Nicholas Hytner News

Directed by Nicholas Hytner, performances of Bach & Sons continue until 11 September 2021 with opening night on 28 June 2021. The associate director is James Cousins, with set designs by Vicki Mortimer, costumes designed by Khadija Raza, lighting by Jon Clark, sound by Gareth Fry and music supervised by George Fenton. 

This week (June 14-20) in live streaming: Rita Moreno visits Backstage Live, Show of Titles on demand, a Kerry Butler master class, a Guys and Dolls reunion, and so much more!

The Met has announced themed lineups for three weeks of its Nightly Met Opera Streams, the company's ongoing series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on its website during the Covid-19 closure. The schedule begins with a week, leading up to Father's Day on June 20, comprising a selection of operas featuring themes of fatherhood.

One of London’s most venerated theatres, Shakespeare's Globe has re-opened its doors with Sean Holmes’s gaudy 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With staggered entrance slots and social distance protocols in place, the Globe itself feels it too. The groundlings are masked now (as is the audience as a whole) and are seated on scattered chairs while the actors wear face coverings when they walk among them.

Johann Sebastian Bach, irascible and turbulent, writes music of sensuous delight for his aristocratic patrons, and gives voice to his deep religious faith in music for the church.  He’s touchy, he’s fabulously rude, he has high standards (he stabs a bassoonist for playing badly) and he’s constantly in trouble with his employers. 

Joining Simon Russell Beale who will play Johann Sebastian Bach in the world premiere of Nina Raine's Bach & Sons are Samuel Blenkin as Carl, Pandora Colin as Maria Barbara, Ruth Lass as Katharina, Douggie McMeekin as Wilhelm, Racheal Ofori as Anna Magdalena and Pravessh Rana as Frederick the Great.

Simon Russell Beale will play JS Bach in the world premiere of Nina Raine's Bach & Sons, directed by Nicholas Hytner.  Performances at The Bridge are from 23 June – 9 September 2021 with opening night on 29 June 2021. 

The international sales success of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, made by Nicholas Hytner and Kevin Loader for BBC One this spring, has enabled its collective of writer, actors, directors, producer and heads of department to make their second substantial charity donation to help those most affected by Covid.

Performances of A Christmas Carol at the Bridge Theatre reopened from 3 December. Get a first look at the cast in action in the photos here!

Helen Mirren has revealed that she does not believe Shakespeare should be taught in schools.

The Crown has held as one of Netflix's top series since the release of Season 4 on November 15 perhaps partly due to the stellar performances from its cast. Did you know that many of the company members have extensive background onstage in London and around the world.

WA Opera presents Cosi fan tutte on Tuesday, October 27, Thursday, October 29, and Saturday, October 31, at 7.30pm, at His Majesty’s Theatre.

Hurrah for the green shoots in our beleaguered industry. Lots of venues are mounting new shows and bringing back our favourites over the next few weeks and months - albeit with social distancing and safety measures in place. Here are some of the live theatrical goodies on offer.

As part of the current season of one-person plays, The Bridge is presenting the now sell-out runs of David Hare's Beat the Devil and Inua Ellams' and Fuel's production of An Evening with an Immigrant.  Today additional performances will go on sale for both as the season is extended to 7 November 2020. 

Eleanor Wyld and Jermaine Freeman have been announced for The Big House's new, socially distanced show The Ballad of Corona V, opening 28th October with press night 3rd November.

David Hare is well known for his biting commentary on public institutions. The Church of England, the legal system: none have escaped his observation unscathed, and with Beat the Devil, the Conservative Government is the target of choice.

The Bridge Theatre officially reopened its doors on 27 August 2020 after a hiatus of five and a half months due to the covid-19 pandemic, with David Hare's monologue Beat the Devil, a new play written as a response to the author's experience of contracting coronavirus.

Tonight's episode of Richard Skipper Celebrates... will feature Anastasia Barzee! Hosted by Richard Skipper, the virtual event will stream live through Richard Skipper Celebrates on Facebook and YouTube. Tune in on August 31, 5 PM ET/2PM PT.

With Riverside Studios' programme of monthly first read throughs and discussions of new plays Riverside Reads commencing on Tuesday 1 September, Christopher Nolan's acclaimed Tenet currently playing and the commencement of Dive-In, today they announced additional screenings of National Theatre Live as part of their cinema programme.

Today we rewind to 2012, when One Man, Two Guvnors opened on Broadway. The play opened on April 18 at the Music Box Theatre, where it ran for 159 performances.