| London Theatre Calendar 2012 | ||||
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Comedies
THE 39 STEPS - From 14 Sep 2006 - Booking to 20 Oct 2012 by John Buchan, adapted by Patrick Barlow. From an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon Criterion Theatre Comic Adaptation: The 39 Steps is best known as Hitchcock’s 1935 classic move thriller. This brand new version will be performed by four actors playing a minimum of 150 roles and contains every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie – including the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge, the first theatrical bi-plane crash ever staged and the sensational death-defying finale in the London Palladium, besides many other favourite cinematic moments, including the memorable and controversial ‘stockings and suspenders’ scene!
ABSENT FRIENDS - From 26 Jan 2012 - Booking to 14 Apr 2012 by Alan Ayckbourn Harold Pinter Theatre (formerly The Comedy Theatre) When Colin loses his fiancee, his married friends invite him round for comfort over tea and sandwiches. As the tea starts to pour, it's clear that trouble is brewing with a wickedly funny blend of jealousy, infidelity and barely concealed loathing. Tension starts to boil and maybe Colin isn’t the one who needs help… with friends like these, who needs enemies?
ALL NEW PEOPLE - From 22 Feb 2012 - Booking to 28 Apr 2012 Duke of York's Theatre In the dead of winter, at his wealthy friends’ luxury Long Beach Island apartment, Charlie has hit rock bottom on his 35th birthday. Away from the rest of the world, this perfect escape is interrupted by a motley parade of misfits who show up and change his plans. A hired beauty, a fireman, and an eccentric British real estate agent desperately trying to stay in the country all suddenly find themselves tangled together in a beach house where the mood is anything but sunny, while Charlie just wishes they’d leave and let him get on with it.
THE AWKWARD SQUAD – From 06 Mar 2012 - Closing on 07 Apr 2012 by Karin Young Arts Theatre What chance does Lorna have of a quiet weekend when both daughters and her granddaughter descend on her with their own problems? She’s spent three decades working for everyone else through the miners’ strikes, community milk schemes and library closures and tomorrow she’s to be given an honorary PhD - but her granddaughter thinks a boob job is more important… On top of that a BAFTA, impending divorce, redundancy and a very upmarket caravanette force Lorna to reconsider both the past and the future – for everyone. What’s a woman to do? Accept everything that’s thrown at her, or become a fully paid-up member of the ‘awkward squad’?
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS - From 22 Nov 2011 - Booking to 01 April 2012 by William Shakespeare Olivier, National Theatre Two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. And for no one more so than Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio who, in search of their brothers, arrive in a land entirely foreign to their distant home. A buzzing metropolis, to the outsiders it appears a place of wonderment and terror, where baffling gifts and unexplained hostilities abound.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS - From 01 Jun 2012 - Closing on 04 Jul 2012 by William Shakespeare Roundhouse Theatre Shakespeare’s joyful comedy of mistaken identity follows the fortunes of two sets of identical twins, accidentally separated at birth, then miraculously thrown together again. In a town the size of Ephesus, events like these can only lead to confusion.
HAY FEVER - From 10 Feb 2012 - Booking to 02 Jun 2012 by Noel Coward Noel Coward Theatre (formerly Albery) Judith Bliss, once glittering star of the London stage, now in early retirement, is still enjoying life with more than a little high drama and the occasional big scene. To spice her weekend up, Judith invites a young suitor to join her in the country. However, her novelist husband, David, and her two eccentric children, Simon and Sorel, have had the same idea for themselves and any hope for private flirtation disappears as the family’s guests begin to arrive. Misjudged meetings, secret seductions and scandalous revelations all run riot at the most outrageous of all house parties.
JACKIE MASON – FEARLESS (Stand up) - From 13 Feb 2012 - Closing on 17 Mar 2012 by Jackie Mason Wyndham's Theatre Jackie's brand-new show Fearless will include daily updates on the US presidential race, as well as a merciless look at British politics and, of course, his uniquely hilarious take on every day life. Audiences can expect to hear plenty about David Cameron, Twitter, the Olympic Games, the economic crisis, Obama, Sarah Palin and a whole lot more. As Jackie says, "If it's in the news, it's in the show!"
JERUSALEM - From 08 Oct 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 by Jez Butterworth Apollo Theatre Jerusalem is a comic, contemporary vision of life in our green and pleasant land. On St George's Day, the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron, local waster and modern day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his children want their dad to take them to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates want his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.
THE LADYKILLERS - From 26 Nov 2011 - Booking to 14 Apr 2012 Stage adaptation by Graham Linehan, from the 1955 Ealing comedy film with screenplay by William Rose. Gielgud Theatre Tells the story of the eccentric little old lady Mrs Wilberforce who lives alone with her parrots in a strange lopsided house in King’s Cross. Her life is turned upside down by the arrival of Professor Marcus and his four friends, who between them make up the most unlikely group of criminals. Planning the heist of a security van, they decide to use Mrs Wilberforce as cover and involve her unwittingly in the plot. Things do not go well and the Professor’s plan starts to unravel in spectacular and hilarious fashion.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM – From 02 Jun 2012 - Closing on 05 Sep 2012 by William Shakespeare Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - From Aug 2012 - Booking to Oct 2012 by William Shakespeare Noel Coward Theatre (formerly Albery) Shakespeare’s unsettling comedy of love and deceit is given an Indian setting.
NOISES OFF - From 03 Dec 2011 - Closing on 10 Mar 2012 by Michael Frayn Old Vic Theatre Follows the amateur touring production of a dreadful sex comedy Nothing On, as it travels around the country. From the disastrous dress rehearsal with the cast still fumbling with entrances and exits and bothersome props, to the final performance of missed cues and forgotten lines, Noises Off portrays the explosive personal relationships that have led to off-stage
ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS - From 08 Nov 0211 - Closing on 25 Feb 2012 by Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni Adelphi Theatre Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6000 from his fiancee’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at the Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.
POTTED PANTO - From 18 Dec 2011 - Closing on 08 Jan 2012 by Daniel Clarkson, Jefferson Turner and Richard Hurst Vaudeville Theatre Offering 8 pantomimes for the price of one! Cinderella in 3D including a cameo from the first ever Fairy-Godchicken to grace a West End stage. They dazzle with a Dick Whittington featuring Jeff as the Mayor of London: blond, posh and receiving just the treatment he deserves (with a large mallet and a custard pie). A new take on Aladdin gives the story a whole new twist, and Daisy the Cow from Jack and The Beanstalk gives a heart-rending turn as she's led to market. Not to mention the full-scale versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty which see Dan and Jeff trying to work out not only how two people can play seven dwarves, but also which of them will make the prettiest princess. From conventions and costume to heroes and villains, the dastardly double act explore all the elements of the art form we both love and loathe as a nation.
A ROUND-HEELED WOMAN - From 25 Nov 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 by Jane Prowse, based on Jane Juska's true-story book of the same name. Aldwych Theatre Retired Californian English teacher and divorcee, Jane Juska realised, after 30 years of being ‘severely deprived’ of touch, that she ‘liked men’! She decided to place a personals ad in her favourite periodical, The New York Review of Books: Before I turn 67 – next March – I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me. She received 63 replies, from men aged between 32 and 84, and went on to write of her experiences in A Round-Heeled Woman – My Late-Life Adventures in Sex & Romance.
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER - From 24 Jan 2012 - Booking to 29 Mar 2012 by Oliver Goldsmith Olivier, National Theatre Hardcastle, a man of substance, looks forward to acquainting his daughter with his old pal’s son with a view to marriage. But thanks to playboy Lumpkin, he’s mistaken by his prospective son-in-law Marlow for an innkeeper, his daughter for the local barmaid. The good news is, while Marlow can barely speak to a woman of quality he’s a charmer with those of a different stamp. And so, as Hardcastle’s indignation intensifies, Miss Hardcastle’s appreciation for her misguided suitor soars. Misdemeanours multiply, love blossoms, mayhem ensues.
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN POOFS COMES AGAIN - From 01 Dec 2011 - Closing on 28 Jan 2012 by Simon Gross Leicester Square Theatre (The Lounge) Snow White and her Seven Poofs are back for another Christmas of rude flirty fun and frolics. This bigger, bolder, ruder fairytale is packed with audience participation and feel good party anthems ‘Get The Party Started’, ‘Bad Romance’, ‘YMCA’, ‘It’s a Sin’, ‘Hot Stuff’, and Rhianna’s ‘S&M’.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - From 23 Jun 2012 - Closing on 13 Oct 2012 by William Shakespeare Brutish, fortune-hunting scoundrel Petruchio tames his wealthy shrewish wife, Katharina in this battle of the sexes comedy. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
TWELFTH NIGHT - From 05 Jun 2012 - Closing on 05 Jul 2012 by William Shakespeare Roundhouse Theatre Shipwrecked on the shores of a strange land, Viola believes her twin brother Sebastian drowned. Disguising herself as a boy to work in the court of Count Orsino, she finds herself a go-between for the man she serves and the woman who refuses to love him.
TWELFTH NIGHT - From 22 Sep 2012 - Closing on 14 Oct 2012 by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
Drama
13 - From 18 Oct 2011 - Closing on 08 Jan 2012 by Mike Bartlett Olivier, National Theatre Morning in London, Autumn 2011. Across the city, people wake up from an identical, terrifying dream. At the same moment, a young man named John returns home after years away to find economic gloom, ineffective protest, and a Prime Minister about to declare war. But John has a vision for the future and his ideas inspire an increasing number of followers. With conflict looming in the Middle East, their protest takes them to the centre of the city, to the heart of government, where coincidences, omens and visions collide with political reality. Set in a dark and magical landscape of singing pensioners, fanatical atheists and imminent apocalypse, Mike Bartlett’s new play depicts a London both familiar and strange, a London staring into the void. In a year which has seen governments fall and hundreds of thousands take to the streets, 13 explores the meaning of personal responsibility, the hold that the past has over the future and the nature of belief itself.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL - From 19 Dec 2011 - Closing on 23 Dec 2011 by Charles Dickens, adapted by Dominic Gerrard Leicester Square Theatre (The Lounge) Travel back through Scrooge's life as he journeys out, one bleak Christmas night, with the ghosts that have been sent to reclaim him ... This new adaptation incorporates puppetry and live music, whilst closely following Dickens' classic narrative.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL - From 08 Dec 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 by Charles Dickens, adapted by Dominic Gerrard Arts Theatre The old miser, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the spirit of his late business partner Jacob Marley and three other ghosts...
AFTER MISS JULIE - From 15 Mar 2012 - Closing on 07 Apr 2012 by Patrick Marber Young Vic Theatre (Maria Studio) England, July 1945. The Labour Party’s landslide election triumph. Victory in the class struggle. Celebrations in every street. Miss Julie descends into the servants’ kitchen of her father’s country mansion in search of the chauffeur John. Over one long midsummer’s night, Miss Julie’s world is turned head over heels.
THE ANIMALS AND CHILDREN TOOK TO THE STREETS - From 07 Dec 2011 - Closing on 03 Jan 2012 by Suzanne Andrade Cottesloe, National Theatre Seamlessly synchronizing live music, performance and storytelling with film and animation. Trust no-one. Suspect even your own shadow. Welcome to the Bayou, a part of the city feared and loathed, wherein lies the infamous Bayou Mansions: a stinking sprawling tenement block, where curtain-twitchers and peeping-toms live side by side, and the wolf… is always at the door. When Agnes Eaves and her daughter arrive late one night, does it signal hope in this hopeless place, or has the real horror only just begun?
BELONG - From 26 Apr 2012 - Closing on 26 May 2012 By Bola Agbaje Royal Court Theatre Upstairs Supporters keh. Forget this country. How many year have you lived here?… Your English is better than the Queen’s and they still call you…’ Election lost, speeches made and controversy stirred – Kayode’s hiding. He’s not even answering the door to the cleaner, and Rita is not going to start getting out the Hoover in her designer heels. Escaping the political heat in London, he flees to Nigeria – a British MP and a self-made man. Once there, he gets caught up in a whole new power game.
BINGO - From 16 Feb 2012 - Closing on 31 Mar 2012 by Edward Bond Young Vic Theatre (Main House) With the glory years of London behind him, William Shakespeare finds himself in a moral dilemma. Faced with the same situation as his greatest creation King Lear, what should he do with his land and his power?
BIRTHDAY - From 22 Jun 2012 - Closing on 04 Aug 2012 By Joe Penhall Royal Court Theatre Downstairs ‘- Men can take the pain - No you can't, that's just the myth they sell you.' Lisa and Ed are having another baby. Determined to do things differently this time, it's proving a bumpy ride. This is a whole new birth plan.
BROKEN GLASS - From 14 Sep 2011 - Closing on 10 Dec 2011 by Arthur Miller Vaudeville Theatre Phillip and Sylvia Gellburg are a Jewish married couple living in New York in the last days of November 1938. Sylvia suddenly becomes partially paralysed from the waist down after reading about the events of Kristallnacht in the newspaper. Dr. Harry Hyman is contacted by Phillip to try and help Sylvia recover. Dr. Hyman believes that Sylvia's paralysis is psychosomatic, and though he is not a psychiatrist, he begins to treat her according to his diagnosis.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS? - From 09 Mar 2012 - Closing on 28 Mar 2012 by Lloyd Newson Lyttelton, National Theatre From the 1989 book burnings of Salman Rusdie’s The Satanic Verses, to the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and the controversy of the ‘Muhammad cartoons’ in 2005, DV8’s new production examines how these events have reflected and influenced multicultural policies, freedom of speech and censorship.
CHILDREN’S CHILDREN - From 17May 2012 - Closing on 30 Jun 2012 by Matthew Dunster Almeida Theatre (Off West End) Michael and Gordon have been best friends since acting college. Now, 20 years later, Michael is Mr Saturday Night TV but failing actor Gordon is struggling with enormous debts. Meanwhile Gordon’s daughter Effie couldn't care less about her Dad's problems – she is far more interested in the film that her cool boyfriend is making and setting up an ecologically sound clothing label. When Gordon asks Michael to lend him a large sum of money it sets in motion a series of events that reveal irreparable cracks in the characters’ relationships
COLLABORATORS - From 25 Oct 2011 - Closing on 31 Mar 2012 by John Hodge Cottesloe, National Theatre Moscow, 1938. A dangerous to place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.
COLLABORATORS - From 30 Apr 2012 - Booking to 13 May 2012 by John Hodge Olivier, National Theatre Moscow, 1938. A dangerous to place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.
CONSTELLATIONS - From 13 Jan 2012 - Closing on 11 Feb 2012 By Nick Payne Royal Court Theatre Upstairs ‘Let’s go for a drink. I don’t know what I’m doing here anyway. One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again.’ One relationship. Infinite possibilities. Quantum multiverse theory, love and honey. An explosive new play about free will and friendship.
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN - From 13 Oct 2011 - Closing on 31 Dec 2011 by Ariel Dorfman Harold Pinter Theatre (formerly The Comedy Theatre) An account of confession and revenge set against the backdrop of a new democracy, emerging from a long period of dictatorship. A former political prisoner suffered at the hands of a captor whose face she never saw, but whose voice and mannerisms she recalls with terrifying clarity. Years later, and as if by fate, she acts as judge and jury to a man she believes to have been her oppressor. She struggles to find a form of reconciliation for the experience that she and others, have endured.
DRIVING MISS DAISY - From 26 Sep 2011 - Closing on 17 Dec 2011 by Alfred Uhry Wyndam's Theatre When Daisy Werthan, a widowed, 72 year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son Boolie hires Hoke Coleburn, an African American man, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them.
DUBLIN CAROL - From 08 Dec 2011 - Closing on 31 Dec 2011 by Conor McPherson Trafalgar Studios 2 Theatre Concerns a man who has descended into alcoholism but is given a final chance by his estranged daughter.
THE DUCHESS OF MALFI - From 17 Mar 2012 - Closing on 09 Jun 2012 by John Webster Old Vic Theatre John Webster's Jacobean tragedy begins as a love story, with a Duchess who marries beneath her class, and ends as a nightmarish tragedy as her two brothers exact their revenge, destroying themselves in the process.
FILUMENA - From 15 Mar 2012 - Closing on 12 May 2012 by Eduardo De Filippo, new English version by Tanya Ronder Almeida Theatre (Off West End) In the balmy heat of late ‘40s Naples, Filumena Marturano lies on her deathbed waiting to marry Domenico Soriano, the man who has kept her as his mistress for twenty-five years. But no sooner has the priest completed the ceremony, than Filumena makes a miraculous recovery. As he reels in shock, Domenico discovers that this brilliant, iron-willed woman has a few more surprises for him.
GOING DARK - From 06 Mar 2012 - Closing on 24 Mar 2012 by Hattie Naylor in collaboration with Sound&Fury Young Vic Theatre (The Clare) How far can you see? A mile? A hundred miles? Or to the furthest shores of the universe to a far away galaxy? As a narrator in a planetarium, it’s Max’s job to ask the cosmic questions. But in a society polluting the night sky with light and happier to explore the stars in a waxworks museum he feels increasingly out of place. When his life is suddenly turned upside down, Max discovers that understanding the universe requires a different kind of vision.
GOODBYE TO ALL THAT - From 23 Feb 2012 - Closing on 17 Mar 2012 By Luke Norris Royal Court Theatre Upstairs ‘I want you to remember something, David: if you remember only one thing I’ve ever told you, remember this every day – morning, noon and night - you do what you want with your life. Exactly what you want. Break heads if you need to and hearts if you have to, but whatever you do don’t do what I did. Don’t waste yourself.’ Frank has been married for forty years. Three years ago he fell in love.
GRIEF - From 14 Sep 2011 - Closing on 28 Jan 2012 by Mike Leigh Cottesloe, National Theatre In his unique collaborative way, Leigh is working with a company of actors, together with his regular creative team, to explore characters, relationships, themes and ideas.
THE GRUFFOLO - From 23 Nov 2011 - Closing on 15 Jan 2012 by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler adapted by Olivia Jacobs and Toby Mitchell. Lyric Theatre Follow the quick-thinking Mouse into the deep, dark wood in this magical and musical modern classic. Discover what happens when he comes face to face with wheeler-dealer Fox, an eccentric old Owl and a maraca-shaking Snake, and, of course the very creature he imagined…..The Gruffalo! Songs, laughs and scary fun for children aged 3+ and their families.
HAMLET - From 28 Oct 2011 - Closing on 21 Jan 2012 by William Shakespeare Young Vic Theatre (Main House)
HAUNTED CHILD - From 02 Dec 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 By Joe Penhall Royal Court Theatre Downstairs A small boy is driving his mother to distraction - waking at night, hearing phantom noises and fixating on his absent father. When he glimpses a figure prowling the house at night, a shadow is cast which gradually strips away his childhood certainties. This chilling and unsettling play asks demanding questions about the things we believe and their consequences.
HENRY V - From 07 Jun 2012 - Closing on 26 Aug 2012 by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Henry V of England is insulted by the King of France. As a result, he leads his army into battle against France. Along the way, the young king must struggle with the sinking morale of his troops and his own inner doubts. The war culminates at the Battle of Agincourt.
HORRIBLE HISTORIES-BARMY BRITAIN - From 14 Feb 2012 - Booking to 01 Sep 2012 by Terry Deary, Neal Foster and Ciaran McConville Garrick Theatre British history is full of barmy people who did nasty things to each other. With blood, battles, murder and mayhem Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain explores stories from Roman, Tudor, Stuart, Georgian, Victorian and WW1 periods and features famous characters such as Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Guy Fawkes, Florence Nightingale and General Earl Haig. Enjoy an episode of Roman Mankychef and find out how to impress your guests with roast dormouse; is it easier to lose your heart or head to horrible Henry? Will Parliament escape gunpowder Guy? Take a peak inside Georgian Crime School, dare to dance the Tyburn jig and find out what a baby farmer did.
HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA - From 19 Jan 2012 - Closing on 10 Mar 2012 by Federico Garcia Lorca in a new version by Emily Mann Almeida Theatre (Off West End) Following her husband’s funeral in rural Iran, powerful matriarch Bernarda Alba decrees to her five daughters that the household will enter a period of eight years mourning. The only one it seems will escape this fate is the eldest daughter, Angustias, who is already betrothed to the village’s most eligible bachelor. In the strict confines of the house, jealousy and suppressed sexuality rise to the surface. As Bernada’s oppression of her daughters increases it is more than the girls’ liberty that is in danger.
HUIS CLOS - From 05 Jan 2012 - Closing on 28 Jan 2012 by Jean Paul Sartre, translated by Stuart Gilbert Trafalgar Studios 2 Theatre Story of three people who discover, painfully and slowly, why they are brought together.
IN BASILDON - From 16 Feb 2012 - Closing on 24 Mar 2012 By David Eldridge Royal Court Theatre Downstairs Len’s on his death bed and the family gather to say their final farewells. His sisters still aren’t speaking after nearly 20 years, his nephew’s trying for a baby - and a bigger house, while his best mate Ken remembers 'Bas-vegas' when it was a village. As the spread is laid out and the ham sandwiches sit next to the wreaths, it’s hard to see who’s hungry and who’s just greedy. An epic family drama exploring inheritance and the myth of place.
ISLAND - From 15 Feb 2012 - Closing on 25 Feb 2012 by Nicky Singer Cottesloe, National Theatre In the middle of the Arctic Ocean lies an island where it is always day. The ice groans and cracks, the ground shifts under your feet, and skies flash with ice storms that freeze flesh in thirty seconds flat. Little wonder Cameron is reluctant to spend a week of his school holidays there. Cut off from the rest of the world on this deserted island, he has no computer or phone and his iPod is fast running out of battery. Cameron can either assist with his mother’s scientific research or leave camp and explore. Armed with dustbin lids to ward off any danger, he sets out to see if the island is, indeed, uninhabited.
JULIUS CAESAR – From Aug 2012 - Booking to Oct 2012 by William Shakespeare Noel Coward Theatre (formerly Albery) The dictator must be assassinated. But who will replace him?
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK - From 11 Nov 2011 - Closing on 26 Feb 2012 by Sean O’Casey Lyttelton, National Theatre A devastating portrait of wasted potential in a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish War of Independence, 1922. Jack Boyle is out of work and determined to stay that way. He postures and drinks with his sidekick Joxer while the long-suffering Juno balances threats with cajolement to preserve the semblance of family in a squalid tenement flat. Their son Johnny, crippled fighting for the IRA, cowers indoors, terrified of reprisal; his sister Mary has joined the labour movement and is on strike. Sudden news of an inheritance provokes dreams of escape but, even before their rowdy celebrations are done, reality asserts itself as a neighbour’s corpse is carried down the stairs, another victim of the bitter civil war. Mary falls for an educated man as the loans stack up. Tragedy ensues.
KING LEAR - From 31 Aug 2012 - Booking to 03 Nov 2012 by William Shakespeare Almeida Theatre (Off West End) When Lear asks each of his daughters to profess their love for him, he is flattered by the false hyperbole of Regan and Goneril. When his youngest daughter Cordelia confesses to love him simply as a daughter should, his pride is dented and he casts her out of his kingdom. Too late to realise his mistake, and forced from power by his offspring, an increasingly impotent and frail Lear descends into madness.
THE LAZY ELF - From 10 Dec 2011 - Closing on 23 Dec 2011 by Jo Noel-Hartley Arts Theatre Based at Santa’s home at the North Pole, Larry (The Lazy Elf) can think of every excuse possible not to finish making toys for delivery on Christmas Day. He really is LAZY! Santa & Mrs Claus, and the other annoyed elves show Larry how important it is to do his part and be kind. With a little help from the children in the audience Larry learns his lesson and Christmas is saved!
THE LION IN WINTER - From 04 Nov 2011 - Closing on 28 Jan 2012 by James Goldman Haymarket, Theatre Royal A family Christmas becomes a family at war. Henry II, not so young as he was, invites his estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitane, and his three sons, Richard, Geoffrey and John, to spend the festive season with him, his mistress Princess Alais, and her brother, the young King Philip of France. Will Henry name who is to be his successor as King of England? Their yuletide celebration turns into a combat zone of deceit, betrayal, bitter power games and scabrous wit.
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT - From 02 Apr 2012 - Booking to 18 Aug 2012 by Eugene O’Neill Apollo Theatre Set in 1912. Following the Tyrone family through a mesmerising day and night, as they battle their demons, their pasts, and one another the play depicts the struggle for survival of each family member as they threaten to drift further into oblivion.
LOVE LOVE LOVE - From 27 Apr 2012 - Closing on 02 Jun 2012 By Mike Bartlett Royal Court Theatre Downstairs 'Young people, our age. We’re the moment. Henry’s just that bit too old he can’t understand.’ 1967. Kenneth and Sandra meet, and it's a whole new world. A fiery relationship is sparked in the haze of the 60s, and charred by today's brutal realities. From passion to paranoia, Love, Love, Love takes on the baby boomer generation as it retires, and finds it full of trouble.
THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III - From 18 Jan 2012 - Booking to 31 Mar 2012 by Alan Bennett Apollo Theatre George III was the third Hanoverian king of Great Britain. In spite of a catalogue of accomplishments – he founded the Royal Academy of Arts, was a passionate advocate of science, literature and music and fathered fifteen children – he is best remembered today for his bouts of unbridled lunacy. Subjected to the appallingly cruel medical treatment of the day and assailed by power struggles between politicians and his scheming son, George remains throughout an intensely sympathetic character – melancholy, moving, witty...and finally triumphant
MAKING NOISE QUIETLY - From 19 Apr 2012 - Closing on 26 May 2012 by Robert Holman Donmar Warehouse A conscientious objector and a roaming artist find tenderness as the carnage of World War II unfolds across the Channel and doodlebugs explode in the meadow. A bereaved mother struggles with bitterness and love in recollecting her estranged son, lost in the Falklands. Deep in the Black Forest, an ageing holocaust survivor seeks to bring peace to a disturbed young boy and his equally wild step-father. A delicately poetic triptych of plays, Holman’s seminal work paints a very human picture of the subtly devastating effects of war and examines the bonds of suffering shared by us all.
MASTER CLASS - From 21 Jan 2012 - Booking to 28 Apr 2012 by Terrence McNally Vaudeville Theatre Terrence McNally’s play about Maria Callas takes audiences to one of her famous master classes, where, late in her own career, she dares the next generation to make the same sacrifices and rise to the same heights that made her the most celebrated, the most reviled and the most controversial singer of her time.
THE MOUSETRAP - From 25 Mar 1974 - Booking to 15 Dec 2012 by Agatha Christie St Martin's Theatre A group of people gathered together in a remote part of the countryside discover there is a murderer in their midst. The question is which one of them is the guilty party.
THE PHYSICISTS - From 31 May 2012 - Closing on 21 Jul 2012 by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, in a new version by Jack Thorne Donmar Warehouse Another nurse murdered in the world’s most illustrious sanatorium. And who’s to blame this time: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein or the brilliant Johann Wilhelm Möbius? But what are these great minds doing here, together at the same time? Who are these men? And what have they got to hide? Written in the shadow of the atom bomb and at a time of unprecedented scientific advance, Dürrenmatt’s hilariously satirical masterpiece, in this exhilarating new version by Jack Thorne, considers if insanity is the only refuge for the dangerously intelligent.
THE PITMEN PAINTERS - From 05 Oct 2011 - Booking to 14 Apr 2012 by Lee Hall, inspired by a book by William Feaver Duchess Theatre In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections; but every day they worked, as before, down the mine.
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - From 19 Jun 2011 - Closing on 08 Jan 2012 Mike Kenny’s adaptation of E. Nesbit’s novel Waterloo Station Theatre Tells the story of Bobby, Peter and Phyllis, three children whose lives change dramatically when their father is mysteriously taken away. They move from London to a cottage in rural Yorkshire with their mother where they befriend the local railway porter and embark on a magical journey of discovery, friendship and adventure. But the mystery remains – where is Father, and is he ever coming back?
REASONS TO BE PRETTY - From 10 Nov 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 by Neil LaBute Almeida Theatre (Off West End) Greg is overheard admitting that his girlfriend Steph is no beauty, but that he wouldn't change her for the world. She is devastated; he can't quite see what he’s done wrong. Meanwhile, Greg's best friend Kent alternates between boasting about how gorgeous his wife Carly is, and chasing after a hot new colleague.
THE RECRUITING OFFICER - From 09 Feb 2012 - Closing on 14 Apr 2012 by George Farquhar Donmar Warehouse It’s with the promise of money, glory and adventure that Captain Plume is recruiting the men of Shrewsbury for the King’s army. He’s also determined to make a conquest of Sylvia, but as she’s now an heiress she can afford to put him to the test. All the while, the scheming Melinda is toying with the affections of Captain Brazen and the gentleman Mr Worthy.
RICHARD II - From 01 Dec 2011 - Closing on 04 Feb 2012 by William Shakespeare Donmar Warehouse King Richard banishes his noblemen and seizes their land to fuel his own wars. As anger mounts, a battle for the soul of England begins and one man's divine right to rule is called into question
RICHARD III - From 14 Jul 2012 - Closing on 13 Oct 2012 by William Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Tragedy depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England.
STICK MAN - LIVE ON STAGE! - From 22 Nov 2011 - Closing on 08 Jan 2012 Adapted from the book by Julia Donaldson with illustrations by Axel Scheffler. Music by Benji Bower Leicester Square Theatre One day whilst out for a jog, Stick Man is pounced on by a playful dog. Mistaken for an ordinary stick, he is swept far away, being used for all sorts of things: from a flag mast to a cricket bat, a snowman’s arm to firewood (well almost!). As his adventure unfolds, Stick Man – lost and alone – wonders if he will ever get back to the family tree. Passing through all the seasons and culminating in a joyful Christmas celebration (with an appearance by a certain portly gentleman dressed in red and white).
SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS - From 15 Dec 2011 - Closing on 14 Jan 2012 Book by Helen Edmundson and songs by Neil Hannon, based on the book by Arthur Ransome Vaudeville Theatre All aboard The Swallow! Follow Captain John and his able crew as they set sail to Wildcat Island on an exotic adventure to encounter savages, capture dastardly pirates and defeat mortal enemies
THE TEMPEST - From 09 Jun 2012 - Closing on 05 Jul 2012 by William Shakespeare Roundhouse Theatre Prospero is usurped from his position as Duke of Milan and cast away with his daughter Miranda to a remote island. Twelve years later, and intent on revenge, he raises a magical tempest that shipwrecks his enemies on his shores. What begins as a search for retribution develops into a journey of acceptance and compassion in Shakespeare’s final play.
THE CHANGELING - From 26 Jan 2012 - Closing on 25 Feb 2012 by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley Young Vic Theatre (Maria Studio) Beautiful Beatrice-Joanna is in love, so she hires the repellent De Flores to kill the man her father wants her to marry. But once the deed is done Beatrice discovers it’s not money or jewels that De Flores intends to claim as his reward, but something far more precious. The Changeling is a tale of how love and sex can drive us mad.
THREE DAYS IN MAY - From 31 Oct 2011 - Closing on 03 Mar 2012 by Ben Brown Trafalgar Studios 1 Theatre Takes us behind the doors of Number Ten during three of the most pivotal days in British history when, extraordinarily, giving in to Hitler was considered by some to be a viable option. Having urgently assembled the British war cabinet, the new Prime Minister is suddenly confronted with an intense game of political chess as he tries to persuade peace treaty supporters, including Neville Chamberlain, that Britain must fight to the death. Divided on whether to negotiate terms through Mussolini or escalate the battle against fascism alone, one man has to make a monumental decision which will shape the future of the free world…
TRAVELLING LIGHT - From 11 Jan 2012 - Booking to 06 Mar 2012 by Nicholas Wright Lyttelton, National Theatre In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father’s cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their villeage, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl – now a famed American film director – looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.
THE VEIL - From 27 Sep 2011 - Closing on 11 Dec 2011 by Conor McPherson Lyttelton, National Theatre Set around a haunted house hemmed in a by a restive, starving populace, Conor McPherson’s new play weaves Ireland’s troubled colonial history into a story about the search for love, the transcendental and the circularity of time. May 1822, rural Ireland. The defrocked Reverend Berkeley arrives at the crumbling former glory of Mount Prospect House to accompany seventeen-year-old Hannah to England. She is to be married off to a Marquis in order to resolve the debts of her mother’s estate. However, compelled by the strange voices that haunt his beautiful young charge and a fascination with the psychic current that pervades the house, Berkeley proposes a seance, the consquences of which are catastrophic.
VERA VERA VERA - From 22 Mar 2012 - Closing on 14 Apr 2012 By Hayley Squires Royal Court Theatre Upstairs ‘Bobby’s dead and you’re still breathing. That’s a fucking walking talking tragedy that is.’ The boy who comes back from a war far away in a wooden box is glorified and called a hero. As the funeral plans are made on an estate in a small Kent town, his siblings squabble over who he was. Maybe the fanfare isn’t needed for this heroic martyr.
WAR HORSE - From 28 Mar 2009 - Booking to 16 Feb 2013 based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford New London At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert’s beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. He’s soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man’s land. But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.
THE WESTBRIDGE - From 25 Nov 2011 - Closing on 23 Dec 2011 by Rachel De-lahay Royal Court Theatre Upstairs The accusation of a Black teenager sparks disturbance on the South London streets. While tensions rise, a couple from very different backgrounds navigate the minefield between them and their families.
WILD SWANS (part of the World Stages London Festival) - From 13 Apr 2012 - Closing on 13 May 2012 by Jung Chang, adapted by Alexandra Wood. Young Vic Theatre (Main House) China at the heart of the 20th Century. A nation transformed beyond recognition. Through the eyes of one fiercely courageous family, Wild Swans takes us on a journey from the early days of Communist hope and struggle, through the chaos and confusion of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, to the birth of a superpower.
THE WITNESS - From 01 Jun 2012 - Closing on 30 Jun 2012 By Vivienne Franzmann Royal Court Theatre Upstairs ‘Sometimes when I think of going back. I feel like I could run there. It’s like I'm being called back. I know it sounds ridiculous. And sometimes I don't give a shit about any of it and I just want to stack shelves for the rest of my life.’ Captured in an award-winning shot Alex was rescued from Rwanda and adopted by the man behind the lens. Back from uni and returning to where she was raised the distance between father and daughter stretches taut. In the dark room of a Hampstead home a long hidden secret is slowly exposed in a flash of revelation.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK - From 07 Jun 1989 - Booking to 15 Dec 2012 by Stephen Mallatratt from the novel by Susan Hill Fortune Theatre Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps , a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. Years later, as an old man, he recounts his experiences to an actor in a desperate attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the past. The play unfolds around the conversations of these two characters as they act out the solicitor's experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago.
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