Category: theatre

British theatres reserve a certain number of (very good) seats for members. As government subsidies fall, will the demands of members harm the theatres’ programming?

Christians have forced the cancellation of play at a Northern Ireland theatre because it supposedly mocks the Bible, it has emerged.

“Reports by an independent panel of assessors suggest that the Abbey is struggling to meet its aim of being a world-class theatre. The assessors, appointed jointly by the Arts Council and the Abbey Theatre itself, gave just four of 12 productions marks that would rank them as very good.”

“Former WhatsOnStage chief Terri Paddock has spoken out for the first time about her shock departure from the theatre website at the end of last year, describing it as ‘sudden and unexpected’. She said she had asked solicitors to pursue legal action on her behalf.”

The Cutty Sark, in drydock on the Thames in Greenwich, will continue being a historical exhibit by day, “but by night it will become an 85-seat theatre intended to showcase cabaret, music, lectures, small-scale drama and local performers.”

How did the playwright come up with such an odd and memorable stage image? To fins out, Beckett biographer James Knowlson looks into the work’s background – and tracks down some of the first actresses to play Winnie.

While the productions say this confluence offers a chance to build on one another’s success, they also acknowledge, in much more than a stage whisper, that they need to stand out from the pack.

Conceived of and paid for by travel industry players, the show is produced and performed Off-Broadway. It’s open to the public but a number of performances have been bought out by travel-related businesses.

“The newly-opened Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is expected to attract an additional 100,000 annual audience members to the Shakespeare’s Globe South Bank site, the venue’s directors have said.”

Mark Lawson writes of seeing The Duchess of Malfi at the new period-style Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – and how daylight or the lack of it affected the way plays were written.