Mark Ludmon

Mark Ludmon has been a journalist for over 20 years, specialising in writing about theatre and the arts as well as bars, pubs and drink. He has been on the theatre judging panel for London’s Olivier Awards and has a masters degree in English literature, specialising in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He has an MA in theatre research, criticism and dramaturgy from the University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. You can find him tweeting about theatre as @MarkLudmon and writing about theatre at markludmon.com.

Further casting announced for Annie in West End

Features, News, West End
Book now for Annie at Piccadilly Theatre

Alex Bourne will be Daddy Warbucks with Holly Dale Spencer as Grace Farrell alongside Miranda Hart as part of further casting announced for the new West End production of Annie. The pair, who have both appeared in the UK tour of the musical, will be joined in the show at Piccadilly Theatre by Jonny Fines as Rooster and Djalenga Scott as Lily. Today’s casting news follows the previously announced Hart as iconic villain Miss Hannigan. The title role of Annie will be shared by Madeleine Haynes, aged 13 from Hadley Wood, Barnet in north London, Lola Moxom, aged 12 from Rochester in Kent, and Ruby Stokes, aged 12 from Hampshire. They will be joined by three teams of young performers who will play the girls in Miss Hannigan’s orphanage (see below). Completing the company will be ensemble members Keisha Atwell, Sophie Ayers, Bobby Delaney, Nic Gibney, Patrick Harper, Ben Harrold, George Ioannides, Megan Louch, Benjamin Mundy, Ben Oliver, Heather Scott-Martin, Anne Smith, Kate Somerset How, Katie Warsop and Russell Wilcox.  Amber, a four-year-old Labradoodle, will play Annie’s dog, Sandy. Rehearsals … Read more

First productions announced for Bridge Theatre

News, West End
The Bridge Theatre announces new season

Ben Whishaw, Simon Russell Beale, Rory Kinnear and David Morrissey are among stars lined up for the first productions at the new Bridge Theatre opening in London in October. For the new venue by Tower Bridge, London Theatre Company (LTC) founders Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr have secured new plays by leading playwrights including Lucinda Coxon, Lucy Prebble, Sam Holcroft and Nina Raine. The theatre will open with a new comedy by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, Young Marx, directed by Hytner, with Kinnear in the title role plus Oliver Chris as Engels. Depicting a young Karl Marx in Soho in 1850, it reunites the creative team behind smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors. Design will be by Mark Thompson, music by Grant Olding, lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Paul Arditti. With previews from October 18, it will open October 26 and run to December 31. In line … Read more

Cast announced for Arcola’s Richard III

News, Off West End
Arcola Theatre Richard III

The full cast has been announced for the new production of Shakespeare’s Richard III starring Greg Hicks at the Arcola Theatre in London. Hicks, who is associate artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company, will take on the role of the tyrant king after acclaimed performances as Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and King Lear for the RSC. He was nominated for the Best Actor Olivier Award and won Best Shakespearian Performance at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for the title role in Coriolanus at the Old Vic. He is returning to the Arcola having previously starred in two sold-out runs of Clarion, An Enemy of the People and The Kreutzer Sonata. Buckingham will be played by Peter Guinness who has recently been seen on TV in Lucky Man, Critical, Strike Back and DaVinci’s Demons. On stage he was in After Independence at the Arcola and played Claudius in Hamlet at Glasgow … Read more

Cast announced for An Octoroon at Orange Tree

News, Off West End
Cast for An Octoroon at Orange Tree Theatre

The cast has been announced for the European premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Obie Award-winning play, An Octoroon, at the Orange Tree Theatre in London. The line-up comprises Cassie Clare, Emmanuella Cole, Celeste Dodwell, Iola Evans, Ken Nwosu, Vivian Oparah, Alistair Toovey, and Kevin Trainor. They are joined by cellist James Douglas. Ned Bennett returns to the Orange Tree to direct after his successful production of Alistair McDowall’s Pomona which transferred to the National Theatre and Royal Exchange. An Octoroon, which premiered Off-Off Broadway in 2014, is set on a failing plantation, Terrebonne, after the death of its owner Judge Peyton. His handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful “octoroon” – a 19th-century term for a mixed-heritage person with just one black great-grandparent. However, the dastardly M’Closky has other plans for both Terrebonne and Zoe. It is based on Irish playwright Dion … Read more

Brighton Fringe Preview – Our Top Picks

Events, News, Regional
Brighton Fringe 2017

From small beginnings, Brighton Fringe has grown over the past five years and now features nearly 1,000 events from comedy, cabaret and music to theatre, dance and visual arts. With a programme running from May 5 to June 4, we pick out some of the theatre highlights. For more, look out for the 160-page free A4 brochure or visit www.brightonfringe.org. The world premiere of Blooming, Patrick Sandford’s take on experiences of happiness, follows his hit show Groomed, which won three Brighton Fringe theatre awards in 2016. Patrick asked 100 people, “How do you know when you are happy?”. The answers – provocative, kaleidoscopic, astonishing – were the starting point for this optimistic-in-spite-of-everything show. Sweet Dukebox, May 19-21, 25-27 Shell Shock tells one soldier’s story of coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, adapted from the novel, Shell Shock: The Diary of Tommy Atkins, by Iraq … Read more

Carvel And Coyle Cast In Almeida’s Ink

News, Off West End
Bertie Carvell and Richard Coyle to star in Ink at Aleida Theatre

Bertie Carvel and Richard Coyle are to lead the cast of James Graham’s new play about The Sun newspaper at the Almeida Theatre. Carvel will play a “young and rebellious” Rupert Murdoch who bought the struggling tabloid in 1969 and relaunched it as the populist publication it is today. Coyle will play Larry Lamb who took over as Murdoch’s first editor with a quest, against all odds, to give the people what they want. Joining them will be Pearl Chanda, with further casting to be announced soon. It is being designed by Bunny Christie with lighting by Neil Austin and sound and composition by Adam Cork. Ink will be directed by the Almeida’s artistic director Rupert Goold and run from June 17 to August 5. In his debut at the Almeida, Graham is again exploring modern society and politics as in previous acclaimed plays including This House, The Vote, Privacy … Read more