Several new shows in London have announced tickets on sale. Here’s a round-up of what’s going on in the West End.
Passion Play at the Duke of York’s theatre in London
Zoe Wanamaker stars in Peter Nichols’ play about desire. Passion Play will be opening at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London with tickets on sale for performances from 1st May 2013 to 3rd August 2013. Previews are from the 1st May to 5th May with reduced priced discount tickets available.
Performance times are:
Mondays to Saturdays 7.30pm
Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30 p.m.
Part of a busy 2013 season for the Duke of York’s Theatre, Passion Play is the latest production to be revived for a new generation of people who fancy shows in London that are comic yet tinged with tragedy and kitchen-sink drama.
James and Eleanor have celebrated their silver wedding anniversary but their world falls apart when James meets up in secret with Kate, a friend who has just lost her husband. As deceit piles up, Peter Nichols’ play posits the idea that desire and passion can rear their heads and ruin supposedly solid relationships.
A key dramatic construct in the play is that both protagonists have voices only they can hear, Jim in James’s case and Nell for Eleanor. Nichols keeps it all together brilliantly in a play that debuted in 1981. At the time, Margaret Thatcher was in charge and making speeches about there being ‘no such thing as society’. The focus on the individual is thus paramount in the play, as Eleanor tries to stay together for the sake of the children. The role is played by the experienced Zoë Wanamaker, star of the BBC comedy My Family, who is once again directed by David Leveaux in a partnership which brought international acclaim in a production of Sophocles’ Electra.
Such a collaboration should ensure many fans of hers will snap up tickets for Passion Play quickly, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Zoe Wanamaker in Passion Play at the Duke of York’s theatre in London
Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter theatre in London
The Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along, will be playing at The Harold Pinter Theatre in London for a strictly limited 12-week run only from Tuesday 23rd April to Saturday 27th July 2013. Tickets are now on sale.
The show in London will preview from 23rd April 2013, opening on the 1st May 2013.
The revival of George Furth and Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along is directed by Maria Friedman, making her directing debut with the show.
Following on from a sensational season at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Merrily We Roll Along recently won a Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical.
Based on the 1934 play, Merrily We Roll Along by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, the musical looks back at the career of talented composer Franklin Shepard, who abandoned his friends, family and song writing career to become a producer of lucrative Hollywood films.
The show features some of Sondheim’s most famous songs including “Good Thing Going”, “Not a Day Goes By” and “Old Friends”.
The cast includes Damian Humbley, Jenna Russell, Mark Umbers, Josefina Gabriella, Clare Foster and Glyn Kerslake.
Furth and Sondheim have retained the same theme of the play but updated it to encompass the period from 1957 to 1976. The story revolves around Franklin Shepard and the show begins at the height of his Hollywood fame as a famous film producer and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank’s life that shaped the man that he is today. The musical has a chorus that sings reprises of the title song to transition the scenes.
The show, whilst about Franklin Shepard, is also about friendships, and Sondheim wrote the songs to be interconnected.
In 2000 the musical was staged at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Michael Grandage, the cast included Mary Stockley. Merrily We Roll Along won the 2000 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Musical, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Tickets for Merrily We Roll Along are not yet on sale, so watch this space on Shows in London.
Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter theatre in London
Third Finger, Left Hand at the Trafalgar Studios
Third Finger, Left Hand is a play starring Imogen Stubbs and Amanda Daniels at the Trafalgar Studios.
Previewing on the 2nd and 3rd of April 2013 and opening on the 4th April for a strictly limited run of just 3 weeks. Tickets are now on sale at Shows in London.
Not to be confused with the 1940 film of the same name, Third Finger, Left Hand, is directed by Ian Talbot and is a poignant and dramatic play. Third Finger, Left hand tells the story of Niamh and Grace, two sisters who come together following their mother’s death to reminisce over a box of old photographs.
Based on actor and writer Dermot Canavan’s own life experiences, Third Finger, Left Hand tells a deeply moving story of growing up in the 1970s, exploring the sisters’ journey from their harsh and violent upbringing through to the exhilaration of the dance clubs of the emerging Northern Soul scene where they find their escape.
Imogen Stubbs last starred at the Trafalgar Studios venue in the Olivier Award nominated production Salt, Root And Roe, Imogen Stubbs’ numerous theatre credits include starring roles in Alphabetical Order at the Hampstead theatre, Hamlet at the Old Vic theatre and Little Eyolf at the Jermyn Street theatre. Her film and screen credits; include Sense And Sensibility, Twelfth Night and Jack And Sarah.
Imogen Stubbs is joined in the play by co-star Amanda Daniels, who returns to the role of Grace following her award-winning appearance in Third Finger, Left Hand at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Amanda is perhaps best known for her television appearances in EastEnders and Doc Martin. Amanda Daniels recent theatre credits include starring on the London stage in Shivered at the Southwark Playhouse.
Former Artistic Director of the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre in London, Ian Talbot’s directing credits include High Society and Lady Be Good at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre and Lend Me A Tenor The Musical at the Gielgud theatre in the heart of London’s West End. are
Tickets for Third Finger, Left Hand are also not yet on sale, so watch this space on Shows in London.
Third Finger, Left Hand at the Trafalgar Studios in London
