West End Plays: The latest West End news and venues. Buy West End tickets for musicals, plays and other theatre events.
Hand to God is a soul-cleansing experience – gleefully unburdening its audience of their suppressed hysteria, and leaving them to guiltily head for confession (or the theatre bar) to wash away their sins.
International hit musical The Bodyguard will return to the West End for a limited six month run with Beverley Knight once again as the lead. Public booking will open on 12 February 2016 for performances beginning at the Dominion Theatre on 15 July 2016. This strictly limited season ends on 7 January 2017. Based on Lawrence Kasdan’s 1992 Oscar nominated Warner Bros. film, Thea Sharrock’s production of The Bodyguard has book by Alex Dinelaris, choreography is by Karen Bruce, orchestrations by Chris Egan and is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian. A romantic thriller, The Bodyguard features a whole host of irresistible classics including Queen of the Night, So Emotional, One Moment in Time, Saving All My Love, I’m Your Baby Tonight, Run to You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and one of the greatest hit songs of all time – I Will Always Love You. … Read more
Alan Ayckbourn’s farcical tale of marital manners, How The Other Half Loves will appear in the West End this spring. The 1969 classic – the first of Ayckbourn’s plays to be staged on Broadway – returns to London to play the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 23 March – 25 June and is produced by Bill Kenwright. Ayckbourn’s tale of social graces and personal misunderstanding remains one of the celebrated writer’s most famous comedies. An extraordinary success on opening in the West End in 1970 at the Lyric Theatre, How The Other Half Loves ran for a staggering 869 performances, delighting critics and audiences alike. How The Other Half Loves is directed by theatre director and biographer Alan Strachan. Alan has directed plays in New York, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, but the majority of his work has been in London. He was Artistic Director of the Greenwich Theatre in London for over … Read more
If you don’t mind it light, hammy and reminiscent of a drunk uncle, Nell Gwynn is fabulously entertaining. There’s a natty onstage band, snappy songs and even a lesson in the art of fan flirtation.
The End of Longing Playhouse Theatre 3 Stars BOOK TICKETS Imagine an episode of Friends. Except they’re all now in their 30s and 40s, and are plagued by their addictions and neuroses (insert joke about the upcoming Friends reunion here). That’s the basic premise of The End of Longing; a coming of age story for those who are already of a certain age. And to top it off, its star and writer is Matthew Perry, best known for playing wisecracking Chandler Bing in the much loved American sitcom. The play follows four hopeless singletons in the city as they seek to make sense of their questionable life choices and ticking biological clocks. There’s Jack (an alcoholic, played by Perry) Stephanie, (a prostitute), Stevie (needy and neurotic) and Joseph (nice but dim). Naturally, being a romantic comedy, they all improbably bump into each other and then start pairing up. Jack and … Read more
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
Red Velvet touches on a number of very difficult subjects regarding race, and does so in a compelling and thoughtful manner. The play is generally well written – with a number of excellent touches – and this production contains a host of fine performances, not least Adrian Lester as Ira Aldridge. Nevertheless, Aldridge is an incomplete protagonist, and too many aspects of his life are told to us, rather than shown. This means that, in spite of the play’s many strong qualities, it cannot achieve its full dramatic potential.
With the announcement that Florian Zeller’s The Father will return to the West End by popular demand comes news that two other Florian Zeller plays are to be produced. So who is Florian Zeller? Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright. His work has been translated into several languages, including English. He won the prestigious Prix Interallié in 2004 for his novel Fascination of Evil (La Fascination du Pire) and several Molière Awards for his plays. The Molières are considered France’s highest theatrical honour. Florian Zeller wrote his first novel Artificial Snow when he was twenty-two years old. His second novel, Lovers or Something Like It was well received but it was his third novel, Fascination of Evil (the 2004 Prix Interallié winner) which made him a household name in France. The book was selected for the Prix Goncourt. Theatre credits include L’Autre, Le Manège, Si tu mourais (Prix … Read more
