Charles Balfour News

In a Northern industrial town, John Rutherford rules both factory and family with an iron will. But even as the furnaces burn relentlessly at the Glassworks, at home his children begin to turn against him.

Royal & Derngate Northampton has announced full cast and creative team for the venue's world premiere of The Pope. This new play from Anthony McCarten, the 2019 Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning, and 2019 Oscar nominated writer of Bohemian Rhapsody, The Theory Of Everything and Darkest Hour, will star Anton Lesser (Game Of Thrones, The Crown, Wolf Hall, Endeavour) as Pope Benedict and Nicholas Woodeson (Baptiste, The Danish Girl, Death of Stalin, Taboo) as Pope Francis and will feature original music composed by BRIT, Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Anne Dudley (Elle, American History X, The Full Monty, Poldark). Faith Alabi (Belleville, Donmar Warehouse; Hamlet, Talawa) and Lynsey Beauchamp (Britannia, Einstein) play the roles of Sister Sophia and Sister Brigitta respectively.

In a Northern industrial town, John Rutherford rules both factory and family with an iron will. But even as the furnaces burn relentlessly at the Glassworks, at home his children begin to turn against him.

Royal & Derngate Northampton has announced that Artistic Director James Dacre will direct the world premiere of The Pope this June as part of its Made in Northampton 2019 season. This new play from Anthony McCarten, the 2019 Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning, and 2019 Oscar nominated writer of Bohemian Rhapsody, The Theory Of Everything and Darkest Hour, will star Anton Lesser (Game Of Thrones, The Crown, Wolf Hall) as Pope Benedict and will feature original music composed by BRIT, Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Anne Dudley (Elle, American History X, The Full Monty, Poldark).

National Theatre has announced its listings for May - October 2019. Check out the full lineup below!

The Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Glasgow have confirmed local casting for Romeo and Juliet which is to run at Theatre Royal, Glasgow next month as part of a UK tour.

The National Theatre has announced its upcoming lineup for the first half of 2019.

Royal & Derngate Northampton have confirmed the cast and creative team for its UK premiere production of Katori Hall's Our Lady of Kibeho, which takes to its Royal stage in January. Directed by the venue's Artistic Director James Dacre (who directed Hall's 2010 Olivier Award winning production of The Mountaintop) and designed by 2018 Tony award nominee Jonathan Fensom, with original music by Orlando Gough, choreography by Diane Alison Mitchell, photography by Pulitzer Prize-winning war photographer Paul Watson and aerial direction by Vicki Amedume. The ensemble cast is led by Gabrielle Brooks, Michelle Asante and Ery Nzaramba. This UK premiere production promises to be an epic event, with its large professional cast complemented by the Royal & Derngate Community Ensemble and members of the theatre's Young Company.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's 2019 tour Romeo and Juliet will run at Theatre Royal, Glasgow next year as part of a UK tour. Tickets are on sale to ATG Theatre Card holders on Tuesday 4 September on go on general sale on Friday 7 September.

Artistic Director Josie Rourke said, "I'm delighted to announce two new productions at the Donmar, joining the previously announced THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, for my penultimate season, with all three directed by women.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Robert Hastie today announces full casting for the world premiere of Chicken Soup. by Ray Castleton and Kieran Knowles the latter of whom returns to Sheffield Theatres after the success of Operation Crucible; and the regional premi re of Peter Morgan's smash hit play Frost/Nixon.

Children's Touring Partnership and Royal & Derngate, Northampton are delighted to announce a new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's family classic, "THE JUNGLE BOOK". The production will premiere at Royal & Derngate, Northampton fromTuesday 28 November until Sunday 31 December 2017 and will then embark on a UK national tour from Thursday 25 January 2018 beginning at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Audiences now have just three weeks left to see the critically acclaimed West End production of multi-Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The play stars Imelda Staunton as Martha, Conleth Hill as George, Imogen Poots as Honey and Luke Treadaway as Nick.

If there was controversy surrounding the use of light and sound at the Globe Theatre, the opening production of Emma Rice's second and final season as Artistic Director can only fuel the multi-hued fire. Romeo and Juliet directed by ENO's Daniel Kramer is an irreverent feast of colour and music but at times misses the truth and beauty of Shakespeare's timeless story.

Gary Naylor sees an adaptation of the celebrated novel, The Kite Runner, that loses some of its epic quality in transition to stage and ends up just a bit too generic for his tastes.

The ability of plays from over two millennia ago to seem relevant to the contemporary world. speaking across the centuries of never-ending truisms of the human experience, never ceases to amaze.  Indeed, The Suppliant Women is the second oldest surviving play in existence and this new production clearly demonstrates its ongoing relevance with some shockingly contemporary analogues.  This is the opening play of David Greig's first season as artistic director at the Lyceum, and is adapted by Greig himself from the original by Aeschylus.

TORN and FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (PARTS 1, 2 & 3) will play at the Royal Court Theatre in September 2016. Torn explores a family broken by secrets and the scars left of things left unsaid. Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)tackles the legacy of slavery in the US and its influence on the African-American experience.

THE ROYAL Shakespeare Company bring A Midsummer Night's Dream to The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, next month (April).

The Royal Shakespeare Company today announces the professional actors cast in the national tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream, leading the RSC's celebrations for the Shakespeare anniversary year in 2016. This national celebration of Shakespeare will visit each region and nation of the UK. In each area the 18-strong professional company will be joined by local amateur theatre companies who will play the Mechanicals and schoolchildren who will form part of Titania's fairy train. Playing opposite the 14 amateur Bottoms cast from across the country, Ayesha Dharker will take on the role of Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

The Royal Shakespeare Company have announced their plans for the 2016 season at Stratford-Upon-Avon. Priority booking opens next week.