London Theatre Company Will Re-Open the Bridge Theatre in September

London Theatre Company has made plans to re-open the Bridge Theatre during September and October, assuming that the Government gives the go ahead for indoor performances with socially distanced audiences.

Eight of the actors (Monica Dolan, Tamsin Greig, Lesley Manville, Lucian Msamati, Maxine Peake, Rochenda Sandall, Kristin Scott Thomas and Imelda Staunton) from the series of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads which LTC made for BBC One this summer will reprise their performances on The Bridge stage. Three monologues - An Evening with an Immigrant, Quarter Life Crisis and Nine Lives - from Inua Ellams, Yolanda Mercy and Zodwa Nyoni will run alongside them, the first two played by their authors, the third by Lladel Bryant.

The theatre is hoping that they will get the green light to open with a reduced capacity of 250 seats and stringent safety measures. Audiences are invited from today to book seats with the assurance that, of course, if the season is delayed there will be automatic refunds for any performances that can't go ahead.

Learn more about the upcoming shows below!

David Hare's Beat The Devil

Ralph Fiennes will make his Bridge Theatre debut performing David Hare's monologue Beat the Devil, a new play written as a response to the author's experience of contracting coronavirus. Nicholas Hytner will direct with designs by Bunny Christie, lighting by Jon Clark, sound by Gareth Fry and music by George Fenton. The performance schedule can be found below.

On the same day that the UK government finally made the first of two decisive interventions that led to a conspicuously late lockdown, David Hare contracted Covid-19. Nobody seemed to know much about it then, and many doctors are not altogether sure they know much more today. Suffering a pageant of apparently random symptoms, Hare recalls the delirium of his illness, which mix with fear, dream, honest medicine and dishonest politics to create a monologue - performed at The Bridge by Ralph Fiennes - of furious urgency and power.

Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

Following the television broadcast in June this year, eight of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues will be performed in repertoire at the Bridge Theatre. The performance schedule can be found below.

During April and May, while the Bridge Theatre was closed, the London Theatre Company worked with the BBC to produce Alan Bennett's landmark Talking Heads monologues. They were broadcast on BBC One in June.

Eight of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads come to the stage in a series of unique double bills, all of them with the same leading actors whose performances were universally acclaimed on television. Each of the short plays is a perfectly distilled masterpiece, sometimes disturbing, often hilarious and always profoundly humane.

• Monica Dolan in The Shrine directed by Nicholas Hytner
• Tamsin Greig in Nights in the Gardens of Spain directed by Marianne Elliott
• Lesley Manville in Bed Among the Lentils directed by Nicholas Hytner
• Lucian Msamati in Playing Sandwiches directed by Jeremy Herrin
• Maxine Peake in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet directed by Sarah Frankcom
• Rochenda Sandall in The Outside Dog directed by Nadia Fall
• Kristin Scott Thomas in The Hand of God directed by Jonathan Kent
• Imelda Staunton in A Lady of Letters directed by Jonathan Kent

Designs are by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Jon Clark, video designs by Luke Halls, sound by Gareth Fry and music by George Fenton.

For these performances at the Bridge, Alan Bennett has generously waived his royalty.

Earlier this summer, he and the actors, directors, producers and senior crew of the new BBC1 series of Talking Heads donated their fees to NHS Charities Together - generating over £1m that will be used to support NHS staff, volunteers and patients as they continue to tackle the Covid crisis and its aftermath.

Inua Ellams And Fuel Present An Evening With An Immigrant

Written and performed by Inua Ellams, The Bridge will present Ellams' and Fuel's production of An Evening with an Immigrant, with music selection by DJ Sid Mercutio. The performance schedule can be found below.

Born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in what is now considered by many to be Boko Haram territory, Inua Ellams left Nigeria for England in 1996 aged 12, moved to Ireland for three years, before returning to London and starting work as a writer and graphic designer. Littered with poems, stories and anecdotes, Ellams will tell his ridiculous, fantastic, poignant immigrant-story of escaping fundamentalist Islam, directing an arts festival at his college in Dublin, performing solo shows at The National Theatre and drinking wine with the Queen of England, all the while without a country to belong to or place to call home.

Yolanda Mercy's Quarter Life Crisis

Yolanda Mercy will perform her one woman play Quarter Life Crisis, directed by Jade Lewis at The Bridge. The performance schedule can be found below. Previously seen in London at Soho Theatre in 2017 and 2018, Quarter Life Crisis was adapted for radio and broadcast on BBC Radio 1xtra.

Alicia is a hot mess. She doesn't know what she's doing with her life. Swiping left, swiping right to find the perfect match. Even though she's a Londoner, born and bred, the scent of Lagos peppers her existence in the ends. Everyone around her seems to know where they're going in life, but she's just trying to find ways to cheat growing up and keep her 16-25 railcard. What does it mean to be an adult and when do you become one?

The Leeds Studio Production Of Zodwa Nyoni's Nine Lives

Poet and playwright Zodwa Nyoni's Nine Lives will be performed by Lladel Bryant and directed by Alex Chisholm, presented by The Bridge. The performance schedule can be found below. Developed at West Yorkshire Playhouse (now Leeds Playhouse), Nine Lives received a UK national tour before it received its London premiere at the Arcola Theatre.

Fleeing from his home where a fresh wave of homophobia threatens his life, Ishmael has sought sanctuary in the UK. Dispersed to Leeds, Ishmael waits to hear his fate, he waits for a new life to begin amongst strangers. But not everyone is bad... can he find a place to call home again? Some of us wanted to stop being afraid. Some of us wanted to find ourselves. Some of us wanted to belong. Zodwa Nyoni threads together humour and humanity to tell the real personal story behind asylum headlines.

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