Features

Five Reasons To See: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Features, Reviews, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, West End
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time

We recently paid a visit to the National Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at the Gielgud Theatre. Here are our top 5 reasons to see this remarkable piece of theatre:- 1) The test of time To withstand the test of time in London’s West End is no mean feat – particularly during a recession. As with The National Theatre’s runaway success War Horse, the enduring popularity of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time came to many as a surprise; not because it wasn’t worthy of sell-out shows and five star reviews – far from it – but simply because in 2012, when Curious Incident premiered at the Cottesloe Theatre, times were particularly tough for everyone. Since then Curious Incident has been unstoppable, receiving seven Olivier Awards and taking home Best New Play at the 2013 Whatsonstage Awards. Even when … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright on Blood Brothers

Features, Interviews, Touring
Blood Brothers on Tour

Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright speak to Elaine Peake about Blood Brothers EP: How did you come up with the idea of writing a full-scale musical? WR: The kind of theatre I was involved in right from the word go didn’t make a distinction between musical and non-musical. When I started work at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, it was commonplace to have music as part of your show. Blood Brothers was written very much in the Everyman ‘house style’ of the day, and that was the period when the resident company included people like Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alison Steadman, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite, Bill Nighy, Matthew Kelly, Antony Sher – you were working with that kind of actor. All of them could sing (some better than others!), and some of them played a musical instrument, so it was the way we did it. We’d all been influenced by … Read more

Fifteen minutes with …Philip Olivier

Features, Interviews, News, Regional
Ale House at the Dome Theatre Liverpool

Liverpool lad Philip Olivier – best known for his role as Tim O’Leary in Channel 4’s Brookside, not to mention a killer set of abs – spills the beans on his directorial debut: a site-specific production of The Ale House opening next week at The Dome in Grand Central, Liverpool. Tell us a bit about The Ale House It was written by Tony Furlong and Jimmy Power back in 1995 and it went down a storm even back then in Liverpool. It’s about your local boozer, with lots of Liverpool jokes and the caricatured characters you’d expect to find in your typical Liverpool ale house. Would you say the play works best in Liverpool then? Yes. It’s got the same sort of comedy angle as Mrs Brown’s Boys, and we’ve brought it right up-to-date. The writers brought the play back in October last year for a run at St Helens … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: David Schaal and Vincent Regan on A Steady Rain

Features, Interviews, Off West End
A Steady Rain at the Arcola Theatre

Following a successful stint at East Yorkshire’s East Riding Theatre, Keith Huff’s critically acclaimed play A Steady Rain is set to tread the boards at London’s Arcola Theatre. Layla Haidrani caught up with lead actors David Schaal (The Office) and Vincent Regan (Troy), asking what audiences might expect from its London premiere.  Q: What initially drew you to A Steady Rain? VR:  I was looking for a really good contemporary play and one that didn’t have a very big cast as we couldn’t afford to pay a lot of actors. I came across Steady Rain and liked it so much I thought I’d like to do it myself. I don’t usually do much theatre – I’ve only done a couple of plays in the 15 years. DS: I was immediately drawn to the amazing script. Very rarely do you read a play and think I absolutely have to do it … Read more

What’s On Our Radar? – February 2016

Features, News, Off West End, Touring, West End
In The Night Time (Before The Sun Rises) at the Gate Theatre

Emily Hardy reveals her February favourites. The End of Longing The Playhouse theatre February 2 – May 14 BOOK NOW Written by and starring Friends’ Matthew Perry, The End of Longing is the one everyone’s been talking about. Scuppering what everyone believed would be a bonafide Friends reunion on 21 February, Matthew Perry is making his return to the West End with this ‘fast paced’ and ‘bittersweet’ comic play. What’s more Lindsay Posner (Speed-the-Plow, Other Desert Cities), who first collaborated with Perry on Sexual Perversity in 2003, is on board too. Set in Los Angeles, The End of Longing tells of four lost souls, entering their forties and searching for meaning. After one raucous night in a downtown bar, their lives become irreversibly entwined and they are forced to confront the ‘darker sides’ of their relationships. We know that this project has been of particular pertinence and importance to Perry … Read more

Confessions Of A (Struggling) Actress Part 1

Exclusive, Features, News, West End
Confessions Of A Struggling Actress Part 1

Curtain Up / Who Am I? I see it coming a mile away… ‘What do you do?’ ‘I’m… an actress.’ I don’t know why, but I’ve always loathed admitting to strangers that I’m an actress. Probably because, most of the time, I’m not actually acting. I suppose that to admit you’re an actress without that essential acting job, to people who don’t understand the highs and lows of the profession, causes moderate confusion on their part. Not to mention severe embarrassment on mine. Parents’ dinner parties, family weddings, in fact any social event away from the industry, all lend themselves to a wearisome array of questions to do with my seemingly alien profession. I find myself answering the same questions, feigning the same excitement about my chosen path and faking the same wonderment at the glory of acting. And yet, the questions I ask myself are very different from the … Read more

Don’t Miss These Great Christmas Shows

Features, News, West End
The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre

BritishTheatre.com is pleased top bring you our selection of fabulous Christmas shows which are now on sale for your enjoyment during the festive season. We hope that you and your family enjoy some of these amazing productions. SLAVA’S SNOW SHOW – ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL – BOOK NOW This is theatre like you’ve never seen before. Comedy and spectacle provide fun for the whole family, never more than when this incredible show fills the Royal Festival Hall with a heart-stopping blizzard of snow. No theatre or circus finale quite compares with this, and, as an added communal pleasure, Polunin and co release into the auditorium a batch of giant coloured balls that slowly bounce off upstretched arms, as if everyone had been invited to play a slow-motion, slightly ominous game of beach-ball. THE SNOWMAN – PEACOCK THEATRE – BOOK NOW When a young boy’s snowman comes to life on Christmas Eve, … Read more

Buy Tickets To Matilda and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical, Features, Matilda the musical West End, News, West End
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical London

Tickets are available through BritishTheatre.com for the West End productions of both Matilda and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Both musicals are based on the original novels by Roald Dahl are are extremely family friendly. Matilda – BUY TICKETS Matilda’s parents think she is a nuisance and she thinks, quite rightly, they are only interested in watching telly. Life is not much better at school, where the monstrous headmistress Miss Trunchbull terrifies both students and teachers alike. Then one day Matilda discovers she has a very special power and decides it’s time the grown-ups were taught a lesson. Be warned, the children are revolting! Charlie And The Chocolate Factory – BUY TICKETS On winning a much sought after golden ticket, Charlie is invited to visit Wonka’s Chocolate Factory – something every child has dreamed of. But once inside the strange and mysterious world of Willy Wonka’s Factory, Charlie and the … Read more