Opening: Seize, Perfect, Shraddha & This Much

Amongst the major openings in London this week are:
OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 2 November 2009 (previews from 22 October), the Tricycle’s Not Black and White season, focusing on new black British writing (See News, 11 Aug 2009), continues with Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Seize the Day, centring on the fortunes of a Jeremy Charles, a “well-spoken, good-looking” black London Mayoral candidate. It joins Roy Williams‘ Category B in rep, continuing until 17 December.

OPENING TUESDAY, 3 November 2009 (previews from 29 October), Bristol-based puppet company Green Ginger stage Rust at the Pleasance Theatre, as part of the Suspense Puppetry Festival. The show promises “a fast-moving story of piracy, passion and vinyl”, featuring grotesque puppets and animated sets to present “a dark comic-book vision of low-life on the high seas”. Until 8 November.
ALSO ON TUESDAY Perfect Pitch – the showcase for developing homegrown musicals, which is supported for a third year by Whatsonstage.com – returns to Trafalgar Studios 2 for its second annual West End season, featuring extracts from four new musicals (See News, 3 Aug 2009). The week culminates, on Sunday 8 November 2009, in the 400-seat Trafalgar Studio 1 with a one-night only concert performance of Laurence Mark Wythe and Judy Freed’s Through the Door, which was showcased at last year’s event.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 27 October), Paul Unwin and Sarah Beck’s This Much is True, about the 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station, opens at Theatre503 in Battersea. The play draws on new testimony from de Menezes’ family and friends, as well as that of senior police officers, ‘Justice4Jean’ campaigners, lawyers and eye-witnesses to re-examine the tragedy. Until 21 November.

OPENING WEDNESDAY, 4 November 2009 (previews from 29 October), Natasha Langridge’s Shraddha, about a 17-year-old gypsy in east London whose family are threatened with eviction due to the forthcoming Olympics, opens at Soho Theatre, where it runs until 21 November.

OPENING FRIDAY, 6 November 2009 (previews from 27 October), Robin French’s new comedy Gilbert is Dead opens at Hoxton Hall, centring on the adventures of Lucius Trickett, “London’s most celebrated taxidermist”, and continuing until 29 November.