Looking back over my stats, it seems that there’s always a bit of a dip in November – just because it’s my birthday I start slacking! Hopefully that won’t be the case this year, as there is a wide variety of content coming your way.
But what can you find to occupy yourselves? Well, if you’re in London then there are lots of new shows popping up all across the city, including many short runs in a selection of fringe and Off West End theatres: On Death Etcetera at Camden People’s Theatre, Drowned or Saved? at Tristan Bates, Bury The Dead at the Finborough, vessel and Chekhov’s First Play run at Battersea Arts Centre, and Brass is at the Union Theatre. Fans is performed at both Canada Water Theatre and Theatre N16, Sisters – 11 Years Later is at The Cockpit, Boujie runs at the Drayton Arms Theatre, Theatro Technis plays host to A Flea In Her Ear, The Misanthrope and Cyrano De Bergerac, A Dog’s Heart plays Canada Water Theatre, The Wind in the Willows is at Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, and Omish runs at the Courtyard Theatre. Big openers include Pinter 4 (Moonlight/Night School), the return of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Piccadilly Theatre), Caroline, or Change at the Playhouse and Hadestown at the National (Olivier Theatre).
Elsewhere, The Habit of Art stops off at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, The Madness of George III (starring Mark Gatiss) runs at Nottingham Playhouse, War and Peace is at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre, and Vienna Festival Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the Princess Theatre in Torquay.
Closing to make way for some of the new openings are The Jungle (The Playhouse), Wise Children (the Old Vic – though it’s off on tour), the Young Vic’s Twelfth Night, Misty and A Guide for the Homesick (Trafalgar Studios), King Lear (Duke of York’s Theatre), Soldier On (The Other Palace), Heathers the Musical (Theatre Royal Haymarket), and Jericho’s Rose (The Hope Theatre).
Outside of London, Evita finishes its run at Theatre Royal Brighton, Wicked flies out of the Wales Millennium Centre, Death of a Salesman completes its run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, and Close Quarters has its final performance at the Crucible in Sheffield.
The WhatsOnStage Award nominations opened today, so get submitting! Also, keep an eye out for a brand new challenge week announcement…
New releases: The Greatest Showman: Reimagined (16th), Neil Young – Songs for Judy (30th); Black Earth Rising (5th), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (26th)
Reviews
With everything else going on this month, I’ve kept the reviews a bit more thin on the ground – it’s not like you’ll be searching around for content at all…
- Pickle Jar (Soho Theatre)
- Toby Thompson: For The Record (The Pleasance)
- Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Stockwell Playhouse)
- Seussical the Musical (Southwark Playhouse)
And the Mind the Bloggers will also be heading out to review a few shows: Drunk Women Solving Crimes (The Pleasance), Frances Farmer: Zombie Movie Star (Old Red Lion Theatre), Cuckoo (Soho Theatre), Super Duper Close Up (The Yard), and Troy (Etcetera Theatre).
Any Other Business
There are plenty of other things going on! I’m taking in a couple of Remembrance-based theatre events (One Voice: Remembrance at the Old Vic and Shakespeare and Remembrance at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), as well as one of the Courage Everywhere rehearsed readings at the NT: Her Naked Skin. I’ll also be revisiting Misty, The Wider Earth, Wise Children and Twelfth Night. On top of this I’m booked to see Summer and Smoke, The Collection, White Teeth, Yerma and the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol. It’s finally the winter season at Shakespeare’s Globe, and this month I’m seeing Ralegh: The Treason Trial and Macbeth, and my other Shakespeare production comes in the form of the RSC’s Romeo & Juliet at the Barbican.
And, of course, I’m not just staying in London – I have a two-show day at the RSC planned, where I’m seeing some Marlowe in the Swan (Tamburlaine) and a lesser-performed Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida) in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Plus I intend on following the Wise Children tour, so I’ll be at the Oxford Playhouse and Cambridge Arts Theatre this month.
Outside of theatre, I’m going to the Museum London for a talk on ‘Shakespeare’s Stages’, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in concert at the Royal Albert Hall (for BroadwayWorld UK), and Declan Bennett and Paperlands’ gig at St Pancras Old Church.
Hot tips
Blog post: OneWomanWestEndShow’s Disability in Theatre: Part 1 – The Theatre-Goer
Book: The Brontësaurus: An A-Z of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (and Branwell) (John Sutherland)
“Hope for the best, expect the worst.”
Grandma Chance, Wise Children (Angela Carter/Emma Rice)
Don’t miss!
My reasons why you should see Come From Away.
Mind the blog 