UK BLOG

Barbican: The Tempest
Cheek by Jowl productions should never be missed. The director and designer team Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod have a worldwide reputation and over the last few years have been comfortably at home, when in London, at the Barbican's BITE festival of international theatre. The Tempest is part of their work with their Russian ensemble. It will be performed with surtitles — but don't let this put you off. Cheek by Jowl always breathes new life into classic texts and creates such powerful theatre that it speaks to everyone.
7 April - 16 April 2011 (barbican.org.uk)

The Gate Theatre: Electra
Nick Payne is one of the most interesting young writers working in British theatre today. His sensitive wit has won him a George Devine Award, and two hit plays last year gained him a nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Now he is producing a new version of Sophocles' Electra at the Gate. Given that much of the acclaim gained so far has been for his strong comedy talents, it will be fascinating to see what he does with a Greek tragedy.
7 April - 14 May 2011 (gatetheatre.co.uk)

Novello Theatre: Betty Blue Eyes
With such a string of hits behind him, if producer Cameron Mackintosh backs a show you have to pay attention — but a musical, based on an Alan Bennett story, about a pig? Well, stranger things have proved successful, and they haven't managed to deliver animatronic swine. Adapted from the 1984 film, A Private Function, with a nostalgic score by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (of Honk! fame), its audience will get to enjoy Sarah Lancashire and Reece Shearsmith taking on roles made famous by Maggie Smith and Michael Palin. Based during the year of a Royal Wedding, when Britain was in the grip of a depression, Betty Blue Eyes is selling itself as topical stuff — there are even austerity priced seats for the preview period on sale for only £10.
13 April - 22 October 2011 (bettyblueeyesthemusical.com)

The Print Room: Kingdom of Earth
A Terence Rattigan revival is in full force at the moment, London currently boasts excellent productions of two of his plays, Flare Path and Cause Célèbre. But there's another centenary worth celebrating: the birth of Tennessee Williams. A rarely performed play, Kingdom of Earth, set during a flood of the Mississippi, is to be staged at The Print Room. This tiny venue in trendy Notting Hill is the project of Anda Winters and director Lucy Bailey and has already received rave reviews for its first two shows.
29 April - 28 May (the-print-room.org)

Wilton's Music Hall: Iolanthe
From her base at the Union Theatre in Southwark, Sasha Regan thrills audiences with her bold adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas. Iolanthe is her second transfer to the gorgeously decrepit Wilton's: as the oldest surviving grand music hall from the Victoria era, it is the perfect setting for a fantastic show. Using an all-male cast to take on the role of the fairies as they fall in love with members of the House of Lords, Regan's knowing take on Gilbert and Sullivan's topsy-turvy world adds to the hilarity of original. But this production is as affectionate as it is intelligent — much praise is due to Chris Mundy's superb musical direction on solo piano. It can't be recommended strongly enough.
Until 1 May 2011 (wiltons.org.uk)

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