Aliya Al-Hassan - Page 83

Adapting a novel for the stage is fraught with difficulties; even more so when the novel is a literary sensation that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini's devastating 2003 first novel, The Kite Runner, has added difficulties as a play, as it spans 30 years and crosses continents in the process. This quietly devastating play debuted in 2013 in the UK at the Nottingham Playhouse and now returns for a country-wide tour.

Founded in 1980, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre is small, but perfectly formed. Set above a pub in Earl's Court, it is best-known for producing new plays, as well as rediscovering works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Josh Azouz's play The Mikvah Project was a great success when it formed part of the Orange Tree's Directors' Festival last summer. It now returns in excellent form to explore the tentative and problematic relationship between two male characters in the setting of North London Judaism.

The Rose Youth Theatre has great form in developing new theatrical talent. With excellent performances by members in every Christmas production at the Rose, The Creature: Frankenstein Retold is an exciting opportunity to witness the professional debut for nine alumni of the group.

Covent Garden's iconic Royal Opera House is home to both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. A theatre has been on the site since 1732, but since 1858 the current building has served as a central cultural site for London. During World War II, it was used as a dance hall, but then the decision was made to make it as home for both ballet and opera, opening in its current form in 1946. The beautiful venue has played host to opera legends such as Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas and also ballet greats such as Margot Fonteyn. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Covent Garden's Royal Opera House continues its successful series of live screenings to over 1000 cinemas across the world. Dances at a Gathering / The Cellist is a chance to see two incredibly different ballets in one evening; both beautifully moving in their own ways.

With 22 Grammys and hundreds of millions in worldwide sales, the potentially fascinating story of Gloria Estefan, her husband Emilio and their journey to success with the Miami Sound Machine has the potential to be a fantastic jukebox musical. On Your Feet has plenty of material to draw upon; with an intricate journey through issues of immigration, racism and a life-threatening accident, it is a fun and frothy evening.

As part of the 243rd season of the iconic ballet company, several productions by the Bolshoi Ballet are again being broadcast on cinema screens across sixty countries. As one of seven of these ballets, Swan Lake is surely the most iconic, having debuted at the Bolshoi theatre in 1877. Tchaikovsky's incredibly evocative score wasn't enough to secure initial success, but for many people today, Swan Lake is ballet.

Martin Crimp's blisteringly raw version of Cyrano de Bergerac has been a great success so far during its run at The Playhouse Theatre in London's West End. After screening over 80 theatre productions in the last ten years, NT Live are now screening this theatrical masterpiece all over the world.

A world premiere of a play is always an exciting thing; a potential opportunity to witness one of the very first performances of a future classic. Unfortunately, Paul Minx's new play The Dog Walker, at the diminutive Jermyn Street Theatre, is an odd and uneven experience.

In yet another attempt to democratise opera, Opera Undone, the new strand of Islington's King's Head Theatre's celebrated opera offering, brings two radical interpretations of Puccini's Tosca and La bohème to the Trafalgar Studios. These are the first productions to debut in the West End.

First seen in the West End over 20 years ago, titled The Mysterious Mr Love, Karoline Leach's Tryst is the final show of the Chiswick Playhouse's inaugural season; a melodramatic mixture of psychological thriller and slightly awkward love story.

Daphne du Maurier's 1951 novel My Cousin Rachel is a dark, psychological thriller that focuses on jealousy, female sexual power and control over men. It was made into a moderately successful film in 2017 starring Rachel Weiss and then adapted for the stage. It ends its nationwide tour at Richmond theatre this week on a rather weak note.

On paper, the story of Puccini's La bohème veers towards sentimentality, but witnessing a live production rarely fails to stir deep emotion. Continuing their series of live screenings, Covent Garden's Royal Opera House presents a version of the opera that is both captivating and utterly heart breaking. Screening to over 1000 cinemas, across 26 countries, these are truly international events.

Back in 2003, before writing the superb Enron, A Very Expensive Poison and the Emmy Award-winning TV series Succession, Lucy Prebble's first play The Sugar Syndrome made its debut at London's Royal Court. It now comes to Richmond's Orange Tree in its first major revival, in a darkly funny and thought-provoking exploration of the internet's potential to bring the most unlikely people together.

The West End has missed the wit, cheek and high-kicks of Kinky Boots since it strutted off on a nationwide tour last year. Thankfully, the show with a huge heart will be screened in more than 600 cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 4th and 9th February.

The Royal Opera House is on a mission to show that ballet and opera are accessible to everyone. As part of their live cinema season, last night saw Tchaikovsky's beautiful interpretation of fairytale, The Sleeping Beauty, broadcast live across the world.

It's that time of year again; Cirque du Soleil have returned to London's Royal Albert Hall, bringing their show LUZIA to Europe for the first time. Last year's TOTEM felt somewhat bland and soulless, but LUZIA shows the company at its very best.

On paper, Le Corsaire emphatically should not work. Based very loosely on the poem Le Corsair, written by Lord Byron, the plot is flimsy and the score is a mash-up of work by ten different composers. However, this revival of Anna-Marie Holmes' 2013 production for English National Ballet actually works on every level and is a wonderful evening of escapism and virtuoso dancing.

As the decade comes to a close, many of us are all left feeling a little more bruised by the world than we felt in 2010. Climate change, political upheaval and humanitarian crises can feel relentlessly negative. Fortunately, the arts continue to delight, educate and inspire. The power of theatre never ceases to amaze me and the hard-working people on and off the stage are testament to an industry that will always try its best, even in the face of challenges from funding cuts and social media dominance.