Ian Rickson News

Here are some of August's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features.

Today Pentabus announced their 2022 Season which features a new commission touring in the autumn, the return of Pentabus Young Writers live production and three new digital projects. 

Sir Mark Rylance revisits his extraordinary Rooster Byron in a play that vibrates differently than when first staged in an England almost unrecognisable from the England of today

London is never short of temptations, whether epic West End shows, engrossing dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a juicy revival to a new political play and a classic musical reborn, here are some of this month’s most eye-catching openings. Don’t forget to check back for BroadwayWorld’s reviews, interviews and features!

Today producer Sonia Friedman announced who is joining the previously announced Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook, who will reprise their celebrated roles as Johnny “Rooster” Byron and Ginger respectively in Ian Rickson's production of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem.

From Thursday 10th March 2022, schools, universities, and educational institutions all over the world will be able to see the digital streaming of Walden - the fresh and ambitious debut play by Amy Berryman. Walden stars Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun and Lydia Wilson and is directed by Ian Rickson. 

With 75% of UK state secondary schools signed up to the National Theatre Collection, ten additional productions will now be available to schools, colleges and educational establishments from today in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing and ProQuest, part of Clarivate.

The National Theatre today announces new productions for all three South Bank stages this summer: Jack Absolute Flies Again in the Olivier theatre, Much Ado About Nothing in the Lyttelton theatre and All of Us in the Dorfman theatre with tickets on sale to the public from Thursday 10 March.  

The filmed performance of Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches and of Part Two: Perestroika will be added to the National Theatre Collection 2 on Drama Online in February alongside eight new films announced in November.

Today's top stories include the West End debut of Keala Settle! It was recently announced that the Greatest Showman star will make her West End debut in & Juliet in the role of Nurse beginning March 29. She will be performing the role through June 18.

State of the nation stuff at the National Theatre.

Due to popular demand, TheaterWorks Hartford, in partnership with Riverfront Recapture, has extended in-person performances of Amy Berryman's debut play, Walden, to August 29. The North American premiere marks a return to in-person events for TheaterWorks Hartford, as well as its first outdoor show in its 35-year history.

Can I Live? goes on a confronting, and ultimately uplifting, journey to discover the global majority activists taking a stand. After watching the filmed performance, audiences will be invited to join discussions and think through the future of our planet, as well as being provided with routes into their own activism.

Previewing at the Apollo Theatre from 16 April 2022 with the opening night on 28 April 2022, Jerusalem will run until 6 August 2022.  There will be over 800 seats at £15 or under each week across the house throughout the run with additional education rates of £25 per student ticket. 

Uncle Vanya was filmed on stage under strict covid protocols at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the middle of 2020. The new film version of the production had a cinematic release ahead of being broadcast on BBC Four, making it the first UK stage production closed by the Coronavirus pandemic to have been filmed and produced for the screen.

TheaterWorks Hartford, in partnership with Riverfront Recapture, will present the North American premiere of Amy Berryman’s debut play, Walden. Directed by Mei Ann Teo, the production marks a return to in-person events for TheaterWorks Hartford, as well as its first outdoor show in its 35-year history.

TheaterWorks Hartford will present the North American premiere of Amy Berryman’s debut play, Walden. Directed by Mei Ann Teo (Jillian Walker’s SKiNFoLK: An American Show) and taking place on a natural, undeveloped site along the Connecticut River, the production marks a return to in-person events for TheaterWorks Hartford.

After returning from a year-long Moon mission, Cassie, a NASA botanist, finds herself in a remote cabin in the woods, where her estranged twin sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, has found a new life with climate activist Bryan. Old wounds resurface as the sisters attempt to pick up the pieces of the rivalry that broke them apart.

The show was originally developed by Brand and Rickson in collaboration with theatre producers Playful Productions at the Bush Theatre in London and was subsequently performed at the Bristol Old Vic and Royal and Derngate, Northampton in 2018. The production was planning a London West End season when lockdown happened.

Opening with Amy Berryman's Walden and continuing with J'Ouvert and Anna X, the season of plays curated by Sonia Friedman Productions with Ian Rickson tackles urgent issues integral to rebuilding our society, including structural inequality, climate change and the economics of truth in an internet age.