James Dacre News

Eighteen new plays for the inaugural New Play Commission Scheme (NPCS) have been announced by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) in partnership with HighTide theatre company, UK Theatre and the Independent Theatre Council.

In a dynamic live return of The 24 Hour Plays flagship intensive for early-career artists, a select group of 43 actors, directors, playwrights, producers and a composer created new work written, rehearsed and performed in 24 hours. See photos from the plays!

The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will take place in person in New York City for the first time since 2019 at Theatre Row on Monday, July 25th. Tickets for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals 2022 performance will be offered exclusively through a lottery system.

James Dacre, the Artistic Director at Royal & Derngate Northampton, has announced the theatre’s new Made in Northampton season, featuring eighteen productions. The programme encompasses plays, musicals, a feature film, On Demand theatre, podcasts and a new interactive digital work.

Rose Theatre's Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon, has announced the first Rose Productions in the 2022/23 Season, beginning on 9 September with the London premiere of Anthony McCarten's The Two Popes starring Anton Lesser and Nicholas Woodeson.

Today, The 24 Hour Plays announced that the 11th annual application for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals are now open and will run through April 18, 2022. The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will take place in person in NYC for the first time since 2019.

Today it has been announced that Royal & Derngate's Resident Ensemble Company the acclaimed Wardrobe Ensemble will adapt Judith Kerr's beloved and iconic stories in a first-ever stage adaptation of Mog The Forgetful Cat.

The New Play Commission Scheme (NPCS), led by WGGB in partnership with HighTide Theatre, UK Theatre and the Independent Theatre Council, has been designed to respond to the decline in new theatre commissions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Blue/Orange is now playing at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio from 29 October to 13 November 2021, before dates at Oxford Playhouse from 16 November to 20 November 2021 and Royal & Derngate, Northampton from 23 November to 4 December 2021. 

Royal & Derngate today announced four further productions to complete its 2021/22 Made in Northampton season. A new production of Joe Penhall's biting contemporary satire Blue/Orange is brought to the stage this autumn by the producing team behind Ralph Fiennes' hugely successful Four Quartets which is soon to transfer to the West End.

Royal & Derngate Northampton, Theatre Royal Bath Productions, and Oxford Playhouse present the multi award-winning drama Blue/Orange, which opens at Theatre Royal Bath's Ustinov Studio from 29 October to 13 November 2021, before dates at Oxford Playhouse from 16 November to 20 November 2021 and Royal & Derngate, Northampton from 23 November to 4 December 2021.

The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, now in its 10th year, once again brought together an extraordinary group of young artists for a free professional intensive culminating in their own production of The 24 Hour Plays — available for streaming through Saturday, July 31.

The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, now in their tenth year, kicks off their rigorous professional experience for artists 25 and under tonight with their own production of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, featuring the 43 program participants and 12 guest writers from previous years of the Nationals program.

To launch the project today, two singles from  the album are being released: Rachel Portman’s prologue to A Tale of Two Cities featuring Judi Dench and White Lies’ prologue to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof featuring Amanda Seyfried, both of which are available now!

Today, The 24 Hour Plays, creators of The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, The 24 Hour Musicals and the Viral Monologues, announced this year’s company for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, which will be held as a virtual program.

As the final in-theatre seats were snapped up for Bristol Old Vic's Touching the Void, the theatre today announced its live-broadcast partners to help bring the production to a global audience.

Royal & Derngate Northampton and Fiery Angel has announced that their co-production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None will open in the venue's Derngate auditorium in September, directed by Lucy Bailey and designed by Mike Britton, as part of the 2021 Made in Northampton season. Details of the UK tour will be announced later this spring. 

Today, The 24 Hour Plays announced that the 10th annual application for The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will be available starting March 24, 2021 and will run through April 11, 2021. The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals will take place virtually (for the second year in a row) and applicants from everywhere are engaged to apply. 

Metta Theatre – one of the UK's leading production companies devoted to British musical theatre – is pleased to announce the release of a film of a brand-new musical, CELLS, written, developed and recorded entirely during lockdown by the award-winning writer/director P Burton-Morgan and composer Ben Glasstone.

Nottingham Playhouse reveals a Spring Loaded season of twenty three events. New work from Alan Bennett, Emteaz Hussain and other artists will join an array of ambitious new programming this spring.