Another 2010 graduate, Ivanno Jeremiah from RADA, will be going up to West Yorkshire Playhouse this Autumn to appear in As You Like It, directed by Ian Brown. It's not his first job post-graduation, he already has a film under his belt, but a bit of Shakespeare never did anyone any harm and he's really looking forward to showing his versatility as he's playing Charles the Wrestler AND William. As You Like It opens on 17 Sept and plays till 16 Oct with a press night on 22 Sept (ooh, the same night as the Sheffield Hamlet, they'll have to do something about that...). Congratulations, Ivanno!
Tom Goodman-Hill and Tom Godwin are currently deep in rehearsals for Mike Bartlett's new play, Earthquakes in London, which will play in a straight run in the Cottesloe from 28 July (press night 4 August) to 22 Sept. This reunites them with director Rupert Goold, who won an Olivier for his production of Enron and they are both delighted to be working with him again. It's another epic piece and staging it has involved some epic reconfiguration of the Cottesloe - all very exciting. We look forward to them shocking and surprising us on 4 Aug...
New Guildhall signing Harry Lister Smith has got his first theatre job since graduating and will soon be heading up to Sheffield with another Scott Marshall stalwart, Joseph Mydell, to appear in Hamlet . They join a stellar cast, headed by John Simm, and are both really looking forward to working with the director, Paul Miller. Hamlet opens on 15 Sept and plays until 23 Oct with a press night on 22 Sept. Congratulations, Harry and Joe!
Jeffery Kissoon is delighted to be returning to Liverpool and to Antony and Cleopatra when he starts rehearsals at the end of August for the role of Antony opposite Kim Cattrall as Cleopatra. Jeffery is a well-known and well established acting presence who has worked with everyone from Robert Lepage to Trevor Nunn, Adrian Noble to Simon McBurney, Peter Brooke to Nancy Meckler and Peter Hall to Nick Hytner. He has worked with Janet Suzman before, too, and is very much looking forward to being directed by her in this special production. Antony and Cleopatra opens at the Liverpool Playhouse on 8 Oct and plays until 13 Nov with a press night on 14 Oct.
Julie Legrand is loving getting in touch with her inner witch, playing Madame Morrible in the new cast of the Olivier Award winning show, Wicked. She will be appearing at the Apollo Theatre, Victoria until 5 March 2011 and the new cast will be having an official opening night on 18 May.
David Burke will return to the Donmar this summer to play Colonel Kottwitz in Heinrich von Kleist's masterpiece (described by some as the "German Hamlet") The Prince of Homburg, which he wrote only a few months before he committed suicide in 1811. Directed by Jonathan Munby, it will run from 22 July - 4 Sept, with a press on 27 July.
David Ryall is to be reunited with Peter Hall once again - playing Feste in his (Peter Hall's) production of Twelfth Night which will play in the Cottesloe to celebrate his 80th birthday. David has worked with Peter Hall seven times before, having appeared in Jean Seberg (National), Animal Farm (National), Coriolanus (National), Sienna Red (UK Tour), Lenny (Queen's Theatre), Tantalus (RSC) and in his previous production of Twelfth Night at the Playhouse. He is absolutely delighted to be part of this production, which will open on 11 Jan 2011 (!) and play in a straight run until 5 March.
Derek Griffiths, who could just have been seen in the Olivier Award winning production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello, and Philippa Stanton are currently appearing at Chichester in the hit double bill, The Real Inspector Hound and The Critic. Both plays have been co-directed by Jonathan Church and Sean Foley and will play in the Minerva until 28 August. What a lovely way to spend the summer...
Finn Ross is thorougly enjoying his move into designing for opera. This started last autumn with Janacek's The Adventures of Mr Broucek, a co-production between Opera North and Scottish Opera, continued with The Knight Crew, a new opera for young people for Glyndebourne, and carries on with A Dog's Heart, an opera based on a Bulgakov novel, for Dutch Opera. The latter will be directed by Simon McBurney and is already scheduled to transfer to the ENO in late November. What with all this and Das Portrait for the Bregenz Festival this summer straight theatre had better step aside... this boy loves opera!
"...excellent video work by Finn Ross..." (The Adventures of Mr Broucek) Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times 18.10.2009
"With Finn Ross's video projections blending news footage with milky Melies fantasy... this gentle satire is a delight." (The Adventures of Mr Broucek) Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday 18.10.2009
Following her Olivier-award nominated performance as Desiree in A Little Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre last year, the beauteous Hannah Waddingham will return to Sondheim this summer, playing the Witch in his wonderful musical about fairy tales, Into the Woods. Into the Woods will play at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre from 5 August - 11 September, with press night on 16 August.
Laurie Sansom's highly acclaimed Young America season is currently playing in the Cottesloe. Originally seen at Northampton at the end of last year, the season consists of two little known plays by Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams. O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning Beyond the Horizon had not previously been seen here for over seventy years and Williams's Spring Storm was written while he was still at college and had never been seen in this country. Jon Nicholls composed the beautiful and haunting music score and Christopher Shutt created the soundscape. The productions have garnered four and five star reviews across the board - they're a hit. Young America will play in the Cottesloe until 22 July
"...a score of lonely Shenandoah strings." The Sunday Times, 18.04.10
Caroline Sheen has flown Stateside for the foreseeable future, preparing to take over the role of Mary Poppins for the tour of America. She is currently in rehearsals in LA before opening in Tempe, Arizona on 11 February and will then take in almost every major (and not-so-major) city in the States, finishing at the beginning of February 2011. She is delighted to be revisiting the role she enjoyed playing so much in the UK and to have the opportunity to see so much more of America. We wish her luck and look forward to catching up with her in Washington or Buffalo!
Brian Doherty and Gruffudd Glyn continue their work with the RSC Ensemble, this time in Lucy Bailey's production of Julius Caesar, which opened on 26 May and will play in rep in the Courtyard until 2 Oct. They both have bigger parts in the first show of the seaon, The Winter's Tale, playing Autolycus and the Young Shepherd respectively, and both made their mark in the reviews: "Brian Doherty gives a superbly seedy performance as a snaggle-toothed Irish Autolycus..." (Charles Spencer, The Telegraph); "...Gruffudd Glyn (is) delightfully funny and touching as the shepherd..." (Charles Spencer, The Telegraph); "Brian Doherty's winning turn as the roguish Autolycus..." (Philip Holyman, whatsonstage). The Winter's Tale plays in rep until 3 Oct. The ensemble will stay together for at least two and a half years and perform eight Shakespeare plays and several new works; this summer Brian will start rehearsals for The Drunks, playing the Mayor and Gruffudd will be in The Grainstore. Both are new Russian plays commissioned for the ensemble and will be directed by Anthony Neilson and Michael Boyd respectively.
