Actor ‘in good spirits’ after fall during Player Kings performance, Noël Coward theatre spokesperson said
Ian McKellen was “in good spirits” and expected to make “a speedy and full recovery” after a fall during Monday evening’s performance of Player Kings, a spokesperson for the Noël Coward theatre in London has said.
McKellen was taken to hospital after the fall. The audience was evacuated from the West End theatre and informed that the evening show was cancelled.
Continue reading...With tickets doubling as public transport passes and recycled props, Hans Otto Theater is embracing a €3m federal project to make culture climate neutral
A handful of Spanish conquistadors fight through thick undergrowth to emerge in the ivy-clad ruins of a fallen civilisation during a rehearsal of Austrian playwright Thomas Köck’s Your Palaces Are Empty.
Premiered last month at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, the bleak and unforgiving drama probes the wounds of a shattered capitalist world that has exploited its people and the planet’s resources.
Continue reading...At the annual celebration of Broadway, major acting winners included Jeremy Strong, Daniel Radcliffe and Sarah Paulson
The 77th annual Tony awards were dominated by major wins for shows Stereophonic, Merrily We Roll Along and The Outsiders as well as actors Jeremy Strong and Daniel Radcliffe.
Stereophonic, the most nominated play in Tonys history with 13 nods, picked up five awards including best play. It tells the story of a British-American rock band in the 1970s trying to make an album.
Continue reading...Others honoured from cultural world include the writer Monica Ali, choreographer Wayne McGregor and children’s laureate Joseph Coelho
Tracey Emin, the confessional visual artist, and the stage and screen actor Imelda Staunton are among leading figures from the world of culture to be honoured in the king’s birthday honours, both becoming dames.
Emin, who has survived aggressive bladder cancer and opened her own art school as well as embarking on a new body of work since her diagnosis four years ago, said it was a “brilliant surprise”.
Continue reading...Sir Nicholas Hytner, Nancy Medina and Theresa Heskins stress importance of sidelined drama, dance and music studies and say the arts are a ‘necessity for all’
Addressing the erosion and devaluation of the arts in state schools must be a priority for the next government, leading theatre figures in England have urged.
Sir Nicholas Hytner, who ran the National Theatre in London for 12 years, said that state schools “have been robbed” and that restoring arts education was a matter of urgency to ensure that there is “not just a new generation of artists but a new generation of audiences”. Nancy Medina, the artistic director of Bristol Old Vic, said the arts should be a “necessity for all pupils” and not just the “preserve” of independent schools. Theresa Heskins, artistic director of Staffordshire’s New Vic, suggested that the next government commit to providing every schoolchild a theatre trip.
Continue reading...Award-winning star, who is bringing the concert A Life in Notes to London’s Coliseum, says lyricists’ words are not reaching audiences clearly, due to a lack of training and overbearing sound mixes
Over a 50-year career she has sung lines written by musical theatre’s biggest names but the Tony award-winning star Patti LuPone fears that lyricists are being failed by today’s productions. “I cannot understand a lyric,” she said, referring to Broadway’s current wave of musicals.
LuPone blamed the problem on sound mixing that drowns out singing voices and actors who have not learned the art of projection because forehead microphones are now so widely used. “Young performers have no idea how to project,” she said, adding that they should ask themselves “who are you doing this for?” when on stage and remember “they are singing for the back row”.
Continue reading...Hello, I’m Dolly, a stage show inspired by the superstar’s life, will include her classics and new songs
Dolly Parton is heading to Broadway with the musical Hello, I’m Dolly.
The star is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life – a stage show that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Fringe investigation finds complaints from two performers about Simone Pulga’s behaviour to be substantiated
Melbourne Fringe will not use the Butterfly Club as a festival venue this year, after complaints alleging verbally abusive, intimidating and threatening behaviour made against its owner by two artists were found to be substantiated in an investigation conducted by the festival.
Since the club opened in 1999, it has been renowned as a home for new and alternative performers, making it a popular Fringe venue. The club, where the likes of Tim Minchin, Sammy J and Eddie Perfect started out, estimates that it hosts about 1,200 performances each year.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...The actor will play the lead in a stage adaptation of his Oscar-nominated journalism drama from 2005
George Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of his 2005 journalism drama Good Night, and Good Luck.
The actor’s sophomore feature as director will be transformed into a play set to premiere in spring 2025. Clooney, who played Fred W Friendly in the original, will now take on the role of Edward R Murrow.
Continue reading...The Fawlty Towers actor has often played the monarch in the past and has now recorded audio for a new production at the festival
At the age of 91, Prunella Scales has reprised one of her favourite roles. The actor, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia 10 years ago, has recorded the part of Queen Victoria for a production at the Edinburgh fringe this summer.
She played the character more than 400 times in An Evening With Queen Victoria, a play written for her by Katrina Hendrey in 1979. She returned to the show on and off in performances around the world until 2007 and brought it to an end only because she was finding it hard to remember the lines.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Audience had ‘vitriolic reaction’ to European tone of musical, forced to close early
Rufus Wainwright has defended his musical Opening Night, which was forced to close early after mixed reviews, saying West End audiences lack “curiosity” after Brexit and the British press had turned on the project because it was “too European”.
Opening Night was Wainwright’s first musical and is an adaptation of John Cassavetes’ 1977 film about an actor struggling to cope, who is played by Sheridan Smith. Directed by Ivo van Hove, it opened in March at the Gielgud theatre but a month later announced it would be closing two months early.
Continue reading...Line of Duty actor will oversee classic plays as well as new pieces inspired by the Irish author in Beckett: Unbound 2024
Adrian Dunbar is to curate a festival in Liverpool dedicated to the work of Samuel Beckett. The programme includes four specially commissioned productions, one involving prisoners at HMP Liverpool.
The Line of Duty actor said of Beckett: Unbound 2024: “Engaging with Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life. Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating.”
Beckett: Unbound, Liverpool and Paris, 30 May–7 June
Continue reading...In letter ahead of vote, signatories including Mark Knopfler say relations with female colleagues have been damaged
The musicians Sting and Mark Knopfler have co-signed a letter with leading theatre producers and actors, warning that they will be obliged to resign their memberships of the men-only Garrick Club if members refuse to approve a decision to admit women in a vote next Tuesday.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, was also signed by the actor Stephen Fry, the West End and Broadway theatre producer Karl Sydow, and Matthew Byam Shaw, an executive producer on The Crown television series and co-founder of Playful West End theatre production company.
Continue reading...The institution hopes to ‘shift the dial’ and encourage a more diverse range of students to apply
A key obstacle in the path of poorer aspiring actors is to be removed at one of the UK’s leading drama schools, the Observer can reveal. The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, one of the country’s top drama schools, where Dame Judi Dench, Andrew Garfield, Riz Ahmed, Jason Isaacs, Cush Jumbo and Martin Freeman all learned their craft, is to scrap audition fees for prospective students in an effort to broaden its intake.
“None of us want drama schools to be the preserve of the well off. Ideally, they are places where people from all backgrounds can come together and learn from each other,” said Freeman, a Central graduate and star of The Responder, Sherlock and The Office. “Without my grant from Richmond council many years ago, I would never have been able to enjoy my three years at Central. That seems to have become harder and harder in recent years; who knows how many young actors are lost to us, due to lack of funds. I hope this inspires others to follow suit in trying to make attending drama school fairer for all.”
Continue reading...Women in Theatre Lab will act as incubator for playwriting and acting talent and address gender inequality
Gemma Arterton, Joanna Scanlan and Stella Kanu are some of the figures backing an initiative to promote women in the theatre, who are being overlooked across the industry, according to the project’s founder.
Women in Theatre Lab will primarily act as an incubator for playwriting and acting talent. Its founder, Jennifer Tuckett, said the group would also put pressure on Arts Council England (ACE) to launch a review of gender inequality across the arts.
Continue reading...Acclaimed director Sam Gold will adapt the Shakespeare tragedy with new music from hitmaker and Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff
West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler and Heartstopper breakout Kit Connor are set to play Shakespeare’s tragic lovers Romeo and Juliet on Broadway.
Romeo + Juliet will premiere later this year from Tony award-winning director Sam Gold, who has previously taken on other Shakespeare plays such as Macbeth, Othello and King Lear.
Continue reading...Home theatre apologises for upset caused by cancelling of Voices of Resilience
The organisers of a Palestinian literature event cancelled by a Manchester theatre last week, say they are “hugely grateful” the venue has agreed it can go ahead after a surge of support.
Home theatre apologised for the upset caused by cancelling Voices of Resilience, due to be held on 22 April, citing “recent publicity” and safety concerns for the organisers and those attending.
Continue reading...Joe Penhall’s new play marks the talkshow host’s first theatre role since One Man, Two Guvnors and will see him star opposite Anna Maxwell Martin at the Old Vic
James Corden is to return to the London stage for his first role since the National Theatre’s blockbuster farce One Man, Two Guvnors.
The star, who last year left his US late-night talkshow after eight years, will appear in a new political drama by Joe Penhall. The Constituent, at the Old Vic theatre, is set in an MP’s constituency office. Corden will play “an ex-serviceman with a life in freefall” while Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Line of Duty) is an opposition backbencher whose ideals of public office are tested by his demands. Zachary Hart completes the cast as a parliamentary protection officer. The play will be directed by the Old Vic’s artistic director, Matthew Warchus, and is said to explore “the conflict between public service and personal safety”.
Continue reading...Company founder Felix Barrett says Viola’s Room, written by Daisy Johnson, will be an audio-driven production perfect for date nights
Punchdrunk’s last immersive production, The Burnt City, drew more than 600 masked theatregoers each night to spend three hours venturing around a sprawling saga based on Greek myths. Their next show, announced on Monday, will invite them to take off their shoes and socks for a slumber party.
“This whole thing is a bedtime story,” said the company’s founder, Felix Barrett, of Viola’s Room, which will open in May at their headquarters in Woolwich, south-east London. Audiences will wear headphones rather than masks and follow what Barrett called an audio-driven “linear story” rather than explore the “open world” of Punchdrunk’s trademark shows, which let you roam freely around the space. Theatregoers will, according to publicity material, “feel their way through a maze-like installation as an unseen narrator guides them on a sensory journey”.
Continue reading...Pickett’s ‘very funny and very angry’ play 1536 follows three women as they discuss the arrest of Anne Boleyn
The British playwright Ava Pickett has won this year’s Susan Smith Blackburn prize for female, transgender and non-binary playwrights.
Pickett’s winning play, 1536, unfolds in Tudor Essex and follows three women as they discuss the news of Anne Boleyn’s arrest. Pickett called it a “very funny and very angry play” about female friendship. In a ceremony at the Royal Court theatre in London on Monday, she was awarded $25,000 (£19,900) and a signed print by Willem de Kooning.
Continue reading...