Opening: Shrek, Derren Brown, Tenor & Betrayal
Amongst the major London openings, in the West End and further afield, this week are:
OPENING MONDAY, 13 June (previews from 8 June), Michael Grandage directs Felicity Jones in the title role of Schiller’s Luise Miller, playing at the Donmar Warehouse. It continues until 30 July.
ALSO ON MONDAY, (previews from 8 June), illusionist and mind-reader Derren Brown returns to the West End with his latest live show Svengali at the Shaftesbury Theatre where he plays a limited season through to 16 July.
OPENING TUESDAY, 14 June (previews from 6 May), Shrek the Musical receives its London premiere at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The cast includes Nigel Lindsay, Amanda Holden, Nigel Harman and Richard Blackwood.
OPENING WEDNESDAY, 15 June (previews from 9 June), Emperor and Galilean, Ibsen’s 1873 magnum opus under direction from Jonathan Kent. Featuring Andrew Scott and Ian McDiarmid, the production continues in rep at the NT’s Olivier until 10 August.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, (previews from 2 June), The muscial of Ken Ludwig’s fantastic comedy Lend Me A Tenor, about an opera company whose star is unexpectedly incapacitated, gets a musical makeover with a cast including Matthew Kelly. Peter Sham and Brad Carroll‘s musical plays a limited run at the Gielgud Theatre to 19 November.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, (previews from 9 June), Steve Marmion helms his first production as artistic director of Soho Theatre, the London premiere of Anthony Neilson’s Realism. It runs until 9 July.
OPENING THURSDAY, 16 June (previews from 27 May), Ian Rickson directs Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Miles and Douglas Henshall in Betrayal, Harold Pinter’s backward-running 1978 play about a seven-year affair, at the Comedy Theatre. The show plays a limited season to 20 August.
ALSO ON THURSDAY, (previews from 10 June), Takeaway, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s musical set in a Chinese restaurant, opens at Theatre Royal Stratford East. It runs until 9 July.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The annual free theatre festival West End Live this year takes place in Trafalgar Square.
– Matt Hannigan
