo

The Young Vic, 16 May to 24 June

BAFTA Award-winning film director Joe Wright (Atonement) returns to the Young Vic following A Season in the Congo. From what we're hearing, it's basically a massive rave with original music by The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands. In our interview, the show's Australian lead Brendan Cowell said: "It’s not a daggy old science play… it's been brought a hundred miles an hour into the present."

Click here to read more about the music in Life of Galileo

Felicity Kendal (Lettice) and Maureen Lipman (Lotte Schoen) in rehearsals for Lettice and Lovage — Felicity Kendal (Lettice) and Maureen Lipman (Lotte Schoen) in rehearsals for *Lettice and Lovage*
© Catherine Ashmore

3. Lettice and Lovage

Menier Chocolate Factory, 17 May to 8 July

Trevor Nunn's second production in a row at the Menier follows the very well received Love in Idleness. Maureen Lipman and Felicity Kendal star in Peter Shaffer's play about a tour guide who is caught embellishing the history of the stately home she works at.

Click here to see the cast in rehearsals

Louise Jameson, Cathy Tyson, Janet Henfry, Souad Faress, Susan Twist and Denise Black
© Richard Davenport

2. Winter Hill

Bolton Octagon, 15 May to 3 June

A new play by Timberlake Wertenbaker and probably the best all-female cast since the Donmar's Shakespeare Trilogy, including Cathy Tyson, Denise Black and Louise Jameson. Eight local women deal with the ramifications of land being sold to developers for a luxurious skyscraper hotel. All eyes will be on Bolton this week.

Click here to read our annoucement article

Caroline Deyga (Chell), Dawn Sievewright (Fionnula), Frances Mayli McCann (Kylah), Kirsty MacLaren (Manda), Karen Fishwick (Kay) and Isis Hainsworth (Orla)
© Manuel Harlan

1. Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Duke of York's Theatre, 15 May to 2 September

In case you missed it at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, at the National Theatre or around the world on its many tour dates, super-producer Sonia Friedman has very kindly offered you the must-take chance to see this superb play in the West End. Lee Hall adapts Alan Warner's 1998 novel The Sopranos, about a group of Catholic schoolgirls on a trip to Edinburgh. If that's not enough to whet your appetite, it also features songs by ELO.

Click here to watch the company in rehearsals