Marianka Swain - Page 37

THE RED BARN, a new play by David Hare, based on the novel, La Main, by Georges Simenon opens in the Lyttelton Theatre on 6 October (press night 17 October).

Scottish actress Phyllis Logan has enjoyed a stellar career on stage and screen, with notable performances in Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies and two British TV smash hits: Lady Jane in Lovejoy and, of course, eminently sensible housekeeper Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey. She's returned to the stage to join Samuel West in Noel Coward's comedy Present Laughter - currently touring the UK.

Last year, Jon Brittain's Rotterdam had a successful and well-received premiere at Theatre503 - this month, it moves into the West End for a Trafalgar Studios run. Centring on Alice, who wants to come out as gay, and her girlfriend Fiona, who decides she wants to start living as a man, Adrian, it's only become more of a zeitgeist piece since its first stint. Jon discusses revisiting the play and trying not to mess it up…

On 5-7 August, the National Theatre's River Stage welcomes Latitude Festival as they venture from their established Suffolk base to bring a heady mix of music, theatre, dance and literature to the South Bank for an unforgettable weekend of performances.

Actor and musician Declan Bennett has successfully maintained dual, often intersecting careers as a singer-songwriter and musical theatre performer. He's had chart hits both with band Point Break and as a solo artist, and has tackled several iconic roles, including Roger in a US tour and Broadway run of Rent, Guy in the UK premiere of Once, and now Jesus in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar. This new production at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre celebrates 45 years since the show first opened, and the intimate, gig-like experience - with performers playing instruments - promises to be very different to the recent arena tour.

Punchdrunk have today announced a brand new production of their award-winning theatrical experience, SLEEP NO MORE, premiering in Shanghai this year. In December 2016, the doors will open to the "McKinnon Hotel" in the city's Jing'an District, ushering audiences into this visceral, tactile and darkly cinematic telling of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Macbeth.

WICKED, the West End and Broadway musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, is pleased to release the first pictures of Jacqueline Hughes (Elphaba), Carly Anderson (Glinda), Bradley Jaden (Fiyero), Steven Pinder (The Wizard and Doctor Dillamond), Kim Ismay (Madame Morrible), Iddon Jones (Boq) and Emily Shaw (Nessarose), who will lead the UK/International Tour cast at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford from 20 July 2016.

Last night, Fiasco's version of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's INTO THE WOODS opened at Menier Chocolate Factory. The innovative production, featuring just 10 actor-musicians, previously played at New York's Roundabout Theatre to great critical acclaim, and the Menier run includes the original US cast. Into the Woods runs until 17 September.

Anyone who ever played 'shop' as a child, trading real or imaginary objects over a table, will experience a thrill of recognition at Fiasco Theater's stripped-back take on Sondheim and James Lapine's ode to and deconstruction of storytelling. That's what we get for the swiftly evoked bakery, and there's a dressmaker's dummy standing in for a tree, a feather duster and Christmas tree ornament for a golden egg-laying hen, a ladder for a mighty tower, a wooden crate for a throne, shadow play during the action sequences, and flapping pieces of paper as the ever-helpful birds.

The Edinburgh International Festival has released thousands of free tickets for the launch event of the city's summer festival season, the Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time. Tickets are available from www.eif.co.uk allowing Edinburgh residents, visitors and tourists to book and experience the largest free, ticketed event of its kind in the UK, on Sunday 7 August at 10.30pm. A second limited release will be available on Monday 1 August, with a further very limited release on Saturday 6 August - the day before the event.

Alt-cabaret star Bridget Everett discusses her upcoming Soho Theatre show

Rufus Norris's National Theatre production of THE THREEPENNY OPERA by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in a new adaptation by Simon Stephens will be broadcast live to cinemas around the world direct from the National's Olivier Theatre on 22 September at 7pm.

WICKED, the West End and Broadway musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, has released rehearsal pictures of Jacqueline Hughes (Elphaba), Carly Anderson (Glinda), Bradley Jaden (Fiyero), Steven Pinder (The Wizard and Doctor Dillamond), Kim Ismay (Madame Morrible), Iddon Jones (Boq) and Emily Shaw (Nessarose), who lead the UK/International Tour cast.

Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins' critically acclaimed new comic play NICE FISH will transfer to the West End this winter, following sold-out seasons at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in Cambridge and St Ann's Warehouse in New York. Directed by Claire van Kampen, the production runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre 15 November-21 January 2017, with press night on 25 November.

VAMOS CUBA! brings an intoxicating mix of traditional and modern Cuban dance styles to Sadler's Wells this summer, receiving its World Premiere on the main stage on Tuesday 26 July-Sunday 21 August. Choreographed by Nilda Guerra, Vamos Cuba! is a spectacular new production created by the team behind the smash-hit Havana Rakatan.

Rehearsal images have been released for Simon Stone's YERMA at the Young Vic, starring Billie Piper as the title character. The cast also features Brendan Cowell, Maureen Beattie, John MacMillan, Charlotte Randle and Thalissa Teixeira, with design by Lizzy Clachan, music and sound by Stefan Gregory, light by James Farncombe and costumes by Alice Babidge.

Today is your last chance to win a pair of free tickets to rock n roll stand-up and Glastonbury regulars MIK ARTISTIK'S EGO TRIP at Warrington's Pyramid arts centre on Saturday 9 July.

Last night's Stuff Happens revival was concerned with warmongering men chasing glory from afar. Now we meet the women who suffer most from such conflict: 13 Syrian refugees, driven from their homeland. Their voices are seldom heard amidst the din, but thanks to Georgina Paget, Charlotte Eagar and William Stirling's drama therapy workshop, which grew into a fully-fledged performance and will tour nationally following its London run, those voices now ring out across the UK.

When Sir John Chilcot stepped up to the mic to deliver his long-awaited verdict on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he did so calmly, steadily, but with forensic and devastating analytical precision. David Hare's STUFF HAPPENS, which beat Chilcot to the punch by some 12 years, is similarly measured, mixing detailed documentary re-enactment with imagining of what went on behind closed doors.

Prolific composer Richard Hartley has written for stage and screen, including film scores for The Romantic Englishwoman, The Lady Vanishes, Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing, Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty, and an Emmy-winning score for Channel 4's Alice in Wonderland. He's also worked extensively in theatre, but is perhaps best known for his partnership with Richard O'Brien, which began in 1973 with the iconic Rocky Horror Show - Richard Hartley arranged the score and performed in the original band, and went on to arrange music for the film adaptation.