REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE ANNOUNCES

DREW McONIE’S INAUGURAL SEASON

• UK PREMIERE OF BROADWAY HIT SHUCKED, BOOK BY ROBERT HORN, MUSIC & LYRICS BY BRANDY CLARK AND SHANE McANALLY, AND DIRECTED BY JACK O’BRIEN
• MALORIE BLACKMAN’S NOUGHTS & CROSSES, ADAPTED BY DOMINIC COOKE AND DIRECTED BY TINUKE CRAIG

• DREW McONIE DIRECTS LERNER & LOEWE’S BRIGADOON, IN A NEW ADAPTATION BY RONA MUNRO

• RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL, CHOREOGRAPHED BY JULIA CHENG, SHELLEY MAXWELL AND KATE PRINCE

• RETURN OF FAMILY MUSICAL, ROALD DAHL’S THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE

• FOUR OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVALS THROUGHOUT THE SEASON ACROSS FAMILY, DANCE, COMEDY AND MUSIC

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre today announce Drew McOnie’s inaugural season, opening with the much-anticipated UK premiere of musical comedy Shucked (10 May – 14 June 2025), following its acclaimed run on Broadway and a US tour. Ben Joyce (Back to the Future the Musical)plays Beau, Sophie McShera (Downton Abbey) plays Maizy, and Georgina Onuorah (Hamilton) plays Lulu.

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Dream Ballets: A Triple Bill (19 – 22 June 2025) will see award-winning musical theatre choreographers Julia Cheng, Shelley Maxwell and Kate Prince re-imagine the dream ballets from Allegro, Oklahoma! and Carousel, with new arrangements by Simon Hale and live accompaniment by Sinfonia Smith Square.

This is followed by the stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman’smuch-loved novel, Noughts & Crosses (28 June – 26 July 2025), adapted by Dominic Cooke, and directed by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, Tinuke Craig.

The season continues with Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (2 August – 20 September 2025) with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. In a new adaptation by acclaimed Scottish playwright Rona Munro and directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, the captivating Scottish Highlands come to the magical outdoor setting of Regent’s Park in this major London revival for the first time in over 35 years. Danielle Fiamanya (Mandela) plays Fiona, and Louis Gaunt (Bridgerton) plays Tommy.

Playing during the daytime for those aged 3+ and their families is the wickedly funny musical based on Roald Dahl’s, The Enormous Crocodile (15 August – 7 September 2025), with book & lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab and additional music and lyrics from Tom Brady. Developed and directed by Emily Lim, with co-direction and puppetry design by Toby Olié, the production returns to Regent’s Park following its successful 2024 run.

The 2025 summer season also features four Open Air Theatre Festivals, including family, dance and comedy takeover days, and a week-long music takeover that will close the season, presented in partnership with Communion ONE. Further details will be announced in the spring.

Also launching this year is The Theatre Dance Lab, a new artist development programme that will offer early-career musical theatre choreographers a paid residency at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, culminating in a showcase performance of their in-development work on our main stage. Further details and application information will be announced later this spring.

Beyond Regent’s Park, the Open Air Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roofwill, following its sold-out run in 2024, transfer to the Barbican Centre for a strictly limited 8-week season (24 May – 19 July 2025) ahead of a 20-week tour of the UK & Ireland.

This summer, the re-imagined version of the 2022 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre musical production of Dodie Smith’s classic book 101 Dalmatians will play a limited 6-week engagement (18 July – 30 August 2025) at London’s Eventim Apollo; and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar continues its tour of Australia through to the end of July 2025.

Drew McOnie, Artistic Director said today, “After what has without doubt been one of the most thrilling incubation periods of my creative career, I am so proud of the season we are now able to announce. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre offers its own unique opportunity to engage with stories under a shared sky and my ambition is to honour that legacy as we move into this new artistic chapter. Every member of the Regent’s Park team and the many artists that are coming together to share their imaginations with us, will put our audiences, both new and returning, at the centre of their process and it’s an honour to work alongside them in delivering my debut season for this much-loved venue.”

James Pidgeon, Executive Director said today, “Following the huge success of our 2024 season, which saw record-breaking audience figures of over 180,000 people, we are delighted to now be launching our 2025 season of exhilarating live performance. I am particularly thrilled that we have been able to continue our commitment to £15 tickets (36,000 of which will be available throughout the season), and that our productions continue to reach audiences across the world as we tour more of our work than ever before. Heartfelt thanks, as ever, to our staff, stakeholders, producing partners and funders for their valuable support.”

Full creative teams and casting for all productions to be announced.

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Memberships are now on sale, and Members’ priority booking for the 2025 summer season opens at 12pm today, with public booking opening at 11am on Thursday 6 February 2025.

Visit www.openairtheatre/membership for more information.

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre presents

SHUCKED

Book by Robert Horn

Music & Lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally

Creatives include Lucy Adams (Associate Lighting Designer); Myles Brown (Associate Choreographer); Nathanael Campbell (Associate Director); Ben Davies (Associate Set Designer); Aundrea Fudge (Voice & Dialect Coach); Jill Green CDG (Casting Director); Tilly Grimes (Costume Designer); Carol Hancock (UK Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer & Supervisor); Jason Howland (Music Supervisor, Orchestrations & Arrangements); Olivia Laydon (Casting Associate); Ingrid Mackinnon (Intimacy Support); Caity Mulkearn (Associate Costume Designer); Mia M Neal (Original US Hair & Wig Designer); Jack O’Brien (Director); Sarah O’Gleby (Choreographer); Scott Pask (Set Designer); Michael J Passaro (US Production Supervisor); Greg Pink (Associate Sound Designer); Katy Richardson (Musical Director); Tom Shiels (Casting Associate); John Shivers (Sound Designer); Japhy Weideman (Lighting Designer).

Saturday 10 May –  Saturday 14 June 2025

‘Corn, yes, we said corn,

Just as sure as the day that you were born.’

Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked makes its much-anticipated UK premiere, landing at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre for 5 weeks only, following an acclaimed run on Broadway and a US tour.

Featuring a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn (Tootsie), a score by the Grammy Award-winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and directed by Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray), this corn-fed, corn-bred American musical is sure to satisfy your appetite!

Maizy and Beau are getting hitched, when the corn that protects their small community starts to die. The town needs answers. But who will dare to venture beyond the borders of Cob County?

Including the knockout songs ‘Woman of the World’, ‘Somebody Will’ and ‘Independently Owned’, this Broadway hit about an unlikely hero, an unscrupulous con artist, and a battle for the heart and soil of a small town, is not to be missed.

Presented in association with Mike Bosner, Jason Owen, AEG Presents/Jay Marciano, and Michael Harrison.

Cast includes Monique Ashe-Palmer (Storyteller 1); Ben Joyce (Beau); Sophie McShera (Maizy); Georgina Onuorah (Lulu); Keith Ramsay (Peanut); Matthew Seadon-Young (Gordy); Steven Webb (Storyteller 2).

Robert Horn | Book

Theatre includes: Shucked, Tootsie, Disney’s Hercules, 13 the musical, Moonshine The Musical, Lone Star Love, Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance (Broadway).

TV includes: Designing Women; Living Single, High Society (CBS); Football Book Club; The Jenni Rivera Show; Partners; Bette Midler’s Divine Intervention tour; RuPaul Christmas Special (BBC).

Film include: 13 The Musical (Netflix); Teen Beach Movie, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, Wildlife (Disney); Good Advice (Emmett/Furla Films).

Robert is a two-time Tony nominee, two-time Drama Desk nominee, two-time Outer Critics nominee, winner of the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards.

Brandy Clark | Music & Lyrics

Theatre includes: Shucked (Broadway).

Music includes: Dear Insecurity, A Beautiful Noise (performed by Brandi Carlile and Alicia Keys); Follow Your Arrow (performed by Kacey Musgraves).

Brandy won Best Americana Performance at the 66^th Grammy Awards and Song of the Year at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards with her acclaimed song, Dear Insecurity, featuring 11x Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile. Brandy also won Outstanding Music at the 67th Drama Desk Awards and was nominated for Best Original Score at the 76^th Tony Awards, where Shucked received nine nominations overall. 

Shane McAnally | Music & Lyrics

Theatre includes: Shucked (Broadway).

Music includes: Fancy Like (performed by Walker Hayes).

TV & Press includes: Songland;NYTimes; Billboard; Rolling Stone; The LA Times; The Kelly Clarkson Show; NPR Tiny Desk.

Shane McAnally has received three Grammy Award wins (with 11 total nominations), been nominated for more CMA Awards than any other songwriter in history, and been named ACM’s Songwriter of the Year twice. He received Billboard’s Trailblazer Award for his work both in country music and in championing voices in the LGBTQ community. In 2012 McAnally founded SMACKSongs and is co-president of Monument Records, a joint venture with Sony Music.

Jack O’Brien | Director

Lincoln Center Theater includes: Ghosts, Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem, The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), The Invention of Love (Drama Desk Award; Tony nom.), Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award), Macbeth The Nance, Henry IV (Tony Award), Pride’s Crossing, The Little Foxes, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nom.). 

Broadway includes: The Roommate; Shucked (Tony nom.); Hairspray (Tony Award); Carousel; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Front Page; It’s Only a Play; Dead Accounts; Catch Me If You Can; Impressionism; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.); The Full Monty (Tony nom.); How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Porgy and Bess (Tony nom.); Imaginary Friends; Getting Away With Murder; Damn Yankees. 

National and Global tours include: The Sound of Music; Hairspray; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Opera includes: Il Trittico (Metropolitan Opera); Porgy and Bess.

Other NY theater includes: Guys and Dolls (Carnegie Hall); Much Ado About Nothing (The Public).

UK theatre includes: Hairspray; The Full Monty; His Girl Friday (National Theatre); Love Never Dies. 

TV includes: Becoming Mike Nichols (HBO, Emmy nom.); American Playhouse Great Performances. 

Memoirs include: Jack Be Nimble, Jack in the Box (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). 

Jack is a Theater Hall of Fame inductee, Artists Director of The Old Globe Theatre (1981–2007) and received the 2024 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Monique Ashe-Palmer | Storyteller 1

Training: Bird College.

Theatre includes: Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Gillian Lynne Theatre); £1 Thursday’s (Finborough Theatre); SIX (Vaudeville Theatre); Waitress (U.K. Tour); Waitress (The Adelphi Theatre); Associate Choreographer on Madagascar the Musical (U.K Tour); Madagascar the musical (U.K./International Tour); Pinocchio (Bradford Alhambra); Sleeping Beauty (Camberley Theatre).

TV includes: Emmerdale (ITV).

Commercials include: Boots (2019 Campaign); Matalan (2021 Campaign); BT (2024 Campaign).

Ben Joyce | Beau

Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (First Class BA (Hons), 2021).

Theatre includes: Back to the Future (Adelphi Theatre); Jersey Boys (Trafalgar Theatre).

Workshops include: Catch Me If You Can; The Little Big Things.

TV includes: The Power (Sister Pictures/Amazon Prime).

Ben was nominated for Best Takeover at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards for Back to the Future and Best Performer in a Musical and Best West End Debut at the 2022 The Stage Debut Award for Jersey Boys.

Sophie McShera | Maizy

Theatre includes: The Entertainer (The Garrick, London); Jerusalem (The Apollo Theatre); Annie (West End); The Goodbye Girl (No 1 Tour); A Month In The Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Cinderella (West Yorkshire Playhouse).

TV includes: The Gallows Pole (ITV Studios Limited for BBC One); The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix); London Kills (Acorn TV); Porters 2 (Dancing Ledge for Dave); Timewasters (ITV2/Big Talk); Murdered for Being Different (BBC); Drunk History (Comedy Central); A Job Lot (Series 1-3, Big Talk Productions); Inside No.9 (BBC); Survivors (BBC); Galavant (Series 1-2, ABC); Downtown Abbey (Series 1-5, Carnival for ITV); Harry and Paul (BBC One); Waterloo Road (Shed Productions/BBC); Doctors (BBC); Emmerdale (Yorkshire TV).

Film includes: Downton Abbey: A New Era (Universal Pictures, Carnival Film & Television); Downtown Abbey (Castle Pictures Limited); David Copperfield (GEM Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment); Cinderella (Walt Disney); Highway to Dhampus (Fifty Films).

Georgina Onuorah | Lulu

Training: ArtsEd where she was awarded the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Scholarship. 

Theatre includes: Little Shop Of Horrors (Sheffield Crucible); Kiss Me, Kate (Barbican); Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre); Oklahoma! (Wyndham’s Theatre); Dick Whittington (National Theatre); Bad Cinderella (Gillian Lynne Theatre); MILLENNIALS (The Other Palace); The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium).

Workshops include: The Children’s Inquiry (National Theatre Studio); The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl Story Company); Mandela (The Young Vic). 

Film includes: Wicked: Part 2 (Universal Pictures).

Keith Ramsay | Peanut

Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Theatre includes: The Play That Goes Wrong (Duchess Theatre); Eve: All About Her (Soho Theatre); Young Frankenstein (English Theatre Frankfurt); Preludes (Southwark Playhouse); Amour (Charing Cross Theatre); The Cereal Cafe (The Other Palace); Portia Coughlan (Old Red Lion); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s Globe); Doctor Scroggy’s War (Shakespeare’s Globe); Lost In Yonkers (Watford Palace Theatre); Billy (Union Theatre); Peter Pan (Qdos). 

TV includes: Shetland; Dylan Moran’s “The Awkward Age”; Pistol; New Tricks; Doctors; Casualty.

Keith won The Stage Edinburgh Award for Acting Excellence & David Johnson Award for Emerging Talent for Eve: All About Her.

Matthew Seadon-Young |Gordy

Theatre includes: The Baker’s Wife (Menier Chocolate Factory); Rockets and Blue Lights (National Theatre, Royal Exchange Theatre); Death of a Salesman (Young Vic / Piccadilly Theatre, West End); Company (Gielgud Theatre, West End); Assassins (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Big Fish (The Other Palace); Beautiful (Aldwych Theatre, West End); Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace, West End); Sweeney Todd (London Coliseum); Urinetown (Apollo Theatre, West End); The School for Scandal (Theatre Royal Bath); She Stoops to Conquer (National Theatre); The Architects (SHUNT); Les Miserables (Queens Theatre, West End); The Laramie Project (Wild Oats Productions).

Film includes: Pride; Les Misérables.

Other credits include: BBC Proms 67 (2015); John Wilson Orchestra (Royal Albert Hall); Vocalist for the Les Misérables Ensemble at the 85th Academy Awards ‘Oscars’ (Dolby).

Steven Webb | Storyteller 2

Theatre includes: Here You Come Again (UK Tour, Riverside Studios); Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre); I Want My Hat Back (National Theatre); As Is, Betwixt, Sh*t-Mix (Trafalgar Studios); Secret Theatre, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Aladdin (The Lyric Hammersmith); After the Turn (Courtyard Theatre); The Lakeboat (The Arcola); Dick Whittington (The Lyric Theatre); Sons of York (Finborough Theatre); The Long Road (Soho Theatre); The History Boys (Royal National Theatre, West End); Chatroom/Citizenship (Royal National Theatre); On the Shore of the Wide World (Exchange Manchester/Royal National Theatre); Kes (Exchange Manchester); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Theatre); The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Southwark Playhouse); Dark of the Moon (Kings Head Theatre); Oliver! (London Palladium).

TV includes: Beautality; The Inbetweeners; Miranda.

Podcast incudes: Brain Rot: An 80s Horror podcast.

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s

DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL

Choreography by Julia Cheng (Allegro), Shelley Maxwell (Oklahoma!)& Kate Prince (Carousel)

Creatives include Simon Hale (Orchestrations & Arrangements); Joshie Harriette (Lighting Designer); Nick Lidster for Autograph (Sound Designer); Yann Seabra (Costume Designer); Sinfonia Smith Square (Orchestra).

Thursday 19 June – Sunday 22 June 2025

‘Then out of my dreams I’ll go
Into a dream with you.’

A timeless celebration of dance and music from three of the UK’s leading musical theatre choreographers, accompanied live on stage by the 26-piece orchestra of the Sinfonia Smith Square, and set to the magical scores of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s dream ballets.

In this enchanting triple bill, the dream ballets are re-imagined for the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre stage by award-winning musical theatre dance makers Julia Cheng (Fiddler on the Roof) who choreographs the rarely performed Allegro, Shelley Maxwell (Get Up Stand Up!) who choreographs Oklahoma!’s dream ballet and Kate Prince (Message in a Bottle, Zoo Nation) who choreographs the dream ballet from Carousel, all with extended new musical arrangements by Tony Award winner Simon Hale (Girl from the North Country).

A unique opportunity to experience Rodgers & Hammerstein’s music brought to life through dance like never before.

Generously supported by The Thistle Trust.

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

Julia Cheng | Choreographer

Training: Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (University of Surrey); Dance & Drama (Université Lumière Lyon 2, France).

For Regent’s Park: Fiddler on the Roof (2024).

Theatre/opera/dance work includes: The Legend of 1900 (Shanghai Grand Theatre, China); Cabaret (The Kit Kat Club, West End and Broadway); These Violent Delights (Scottish Ballet); Macbeth (RSC); Untold (Theater Rotterdam, Belgium and Holland); Warrior Queens (for House of Absolute, Sadler’s Wells); The Seven Deadly Sins/Mahagonny Songspiel (Royal Opera House); The Importance of Music to Girls (Kings Place). 

Shelley Maxwell | Choreographer

As Choreographer: Starter for Ten (Bristol Old Vic); The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical (Apollo Theatre); The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida); The Ballet Boyz “England on Fire” (Sadler’s Wells); Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (Lyric Theatre); Equus (Stratford East/Trafalgar Studios); ‘Master Harold’ …and the boys (National Theatre); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith).

As Movement Director: After Life, Hansard, Antony & Cleopatra, Twelfth Night (National Theatre); Nine Night (National Theatre/Trafalgar Studios); Love’s Labour’s Lost and Tartuffe (RSC); Macbeth (Donmar Warehouse/Harold Pinter); Barcelona (Duke of York Theatre); Mlima’s Tale (Kiln); Beneatha’s Place, Untitled F*ck m*ss S**gon Play (Royal Exchange Manchester & Young Vic ); Winter, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere and Cuttin’ It (Young Vic); Best of Enemies (Young Vic/Noel Coward Theatre); Shifters (Bush/Duke of York Theatre); Alma Mater (Almeida); August in England (Bush); J’Ouvert (Harold Pinter); Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); King Hedley II (Stratford East); Cougar and Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree); Faustus (Headlong at Lyric & Birmingham Repertory Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Nuffield, Southampton); Apologia (English Theatre Frankfurt); Grey (Oval House); Rules for Living (Royal & Derngate/ The Rose, Kingston).

TV & Film includes: Anansi Boys (Amazon); Joan (ITV); The Marvels (Disney); Romeo and Juliet (Sky Arts/PBS/National Theatre); ear for eye (BBC/Fruit Tree Media).

Shelley Maxwell won the award for Best Choreographer at the inaugural Black British Theatre Awards in 2019 for her work on Equus.

Kate Prince | Choreographer

Theatre includes (with ZooNation): Sylvia (Old Vic); Into the Hoods (Novello, West End); Some Like it Hip Hop (Sadler’s Wells Peacock & UK tour); Message in a Bottle (Sadler’s Wells & Universal Music, World Tour); The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (Royal Opera House Linbury Studio & The Roundhouse); Groove on Down the Road (SouthBank Centre). 

TV includes: Imagine: Kate Prince – Every Move She Makes (BBC); Strictly Come Dancing; So You Think You Can Dance; The Royal Variety Show; Top of the Pops; CD:UK. 

Film includes: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Warp, Film 4, New Regency & Amazon); Message in a Bottle (PBS America); StreetDance 3D (BBC Films & Vertigo); The Holloway Laundrette (writer & co-directed, BAFTA/Channel 4).

Other theatre includes: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible & West End); Ballyturk (National Theatre); Shoes (Sadler’s Wells); I Can’t Sing: the X-Factor Musical (Palladium); A Mad World My Masters (RSC).

Events include: Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations; Beijing Olympic & Paralympic Handover Ceremonies (ZooNation).

Kate is a writer, director and choreographer and the Artistic Director of ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company which she founded in 2002. She is an Associate Artist at both The Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells, where ZooNation is also a Resident Company.

Kate’s work has been nominated for five Olivier Awards, a South Bank Sky Arts Award, a WhatsOnStage Award and three Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards – winning the latter in 2024 for best Mid Scale Dance Company. She has an MA from the University of Edinburgh, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Winchester and an MBE for services to dance.

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

NOUGHTS & CROSSES

Based on the novel by Malorie Blackman

Adapted by Dominic Cooke

Creatives include RC Annie (Fight Directors); Phillippe Cato (Associate Director); Tinuke Craig (Director); Hazel Holder (Voice Coach); Ingrid Mackinnon (Movement & Intimacy Director); Max Pappenheim (Sound Designer); Joshua Pharo (Lighting Designer); Colin Richmond (Set & Costume Designer); Jacob Sparrow (Casting Director); DJ Walde (Composer).

Saturday 28 June – Saturday 26 July 2025

‘All our lives criss-crossing but never really touching.

A world full of strangers living with all that fear.’

Widely considered to be one of the 21st century’s greatest novels, Malorie Blackman’s best-selling Noughts & Crosses, a bittersweet love story with echoes of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, is revived for the London stage in this brand new production.

By a secluded beach Callum and Sephy meet in secret; life-long friends living on separate sides of a divided world. When Callum, from a Nought family, is accepted to Sephy’s prestigious Cross school, will it bring them closer, or will the hate and fear that surrounds them drive them apart?

Dominic Cooke’s ‘excellent adaptation’ (The Independent) of this epic story set against the political backdrop of a deeply divided society, is directed by Associate Artistic Director Tinuke Craig (A Raisin in the Sun) in her Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre debut.

Malorie Blackman | Novel

Malorie is one of the UK’s most popular authors and has written over 70 books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief! and her science fiction thriller Chasing the Stars. The sixth novel in her Noughts & Crosses sequence, Endgame, was published by Penguin Random House Children’s in 2021. In 2023, Noughts & Crosses was named one of The 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time in a BBC Culture Poll.

Malorie wrote for the eleventh series of Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker, co-writing the episode Rosa with Chris Chibnall which was honoured at the inaugural Visionary Honours Awards for making ‘a positive social impact’. Her work has also been adapted for TV with the six-part adaptation of Pig-Heart Boy winning a BAFTA and a major production of Noughts + Crosses launched by the BBC in 2020. Noughts & Crosses has been adapted for the stage by Dominic Cooke for the RSC and, most recently, by Sabrina Mahfouz for Pilot Theatre. In 2005, Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature and, between 2013 and 2015, she was the Children’s Laureate.

Malorie’s autobiography Just Sayin’ – My Life in Words was published by Merky Books in October 2022. Full of life lessons, this is a deeply personal and vividly compelling look at an incredible life which defied expectations and inspired a generation. In November 2023, The British Library opened a free exhibition, Malorie Blackman: The Power of Stories, exploring Malorie’s inspirations and the impact she has had on her readers, and on inclusivity and representation in publishing.

Dominic Cooke | Adaptation

Theatre incudes: Hello, Dolly! (The London Palladium), Medea (@sohoplace); Good, The Corn is Green, The Normal Heart, Follies, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Here We Go, Comedy Of Errors (National Theatre);  The Low Road, In The Republic of Happiness, Choir Boy, In Basildon, Chicken Soup With Barley, Clybourne Park, Now Or Later, Aunt Dan And Lemon, The Fever, Wig Out!, Rhinoceros, Plasticine (Royal Court Theatre); A Winter’s Tale, Pericles, The Crucible, As You Like It (RSC).

Stage adaptations include: Noughts And Crosses (RSC); Arabian Nights (Young Vic).

TV & Film includes: The Courier; On Chesil Beach; The Hollow Crown – The Wars Of The Roses.

Dominic is Associate of the National Theatre, Artistic Associate of the RSC and was Associate Director then Artistic Director and CEO of the Royal Court Theatre. In 2014 he was made CBE for services to drama.

Tinuke Craig | Director

Training: LAMDA, National Theatre Studio.

As Director includes: A Raisin in the Sun (Headlong Tour); The School for Scandal (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Big Life (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Blue (ENO, London Coliseum); Trouble in Butetown (Donmar Warehouse); Jitney (Leeds Playhouse 2021 and The Old Vic 2022); Last Easter (Orange Tree Theatre); Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre); Hamlet For Young Audiences (Dorfman and National Theatre Tour 2020 and 2022); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Vassa (Almeida Theatre); The Color Purple (Leicester Curve/Birmingham Hippodrome and UK Tour); random/generations (Chichester Festival Theatre); I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre); dirty butterfly (Young Vic).

In 2014, Tinuke won the Genesis Future Director Award. She was the Gate’s Associate Director 2015-2016. From 2021-2023 She was Baylis Director at the Old Vic. Tinuke works extensively with Young People and with emerging artists.

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

Lerner & Loewe’s

BRIGADOON

Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Music by Frederick Loewe

In a new adaptation by Rona Munro

Original dances created by Agnes De Mille

Creatives include Laura Bangay (Musical Director); Basia Bińkowska (Set Designer); Will Burton (Casting Director); Sami Fendall (Costume Designer); Carol Hancock (Associate Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer & Supervisor) Cory Hippolyte (Associate Director); Hazel Holder (Voice Coach); Jessica Hung Han Yun (Lighting Designer); Nick Lidster for Autograph (Sound Designer); Ingrid Mackinnon (Intimacy Director); Drew McOnie (Director & Choreographer); Ebony Molina (Associate Choreographer); Morag Stark (Dialect Coach); Sarah Travis (Music Supervisor & Orchestrator).

Saturday 2 August – Saturday 20 September 2025

‘Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
There my heart forever lies’

From the writers of My Fair Lady, Camelot and Gigi, let the magical outdoor setting of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre transport you to the captivating Scottish Highlands for this major new production of Lerner & Loewe’s musical classic, Brigadoon.

Crash landed in the Highlands of Scotland, WW2 fighter pilots Tommy and Jeff are searching for a way home, whilst just beyond the hills, sisters Fiona and Jean are preparing for a wedding. Over the course of one chance day in the dreamlike village of Brigadoon, their stories entwine. But can love endure in this enchanting place where everything is not quite as it seems?

Not seen in London for over 35 years, Brigadoon features soaring songs including ‘Almost Like Being in Love’, ‘Waitin’ for My Dearie’ and ‘The Heather on the Hill’. In a new adaptation by leading Scottish playwright Rona Munro (The James Plays (Evening Standard Award), Frankenstein), this revival of a theatrical classic is directed and choreographed by Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie (Jesus Christ Superstar) in his first production as Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International.

Cast includes Danielle Fiamanya (Fiona); Louis Gaunt (Tommy).

Alan Jay Lerner |Book and Lyricistand Frederick Loewe | Composer

Lerner and Loewe wrote some of the American theatre’s most memorable musicals, including My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, and Gigi. Lerner was born in New York City in 1918 and attended Choate and Harvard. Loewe was born in Berlin in 1901 to Viennese parents, made his piano debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the age of 13 and came to the United States in 1924. The two met in 1942 at the Lambs Club in New York City when Loewe approached Lerner about collaborating on a show. In 1947, they had their first Broadway hit, Brigadoon, followed in 1951 by a second success with Paint Your Wagon. In 1956, My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, opened on Broadway. Often called the “perfect musical,” the show ran for 2,717 performances and the cast album sold more than five million copies. Their 1958 film musical, Gigi, won nine Academy awards and, in 1960, came the last great success of their partnership, Camelot, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.  In 1974, Lerner lured Loewe out of retirement to work on their last venture together: a film version of Antoine de St Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Lerner went on to collaborate with other composers including Burton Lane, Leonard Bernstein, and Andre Previn. He died in 1986 at the age of 67. Loewe died two years later at the age of 86.

Rona Munro | Adaptation

Theatre includes: My Name Is Lucy Barton (Bridge Theatre London and Manhattan Theatre Company on Broadway, New York.); The James Plays trilogy (National Theatre of Scotland, The National Theatre of Great Britain and the Edinburgh International Festival); The Queen of the Fight- James IV (Raw Material and Capital theatres); Mary (Hampstead Theatre); Katherine (Raw Material and Capital theatres); Little Eagles, The Indian Boy (RSC); The Last Witch (Edinburgh International Festival and Traverse Theatre).

TV & Film includes: Oranges and Sunshine (directed by Jim Loach); Ladybird, Ladybird (directed by Ken Loach); Rehab (Antonia Bird); Dr Who (BBC).

Drew McOnie | Director & Choreographer

For Regent’s Park as Director/Choreographer: On The Town (Oliver Award Nominee, Best Musical Revival; What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography).

For Regent’s Park as Choreographer: Jesus Christ Superstar (Evening Standard Award Winner, Best Musical; Olivier Award Winner, Best Musical Revival; Oliver Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography), Carousel (What’s On Stage Awards Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography).

For McOnie Company: The Artist (Theatre Royal Plymouth – UK Theatre Award Winner, Best Direction; What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Direction, Best Theatre Choreography, Best Regional Production); Nutcracker (Southbank Centre – National Dance Award Winner, Best Independent Company; National Dance Award Nominee, Best Contemporary Choreography); Jekyll and Hyde (Old Vic Theatre – Broadway World Award Winner, Outstanding Achievement in Dance); DRUNK (Bridewell Theatre); Making Midnight (Jermyn Street Theatre and Latitude Festival).

Additional Theatre as Director/Choreographer Includes: King Kong (Broadway Theatre – Broadway); Strictly Ballroom (Piccadilly Theatre – West End – What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography); The Wild Party (The Other Palace); Torch Song Trilogy (Turbine Theatre).

Additional Theatre as Choreographer Includes: In the Heights (Southwark Playhouse and Kings Cross Theatre – Olivier Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography; Offie Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography); Hairspray (Broadway World Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography); Oklahoma (UK National Tour); Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith and UK National Tour); The Lorax (Old Vic Theatre); Sound of Music (Curve Leicester); Chicago (Curve Leicester).

Choreography for Film Includes: Greatest Days – The Official Take That Movie.

Ballets Include: Merlin (Northern Ballet – National Tour); XYZ (Classical Creative Project); Little Red (NYB- Hackney Empire); Old Man of Lochnagar (NYB- Sadlers Wells).

Drew McOnie became the Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in January 2024. He is also the Artistic Director of The McOnie Company.

Danielle Fiamanya |Fiona MacLaren

Training: The Guildford School of Acting.

Theatre includes: Otherland (Almeida Theatre); Macbeth (Wessex Grove); The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre); Mandela (Young Vic); Frozen, & Juliet (West End); The Color Purple (Curve Theatre, Leicester/ Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre, The Stage Debut Award for Best Actress in a Musical).

TV & Film includes: The Crown (Netflix); Halo (Paramount); Lucid.

Louis Gaunt | Tommy Albright

Training: Laines.

Theatre includes: Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk (London Palladium); Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre); Piaf (Nottingham Playhouse); Gypsy (Royal Exchange Theatre); Grease (National Tour); The Happy Prince (The Place); Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Sheffield Crucible); Sweet Charity (Nottingham Playhouse); Oklahoma! (Grange Park Opera).

TV includes: Bridgerton (Netflix); The Larkins (ITV).

Originally co-produced by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Roald Dahl Story Company and Leeds Playhouse
The family musical based on Roald Dahl’s
THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE
Book and Lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra

Music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab

Additional music and lyrics from Tom Brady

Creatives include Phij Adams (Music Technology & Ambleton Programmer); Daisy Beattie (Associate Puppet Designer & Puppet Supervisor); Tom Brady (Orchestrations, Arrangements & Music Supervisor); Fly Davis (Set & Costume Designer); Johnny Edwards (Associate Sound Designer); Aundrea Fudge (Voice Director); Tom Gibbons (Sound Designer); Tash Holway (Associate Director); Jessica Hung Han Yun (Lighting Designer); Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu (Choreographer); Bryony Jarvis Taylor CDG (Casting Director); Emily Lim (Director); Toby Olié (Co-Director & Puppetry Designer); Màth Roberts (Music Director).

Friday 15 August – Sunday 7 September 2025

‘For my lunch today I would like… a nice juicy little child!’

He’s greedy, he’s grumptious, he’s beastly, he’s…BACK!

The Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way back through the jungle to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre after a hit summer season in 2024 in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees… Only the other jungle creatures can foil his secret plans and clever tricks, but they’re going to have to find a large amount of courage to stop this greedy brute.

This mischievous musical based on Roald Dahl’s snappy book has toe-tapping tunes by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, a rib-tickling book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, and additional music and lyrics by Tom Brady. Developed and directed by Emily Lim, it features a menagerie of puppets by co-director and puppetry designer Toby Olié, with set and costume design by Fly Davis and puppetry co-designed and supervised by Daisy Beattie.

Snap up your tickets today for this wickedly funny musical adventure, perfect for the whole family!

The Enormous Crocodile musical was developed by Emily Lim, Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, Suhayla El-Bushra, Tom Brady and Roald Dahl Story Company.

Suhayla El-Bushra | Book & Lyrics

Theatre includes: The Suicide (National Theatre); Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre); Arabian Nights (Lyceum, Edinburgh); The Long Song (Chichester Festival Theatre).

Screen work includes: Ackley Bridge (C4); Becoming Elizabeth (Starz); Bush (Film4).

Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab | Music

Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab is a Sudanese-American composer, producer, singer, songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. He performs under the moniker Sinkane and has just released his latest album, We Belong, on City Slang Records. Food is his other passion and he loves to freak people out by putting hot sauce on everything… Yes, even ice cream.

Tom Brady | Additional Music & Lyrics

Tom studied at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music, where he is recipient of the ARAM award.

Credits as Music Director or Supervisor include: Guys & Dolls (The Bridge); Pinocchio (National Theatre); Show Boat, Caroline or Change (West End); Oklahoma! (Young Vic); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible); Flowers for Mrs Harris, Fiddler on the Roof, Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Magician’s Elephant (RSC); The Empress (RSC & Kneehigh); Romantics Anonymous (Wise Children & Bristol Old Vic/US Tour); Anything Goes (Sheffield Crucible & UK Tour); Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall); Evita (Festival Ljubljana, Slovenia); Have A Nice Life (Edinburgh, NYC Fringe and Philadelphia).  

Tom has also conducted concerts with the Orchestre Nationale d’Lille.

Credits as arranger or additional arranger include: Guys & Dolls (The Bridge); The Empress (RSC & Kneehigh); The Magicians’ Elephant (RSC); Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre); The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible).

Credits as composer include: The Butterfly Lion (Chichester Festival Theatre); Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty (CFYT).

Tom teaches on the Musical Theatre postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music.

Emily Lim | Director

Emily’s work explores theatre making as a form of community building and radical joy.

She is Director of Public Acts at the National Theatre and an Associate Artist at the National Theatre and Company Three. She was the recipient of the inaugural Peter Hall Bursary at the National Theatre from 2016-2018. 

Theatre includes: The Odyssey, Pericles, A Declaration From The People (National Theatre); Yoko Ono’s Bells for Peace (Manchester International Festival); We’re Here Because We’re Here (1418 Now, National Theatre & Birmingham Rep); Brainstorm (Company Three, National Theatre & Park Theatre);  Everything, The Best Day Ever! A Play About the End of the World (Company Three); Grown Up (Gameshow, Camden People’s Theatre); Wuthering Heights (National Youth Theatre); Things Will Never Be The Same Again (And Other Stories), The Kilburn Passion, The Wardrobe (Tricycle Theatre); Another Fine Mess (Bristol Old Vic); Henry V (Southwark Playhouse).

Toby Olié | Co-Director & Puppet Designer

Toby is a director, designer and puppeteer.

For Regent’s Park: 101 Dalmatians (2022); Running Wild (2016, also UK Tour).

As Director, theatre includes: Neil Gaiman’s The Wolves in the Walls (Little Angel); The Four Seasons: A Reimagining (Gyre & Gimble/Shakespeare’s Globe); The Elephantom (National Theatre/Gillian Lynne); The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre & Gimble/UK Tour) and associate puppetry director of War Horse (National Theatre/Gillian Lynne).
As Puppetry Designer/Director, theatre includes: Spirited Away (Imperial Theatre, Tokyo & Coliseum, London); Animal Farm (Birmingham Rep/UK Tour); Pinocchio, Peter Pan, The Light Princess (National Theatre); Don Quixote (RSC/Garrick); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Royal Opera House); Disney’s new staging of The Little Mermaid (Holland/Moscow/Tokyo); A Robot in the Garden, The Boy and the Beast (Shiki Theatre Company, Japan); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios); A Christmas Carol, Running Wild, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Peter Pan (Chichester Festival); Little Shop of Horrors (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Goodnight Mister Tom (Duke of York’s/UK Tour).  
As Puppeteer, theatre includes: Hind of Joey in the original production of War Horse (National Theatre) before moving to Joey’s head for the subsequent West End transfer; Venus and Adonis (RSC); National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage (BBC One); The Homeless Polar Bear (Greenpeace short film); Angelo (Little Angel).

BOX OFFICE INFORMATION

Box Office 0333 400 3562* | openairtheatre.com                              

Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4NU

* Lines open Monday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm. A £1.80 per ticket telephone booking fee applies. 0333 numbers are charged at the same rate as calls to 01 and 02 numbers as regulated by Ofcom. Please check with your provider for further details.

Visit openairtheatre.com for latest ticket prices, concessions and discounts.

#OAT2025 / #Shucked / #DreamBallets / #NoughtsAndCrosses / #Brigadoon / #TheEnormousCrocodile / #OpenAirTheatreFestival

2025 SEASON AT A GLANCE

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre presents

SHUCKED

Saturday 10 May – Saturday 14 June 2025

Access Performances:

BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 10 June, 7.45pm

Captioned: Friday 13 June, 7.45pm                         

Audio Described: Saturday 7 June, 2.15pm

Age Recommend: 8+

Tickets from: £15

OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: FAMILY TAKEOVER

Sunday 25 May 2025

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s

DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL

Thursday 19 June – Sunday 22 June 2025

Age Recommend: 5+

Tickets from: £15

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

NOUGHTS & CROSSES

Saturday 28 June – Saturday 26 July 2025

Access Performances:

BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 22 July, 7.45pm

Captioned: Friday 25 July, 7.45pm

Audio Described: Saturday 26 July, 2.15pm

Age Recommend: 14+

Tickets from: £15

OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: DANCE TAKEOVER

Sunday 20 July 2025

A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

Lerner & Loewe’s

BRIGADOON

Saturday 2 August – Saturday 20 September 2025

Access Performances:

BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 2 September, 7.45pm

Captioned: Friday 5 September, 7.45pm

Audio Described: Saturday 6 September, 2.15pm

Age Recommend: 8+   

Tickets from: £15

Originally co-produced by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Roald Dahl Story Company and Leeds Playhouse

The family musical based on Roald Dahl’s

THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE

Friday 15 August – Sunday 7 September 2025

Access Performances:

BSL Interpreted: Wednesday 27 August, 2pm

Audio Described: Sunday 7 September, 2pm

Relaxed: Tuesday 26 August, 10.30am & Sunday 31 August, 10.30am

Age Recommend: 3+

Tickets from: £15

OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: COMEDY TAKEOVER

Sunday 14 September 2025

OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: MUSIC TAKEOVER

Tuesday 23 – Saturday 27 September 2025

WEST END/ON TOUR

David Ian for Crossroads Live and Work Light Productions present

The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Australia Tour until July 2025

Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and AF Creative Media

in association with the Barbican present

The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Saturday 24 May – Saturday 19 July 2025

Barbican Centre, London

Followed by a UK & Ireland Tour until December 2025

Runaway Entertainment present

101 DALMATIANS

Reimagined from the 2022 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production

Friday 18 July – Saturday 30 August 2025

Eventim Apollo, London

ABOUT REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE

Established in 1932, the multi-award-winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London (at a capacity of 1,304). Passionate about producing popular, enriching and unexpected theatre that provides a lens into the here and now, the scale and ambition of our productions together with our magical outdoor setting, makes us unique in the capital’s cultural landscape. In 2024 we welcomed over 180,000 people to our 27-week summer season.

Drew McOnie assumed the role of Artistic Director in January 2024, and James Pidgeon was appointed Executive Director in 2021.

Over the last fifteen years, our productions have won seven Olivier Awards, ten WhatsOnStage Awards, and four Evening Standard Awards. We were named London Theatre of the Year in 2017 by The Stage, and received the Highly Commended Award for London Theatre of the Year in 2021. Our productions have toured the UK, and have transferred to both the West End and the United States. Our 2016 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar has just finished tours of both the UK and North America and is currently touring Australia. Our 2024 revival of Fiddler on the Roof will transfer to the Barbican Centre this summer, followed by a UK & Ireland tour.

As a registered charity that receives no regular public subsidy, we rely entirely on earned income and charitable contributions. Nevertheless, we have maintained 36,000 tickets at £15 across the whole of 2025’s summer season, our BREEZE scheme enables those aged 18-25 to buy tickets for £10, and we regularly work with local charities. Each year, on average, we subsidise tickets for 6,000 school pupils.

Food and drink plays a significant role in the Open Air Theatre experience, with our in-house bars and restaurants including Covered Dining (certified as a Sustainably Run Restaurant), The Grill and The Pizza Oven. We also have our own picnic lawn and the West End’s longest bar!

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has become one of the most independently sustainable and financially successful producing theatres in the country, and we’re proud to embark on the next stage of our vision with ever-increasing artistic ambition and entrepreneurial spirit.

openairtheatre.com

X: @OpenAirTheatre

Facebook: RegentsParkOpenAirTheatre

Instagram: @RegentsParkOAT

TikTok: @regentsparkoat

Waterside Theatre, Aykesbury – until Saturday 22nd February 2025

Reviewed by Rachel Clark

5*****

Phenomenal – you could hear a pin drop!

This musical has now been showing more than 40 years and it is totally amazing. This is the 3rd time I have seen these and the performance was in my view the best so far. The story is about twin brothers soon separated after birth that creates them to lead two totally different lives. Their lives are at opposite ends of the social scale, one living with wealthy parents and the other in poverty. Occasionally their lives cross and they become friends and make a blood brother pact when they find they are born on the same day. In their teens the story tells their life growing up and then they both fall in love with the same girl and tragedy strikes.

This show is totalling Captivating, it starts with the final scene at the beginning and goes on to tell the story, which is narrated by Sean Keany who has a very clear voice with Irish accent and his story telling grips you straight away. The whole theatre is silent and through the first half you could hear a pin drop. Vivienne Carlyle plays Mrs Johnstone the twin’s mother and her voice is powerful and emotional – I can understand how she is a voice over artist and has plenty of Theatre credits to her name and TV. Mrs Lyons was played by Sarah Jane Buckley again a good voice but not as strong as Vivienne’s.

The set is mainly in the street of the Johnstone’s home, with the Lyons on the other side, a great set that gives you the feel of the dividing class of the families.

The boys grown up and Mickey (played by Sean Jones who is brilliant and a very good at playing Mickey as a child and teenager) is a character and in the second half the antics cause laughter in the theatre. The second half in the beginning is a lot more relaxed with the laughter often caused by not only Mickey but his upper-class brother Eddie, trying to swear which creates humour to the show. Linda who is the girl that comes between the boys is played by Gemma Brodick and transitions well from a girl to a woman and had no intention to come between the brothers. This show got a total standing ovation, and I wasn’t not surprised – totally superb.

This is a show not to be missed with lots of talented actors and not forgetting the creative team, that did a great role on the costumes and sets, and the band that played faultlessly. Resident director was Tim Churchill who is also Mr Lyons (Eddie’s father).

I could definitely see this again and again.

Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 1st February 2025

Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau

5*****

The lights go down and that music starts – daaaah-dah, daaaah-dah, dada dada… a fin goes across the rear screens sea projection and then just as things are getting exciting… you’ve guessed it, The Shark Is Broken. The play, written about the filming of Jaws (specifically the final climactic scene at sea) is co-written by actor Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and concentrates on the actors frustration at the interminable hanging around whilst the damn shark is yet again fixed.

Ian Shaw (playing his dad Robert) gave us a heartfelt and honest portrayal which was full of genuine love and affection. It didn’t try to paint his dad as a saint and I came away really liking Mr Shaw (Sr) very much. I believe I would have thoroughly enjoyed a weekend with him, hearing his anecdotes and wisdom.

Ian looked uncannily like his father – it was astonishing – but the other actors also looked amazingly like the original actors, it was uncanny. Dan Fredenburgh (playing Roy Scheider) and Ashley Margolis (portraying Richard Dreyfuss) both gave sensational performances, far exceeding my expectations. Giving us way more than a mere impression of the actors, they truly got under the skin of the characters in full panoramic technicolor. An impressive display from everyone concerned.

There’s social commentary from the era (1975) regarding Vietnam and other contemporary events, which are exceptionally interesting. The writers cleverly weave in lots of jokes reflecting on how mad there times are and how it won’t be that mad again. The scene where they are commenting on Nixon’s legacy has a hilarious payoff which I won’t spoil, but it’s worth attending for that alone. It also casts the spotlight (pun intended) on the life of actors, the theatre and films in general. I loved these insights. Lots of jokes concerning upcoming films (which will provide a nice chance to play name that film) and at the expense of Spielberg as a wet behind the ears director.

This work is a real reminder of a simpler time when smoking and swearing were so commonplace they barely registered on the naughtiness radar. An era before CGI, of actual physical special effects – which were prone to the laws of physics, giving us the whole raison d’etre for this play! If you’ve ever wondered why the shark was so often broken, Roy will explain the physics (or pneumatics) behind it – so this is very much the play for you. Or if you just like Jaws or any of the actors, of course…

On the face of it, 3 men sitting around on a boat set with no change of scenery, no costume changes, no music or special effects to speak of, being driven half out of their skulls with boredom sounds, well, like a bit of a drag. But it’s anything but! It’s a riveting hour and a half of top quality entertainment in all respects. This ingenious script really does have something for everyone… Couple that with performances to die for and it’s honestly one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. Do yourself a favour and snap up a ticket while you can.

Birmingham Rep Theatre – until Saturday 1st February 2025

Reviewed by Nadia Dodd

4****

Sebastian Faulks’ famous, much loved romance and war novel Birdsong has embarked on a UK tour as part of the 30th anniversary of Sebastian’s writing. The well-known story provides the most beautiful descriptions of love, friendship and warfare now adapted for the stage.

The first act opens, with the colours red and green lighting the stage prominently and the sound of twittering birdsong in the background. The story is set in the 1900s and represents the era extremely well, this production feels timeless and modern.

The play told cleverly in three parts across different periods of time and from different character’s viewpoints. The show opens in the years before the war and sets the scene and background of the characters. There is also a crossover between the modern day and history in the past, as an ancestor of one of the main protagonists can be seen looking round various cemeteries in France, to find his relative and find out his story.

His relative’s story is told from the beginning, through the perspective of factory worker and textile manufacturer Stephen Wraysford, played by James Esler, a charmingly intelligent man with a lot of charisma. Whilst working at the Azaire family’s factory, he boards at Rene Azaire’s home, where Rene lives with his wife Isabelle and daughter Lisette.

During the first part of the show, the audience knows that the country is on the brink of war, and that provides the show with pace and anticipation regarding what will happen with the men and women in the future. That sense of speed is intensified when Stephen begins a forbidden romance with his employer’s wife. Not everyone is happy and not everything is as it seems, as the production closes for its first interval.

The second part begins with the introduction of Stephen’s unit and miner Jack Firebrace, played by Max Bowden, digging tunnels in France in 1916. Max’s depiction of Jack Firebrace is fantastic and provides the production with many humorous moments.

The camaraderie between the soldiers and the miners is explored through the main conversations and chants sung by the ensemble. Beautiful moments of reflection are provided through the songs sung by character Brennan, played by James Findlay.

As Max and the boys dig tunnels and trenches close to the River Somme, Stephen, an officer during the war, battles with his feelings of love, anger and abandonment. Friendships are formed as the men lose comrades and go through some horrific times.

As the birds tweet and the clock ticks, the adaptable scenery provides realistic depictions of the war tunnels around the Somme, as well as the living room at the Azaire’s majestic home.

During the final part of the show the relationship between Isabelle, played by Charlie Russell, and her sister Jeanne, played by Natalie Radmall-Quirke, are explored as the war draws to a close and seeks to understand how people have changed since the end of the war. Shocks and surprises dominate the final part of the show as the sisters encounter problems, memories and change.

As the show draws to a close, the modern day part of the timeline is revisited and the audience members learn about the character’s relationships as well as their futures.

Chichester Festival Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Roald Dahl Story Company present the world premiere of

Roald Dahl’s  

THE BFG  

Adapted by Tom Wells 

Chichester Festival Theatre, Monday 16 March – Sunday 12 April 2026  

Full details and booking will be announced in September 2025

Chichester Festival Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Roald Dahl Story Company have today announced the world premiere of The BFG, based on Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s novel, directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director (and former CFT Artistic Director) Daniel Evans, whose Chichester productions included Quiz, South Pacific and Our Generation.  

This magical new adaptation by Tom Wells (The Kitchen Sink, Jumpers For Goalposts), will open the Festival 2026 season at Chichester Festival Theatre, running from 16 March – 12 April 2026, following a winter season at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon from 25 November 2025 – 31 January 2026.

One extraordinary night, a young orphan named Sophie is snatched by a giant and taken far away to Giant Country. There she learns that human-eating giants are guzzling ‘norphans’ the world over. But she soon discovers that her new friend, the BFG, is different – he’s a dream-catching, snozzcumber-munching gentle soul who refuses to eat humans.

While other giants terrorise the world, the BFG ignites Sophie’s imagination, and they devise a daring plan to save children everywhere. In the end, the smallest human bean and the gentlest giant prove that a dream can change the world.

Justin Audibert, Artistic Director of CFT, said: ‘We are thrilled to be co-producing The BFG with the RSC and the Roald Dahl Story Company, and hugely looking forward to welcoming my predecessor as Artistic Director, Daniel Evans, back to Chichester. I know that our audiences – from the smallest to the largest ‘human beans’ – will love seeing Roald Dahl’s brilliantly imaginative and beloved creation come to life on stage.’

RSC Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey said: ‘This inspiring story – about an unlikely alliance between an orphan, a giant and a queen – tells us that when we have the courage to make our dreams a reality, we can change the world. To be adapting Roald Dahl’s much-loved children’s novel for the stage in collaboration with the Roald Dahl Story Company and Chichester Festival Theatre is a dream come true for us. Tom Wells’ magical new adaptation builds upon the RSC’s longstanding commitment to make spectacular and moving theatre for family audiences – and we’re thrilled to be collaborating with an exceptional creative team to dream up an unforgettable theatrical experience which promises to be larger-than-life.’

Roald Dahl Story Company Artistic Director Jenny Worton added: ‘Following the triumphant success of our first two stage shows, The Witches and The Enormous Crocodile, The BFG opens a magical new chapter for us at the Roald Dahl Story Company. Our dream is to bring mischievous joy to audiences of all ages through our growing family of live shows.

‘After years of delicious inventing with Tom Wells, Daniel Evans and the wider creative team, we are excited to share our passion for this iconic story with the rest of the world. Alongside Chichester Festival Theatre, we’ve created something full of imagination and heart, just as you’d expect from the world of Roald Dahl.’

Joining Daniel and Tom on the creative team is Puppetry Designer and Director Toby Olié, Set Designer Vicki Mortimer, Costume Designer Kinnetia Isadore, Lighting Designer Zoe Spurr, Video Designer Akhila Krishnan, Illusions Chris Fisher, Composer Oleta Haffner, Sound Designer Carolyn Downing, Choreographer and Movement Director Ira Mandela Siobhan, Puppetry Co-Designer Daisy Beattie, Senior Set Design Associate Matt Hellyer, Casting Director Christopher Worrall CDG and Children’s Casting Director Verity Naughton CDG.  

Booking details

Tickets for The BFG at Chichester Festival Theatre will go on sale with our next Winter season, which will start booking in September 2025.

cft.org.uk

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2025 SEASON AND BIG FRIENDLY FAMILY SHOW  

Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey today announce details of the RSC’s Summer 2025 season and upcoming festive family show, The BFG. This big, friendly production from the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Roald Dahl Story Company, is adapted by Tom Wells and directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans in his directorial debut for the Company. 

Joining the previously announced Hamlet Hail to the Thief and 4.48 Psychosis are five new Shakespeare productions directed by Joanna Bowman, Emily Burns, Yaël Farber, Michael Longhurst and Max Webster, a new version of W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, which will see Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade re-unite with Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey, the European premiere of Fat Ham by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames, and nationwide tours of Rupert Goold’s Hamlet and First Encounters: King Lear. 

The Summer season will welcome internationally-renowned acting talent to Stratford-upon-Avon – including returning artists Simon Russell Beale and Freema Agyeman with Rose Leslie and Nick Blood making their RSC debuts. 

Across the season, the RSC will celebrate creative partnerships with Factory International, The Public Theater New York and the Royal Court Theatre. The Company will also step into new spheres of storytelling, collaborating with Brooklyn-based creative studio iNK Stories in a groundbreaking co-production combining Shakespeare and commercial video game production.   

Audiences of all ages will have the opportunity to come together to watch, make and explore, with highlights including an 80-minute staging of Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Tim Crouch’s I, Peaseblossom, his hit adaptation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; a programme of interactive theatre workshops, free drop-in activities, family theatre trails, and the return of the RSC’s popular acting-based Summer schools for ages 8-14 and 18-25.  

Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans said: 

“Over the last twelve months, our guiding principle as Co-Artistic Directors has been to seek out the most exciting directors, writers and actors working in the UK and internationally, and ask them which stories they feel a passionate desire to tell.  

“Our 2025/26 season will bring together an international roster of creative talent, where the works of William Shakespeare stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the most compelling voices in modern playwriting, from Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade to the late, great Sarah Kane and the Pulitzer Prize-winning James Ijames. And then there’s Roald Dahl, one of our greatest storytellers and children’s authors, whose 1982 novel The BFG will be the inspiration for our magical festive family show in 2025, newly adapted for the stage by Tom Wells. 

“Alongside five new productions from the pen of our house playwright, directed by  Joanna Bowman, Emily Burns, Yaël Farber, Michael Longhurst and Max Webster, we will also celebrate the diverse ways in which Shakespeare’s characters and stories continue to prove fertile ground for re-invention and re-discovery, with the world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, a frenetic distillation of the Hamlet story, set alongside the soundtrack of Radiohead’s seminal album, and the European premiere of James Ijames’ tragi-comic family drama, Fat Ham. We’re even taking our first foray into the world of gaming with Lili, a powerful, contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in modern Iran, currently in development for 2026.” 

THE SEASON IN FULL 

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE:   

• Director Michael Longhurst kicks off the season with a new staging of Shakespeare’s original rom-com, Much Ado About Nothing, set in the glossy world of professional football in a new production featuring Freema Agyeman as Beatrice and Nick Blood as Benedick 

• Shakespeare’s great tragedy and Radiohead’s seminal album collide in the world premiere of Hamlet Hail to the Thief, adapted by Christine Jones with Steven Hoggett with music by Radiohead and Orchestrations by Thom Yorke 

• Yaël Farber makes her RSC debut with Shakespeare’s enigmatic story of love, loss and rebirth, The Winter’s Tale 

• Emily Burns returns to direct a new staging of William Shakespeare’s razor-sharp examination of hypocrisy and corruption, Measure for Measure, following her acclaimed RSC debut in 2024 with Love’s Labour’s Lost 

• A Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and Roald Dahl Story Company production, Roald Dahl’s unforgettable story comes to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage in Tom Wells’ magical new adaptation of The BFG, directed by RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans 

SWAN THEATRE:   

• Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor Simon Russell Beale returns to the RSC alongside Associate Artist Emma Fielding and Natey Jones in a new production of Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus, directed by Max Webster, whose recent credits include The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre and Macbeth at the Donmar Warehouse 

• Rose Leslie stars in a sparkling new version of W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, adapted by Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade and directed by Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey 

• Originally produced Off-Broadway by The Public Theater and National Black Theatre, James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham makes its European premiere with original direction by Saheem Ali, directed for the Swan Theatre by Sideeq Heard 

• Multi award-winning writer and performer Tim Crouch presents his magical adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: I, Peaseblossom  

• Richard Nelson’s moving and compelling one-man play, An Actor Convalescing in Devon, visits the Swan Theatre with RSC Associate Artist Paul Jesson 

THE OTHER PLACE 

• 4.48 Psychosis, Sarah Kane’s final masterpiece, returns 25 years on in a new co-production with the Royal Court Theatre reuniting the entire original cast and creative team. Directed by the award-winning James Macdonald with Daniel Evans, Jo McInnes and Madeleine Potter reprising their roles 

• Joanna Bowman directs a new 80-minute version of Shakespeare’s gloriously silly comedy of love and friendship, The Two Gentlemen of Verona 

Tickets for Hamlet Hail to the Thief and 4.48 Psychosis are on sale now at rsc.org.uk.  

For all other shows, priority booking for Members and Supporters opens from Friday 31 January at 10am with public booking opening on Wednesday 12 February at 10am.  

For further information on how to become an RSC Member or Supporter, visit here.  

———– 

ON TOUR IN THEATRES, CLASSROOMS AND COMMUNITIES  

Also announced today ahead of its opening in Stratford-upon-Avon this February, Shakespeare’s epic family saga Hamlet embarks on a new tour to our partner regional theatres across England in 2026, directed by multi award-winning director and incoming Artistic Director of the Old Vic, Rupert Goold. The production will tour to towns and cities throughout the Spring, including Truro, Bradford, Norwich, Nottingham, Blackpool, Newcastle, York and Canterbury. Full casting for the UK tour is yet to be announced. 

 Julien Boast, Chief Executive and Creative Director at Hall for Cornwall, the first theatre on the tour, said:  

“We’re proud to be standing alongside Rupert Goold and the RSC team to bring this landmark production to a wider audience. Our enduring partnership with the RSC and our national network of Associate Theatres has never been stronger, and this is partnership in the true sense of the word, with community at its heart. It is a beacon and role model for a co-created approach to touring, generating true and mutually beneficial impact that is welcomed by audiences, artists, young people and the local economy, at all our theatres”. 

In Autumn 2025, even more young people will experience their first taste of Shakespeare in their classrooms and communities with First Encounters: King Lear directed by Justine Themen. The 12-week tour of schools, theatres and community venues begins in September 2025. The production will open in Leamington Spa, after which it will tour to Cornwall, Skegness, Nottingham, Canterbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Norwich and Peterborough. The Autumn tour will see the RSC further expand its reach across the country with first-time visits to the Isles of Scilly and Southampton. 

This 80-minute version of Shakespeare’s masterful tragedy joins the previously announced Spring tour of First Encounters: The Tempest directed by Aaron Parsons. The tour opens from 6 February in Birmingham with visits to County Durham, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, York, Hull, Bradford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Corby, Blackpool, Cumbria and Northampton. The two First Encounters tours give an estimated 24,000 young people the opportunity to experience a Shakespeare production in their school hall or local theatre this year.  

They join the previously announced tour of the RSC’s multi award-winning Matilda The Musical, which begins its second major tour of the UK and Ireland in October, opening in Leicester on 6 October 2025. Based on Roald Dahl’s best-selling novel with literacy and books at its heart, the show has already been seen by 12 million people across 100 cities worldwide. The musical will celebrate 15 years on stage when it opens at Leicester Curve before traveling to Bradford, Liverpool, Plymouth, Sunderland, Edinburgh, and Manchester where it will run through March and April 2026. Further tour dates to be announced. 

Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey added:  

“As a national theatre company based in the heart of the Midlands, we believe passionately in the power of Shakespeare and live performance to inspire creativity, ignite the imagination and to change lives for the better. At a time when creative learning provision in English schools has reached an all-time low, our newly announced First Encounters touring production of King Lear will help ensure that thousands more pupils and teachers have the opportunity to enjoy a live performance of Shakespeare or live theatre in their own hometown or city in 2025.”

NEW FRONTIERS – LILI: A SCREEN LIFE THRILLER VIDEO GAME INSPIRED BY THE WORLD OF SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH  

Announced last week is a new collaboration between the RSC and iNK Stories, a New York city based independent game studio and publisher, to create Lili. Set in contemporary Iran, this interactive, video game puts Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most iconic female leads, front and centre.  

This cross-industry collaboration marks the RSC’s debut in video gaming. Featuring Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir as Lady Macbeth (Lili), the game is co-produced by her Paris-based Alambic Productions. Zar draws from her lived experience as an Iranian woman in exile who has courageously confronted her own battles against authoritarian gendered oppression.  

Lili is a screen life thriller video game which gives players access to Lady Macbeth’s personal devices, combining the skill and artistry of theatre and film to tell this interactive story. Players will be immersed in a stylized, neo-noir vision of modern Iran, where surveillance and authoritarianism are part of daily life. The gameplay will feature a blend of live-action cinema within an interactive game format, giving players the chance to immerse themselves in the world of Lady Macbeth and make choices that influence her destiny.  

Macbeth’s witches are reimagined as hackers, with surveillance cameras and cyber-infiltration putting the player at the heart of the story and giving them a unique perspective into the world of the play. This modern twist on the Macbeth story explores themes of technological domination, the manipulation of information, and institutional violence, reflecting the dark realities of inequities in our digital age.  

Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans, RSC Co-Artistic Directors said:  

“From its first performance, Macbeth was always exhilarating: its sudden opening with thunder and lightning raises audience adrenaline levels and propels them as participants, not just spectators, into the jittery, action-driven narrative. Lili creates similar effects for audiences. As a storytelling medium, gaming today is what theatre has always been; a chance to explore worlds, inhabit story, and experience something at once personal and communal. Centring this tense thriller around Lady Macbeth rather than her husband is radical and transformative. It turns the play’s questions around gender, identity and power inside out.”  

MAX BOWDEN & PAUL JACOB FRENCH

TO STAR IN THE

WORLD PREMIERE OF

MIDNIGHT COWBOY – A NEW MUSICAL

ADAMA Entertainment are delighted to announce that EastEnders star Max Bowden, WhatsOnStage Award nominee Paul Jacob French and Tori Allen-Martin will star as Rico ‘Ratzo’ Rizzo, Joe Buck and Cass respectively in the world premiere of MIDNIGHT COWBOY – A NEW MUSICAL which will open at Southwark Playhouse Elephant on 4 April 2025.

This powerful adaptation has a book by Bryony Lavery (writer of the Tony-nominated play Frozen), which breathes new life into the classic story, exploring the depths of friendship and ambition, and soundtrack by three-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Francis “Eg” White, who has written songs for Adele, Sam Smith, Florence + The Machine and James Morrison.

Max Bowden is best known for playing Ben Mitchell in the BBC 1 soap EastEnders. Prior to this he had a leading role in Waterloo Road (BBC 1) and starred in the 2015 UK tour and 2020 online production of Original Theatre Company’s production of Birdsong. He returned to the production in the role of Jack Firebrace in the 2024 UK tour.

Paul Jacob French was nominated for Best Performer in a Musical at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards for his portrayal of Kenickie in the West End production of Grease (Dominion Theatre). He has most recently starred in An Officer and a Gentleman (UK & Ireland tour), Annie! (UK tour) and The Wizard of Oz (Curve Theatre).

Tori Allen-Martin is a regular in BBC 1 comedy Here We Go. She was previously seen as a leading regular in 4 series of BBC’s London Kills and as a regular on Channel 4’s Pure. Her other television credits include; Mrs Sidhu Investigates (Acorn); Significant Other (Hatrick); Plebs: The War (the finale) (Rise films); The Other Half (Ranga Bee Productions), Flatshare (42 for Paramount+); Back To Life (Two Brothers Pictures); and Pandemonium (BBC). 

Her stage credits include: I Wish You Well (Criterion and Edinburgh Fringe), Samuel Takes A Break (The Yard Theatre),  Then, Now and Next (Southwark Playhouse), Park Bench (Park Theatre),  One Man, Two Guvnors (New Wolsey, Ipswich/Nuffield Southampton), The Season (Glass Half Full Productions and Tim Johanson), The Hardest One (The Other Palace/ Criterion) and Hair the Musical (European tour). 

Also starring in MIDNIGHT COWBOY – A NEW MUSICAL will be Elena Breschi (Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, UK Tour & The Other Palace; Kindertransport, Nottingham Playhouse) as Delores, Joanne Henry (Bridgerton, Netflix; West Side Story, West End & UK tour) as Grandma Sally, Nick Len (Wicked UK Tour; West End, Chess, West End) as Swing, Hollie-Ann Lowe (Burlesque The Musical, Manchester Opera House; Dirty Dancing, West End) as Swing, Dean Makowski-Clayton (Little Fiend, Phoenix Arts Club; Marie Curie, Charing Cross Theatre) as Student, Christian Maynard (Miss Saigon, Sheffield Crucible; & Juliet, West End)as Tombaby, Phoebe Roberts (Grease, UK tour; Annie!, UK Tour)as Chalkline Annie, Tim Rogers (An Officer and a Gentleman, UK & Ireland tour; West Side Story, UK tour) as Woodsy Niles, Rohan Tickell (Rock of Ages, West End; Phantom Of The Opera, West End & Australia) as Mr O’Daniel,  Matthew White (The Mousetrap, West End; Bat Boy, Southwark Playhouse) as Towny.

The new musical is based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy which inspired the beloved triple Academy Award-winning 1969 film, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Midnight Cowboy captures the gripping tension of dreaming big whilst trying to survive the grind of New York City.

Joe Buck is a young man desperate to escape his dead-end past. Leaving everything behind, to seek wealth and glory in the big city, he meets a man just as lost as he is – Rico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo. The pair join forces, prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams, even if it means surrendering a part of themselves.  But New York ain’t no dream – it’s a jungle and survival requires sacrifice… 

MIDNIGHT COWBOY will have direction and choreography by Nick Winston  with musical arrangements, orchestrations and musical supervision by Charlie Ingles, set and lighting design by Andrew Exeter, costume design by Sophia Pardon, sound design by Yvonne Gilbert, creative development by Nick Winston, production management by James Anderton, musical direction by Ellie Verkerk, associate direction and choreography by Libby Watts, associate set and costume design by Natalia Alvarez, props supervision by Katie Balmforth, costume supervision by Josh Bamling, intimacy direction by Lucy Fennell, dialect coaching by Mary Howland, casting by Sarah-Jane Price, company stage management by Peter Barnett, deputy stage managementby Samantha Kerrison, lighting programming by Ryan Dunnett, assistant stage management by Antonia Howlett, technical assistant stage managementby Callum Wallace, the technical swing is Izzy Moore, the head of lighting/technicalswing is Harrison Smith, head of wardrobeis Gemma McErlane and thewardrobe assistant Emily Souch.

MIDNIGHT COWBOY is produced by ADAMA Entertainment.

Website: midnightcowboymusical.com

Instagram: @midnightcowboymusical

Facebook: @midnightcowboymusical

TikTok: @midnightcowboymus

LISTINGS INFORMATION

MIDNIGHT COWBOY – A NEW MUSICAL

4 April – 17 May 2025

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

1 Dante Place,

London,

SE11 4RX

How to get to Elephant Venue: the nearest stations are Elephant & Castle and Kennington.

Performances:

Performances Mon – Sat 7pm*, Matinees Thurs & Sat 2.30pm**

*Please note there will be no performance on 7 April. 

**There will be no matinees on 5 or 10 April.

There will be a captioned performance on 30 April 2025 and a signed performance on 22 April.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes (including interval)

Age guidance: 12+

Box Office

020 7407 0234 / southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Box Office opens Mon – Sat, 10am – 6pm.

southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/midnight-cowboy

Tickets

Previews 4 – 9 April | Pioneer’s Previews £12 (4 April only), Standard Previews £18

Standard tickets from £20 | Concessions tickets £22.50

Concessions apply to full time students, patrons over 65, patrons under 16, disabled patrons, and patrons claiming Universal Credit.

Disabled patrons may bring a companion/carer free of charge.

Southwark Playhouse has a group booking rate that offers ten tickets for the price of nine

Further casting announced for the return of smash-hit play Dear England by James Graham

The Olivier Award-winning ‘Best New Play’ returns to the National Theatre in March, followed by a 4-week run at the Lowry, Salford  

The National Theatre today announces further casting for its highly anticipated return of James Graham’s smash-hit production of Dear England as rehearsals begin on the South Bank. The Olivier Award-winning play will be staged at the Olivier theatre from 10 March to 24 May 2025, followed by a 4-week run at the Lowry in Salford from 29 May to 29 June 2025. 

Written by playwright James Graham (Punch, Young Vic; Sherwood, BBC One) and directed by the Almeida Theatre’s Artistic Director Rupert Goold (Patriots, Ink; Almeida Theatre/West End/Broadway), Dear England is an epic examination of nation and game, which has been updated following the 2024 UEFA EURO tournament to reflect Gareth Southgate’s final chapter as England manager.    

Liz White (Life on Mars) will play the role of Pippa Grange, sports psychologist and Head of People and Team Development at The Football Association from 2017 – 2019, joining previously announced cast member Gwilym Lee (SAS Rogue Heroes, Bohemian Rhapsody) who will play the role of Gareth Southgate.

The cast also includes returning performers Josh Barrow as Jordan Pickford, Gunnar Cauthery as Gary Lineker, Tony Turner as Greg Dyke, John Hodgkinson as Greg Clarke and Ryan Whittle, who is this time taking on the role of Harry Kane. They will be joined by new cast members Matt Bardock as Mike Webster, Jude Carmichael as Marcus Rashford, Gamba Cole as Raheem Sterling, Ryan Donaldson as Harry Maguire, Felixe Forde as Alex Scott, Kadell Herida as Jadon Sancho, Joshua Hill as Jordan Henderson, Martin Marquez as Sam Allardyce, Tane Siah as Bukayo Saka and Tristan Waterson as Dele Alli.

Also joining the company are Jass Beki, Courtney George, Will Harrison-Wallace, Jordan Ford Silver, Philip Labey and Ellouise Shakespeare-Hart. The cast will also be playing additional roles as part of the ensemble.

The wider creative team for Dear England includesset designer Es Devlin,costume designer Evie Gurney,lighting designer Jon Clark, co-movement directors Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf, video designer Ash J Woodward, co-sound designers Dan Balfour and Tom Gibbons, additional music by Max Perryment,revival director Elin Schofield, casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor, dialect coach Richard Ryder, voice coaches Cathleen McCarron and Tasmin Newlands, associate lighting designer Ben Jacobs, revival movement associate Thomas Herron, associate sound designer Johnny Edwards, casting associate Lilly Mackie and staff director Connie Treves.

The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t England’s men win at their own game? The team has the worst track record for penalties in the world, and manager Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land.

Dear England was originally commissioned by the National Theatre and developed with the theatre’s New Work department.  It had its world premiere in the Olivier theatre on 20 June 2023. Following a sold-out run,Dear England transferred to the Prince Edward Theatre, in London’s West End, from 9 October 2023 to 13 January 2024, where it broke box office records.  Dear England was subsequently released to cinemas through National Theatre Live on 24 January 2024 and has been screened almost 2,500 times across the UK.  The BBC has also commissioned a four-part drama of Dear England based on the stage production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer which will broadcast later this year.

Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 1 February 2025

Reviewed by Louise Ford

3***

Diversity Nirvana

The setting for this production of Coming to England is, of course, a good old fashioned analogue television. It’s the adaptation, by David Wood, of Floella Benjamin’s book about her and her family’s journey from the idyllic island of Trinidad to the, less than idyllic, Motherland, England. This production is directed by Denzel Wesley.

Whilst the story clearly references Floella’s success in children’s TV, championing children’s rights and her Parliamentary work. It doesn’t dwell on these amazing achievements. It is rather a story told from a child’s point of view of family and change. The production works perhaps best for children as it covers a lot of issues and historical events without labouring the points. It is rather a jumping off point for conversations and discussions. It is also a surprisingly short production at 1 hour 40 minutes including the interval. Which makes it ideal for schoolchildren. Having said that it is a great watch for adults too.

The story is roughly divided into three parts and is told from the perspective of Floella (Julene Robinson) who is on stage for nearly all of the production. She is in turn  joyful, brave and naive.

Joyful is her family’s island home which is full of colour, music and love. She is one of six siblings born to the dapper Dardie (Charles Angiama) and loving Marmie  (Maryla Abraham). This idyllic childhood is brought to an abrupt halt when Floella’s parents decide to take up the Motherland’s appeal to help rebuild the country’s greatness  after the Second World War. Dardie and Marmie head off with the two youngest children.

Floella has to be brave as she endures this separation and the brutal treatment of the four remaining siblings at the hands of their foster parents.

After 15 months Floella’s parents have saved up enough money to pay for the children to sail to join the family in London.

There is a lovely musical vibe throughout the production and all of the cast have great singing voices. It is a joyful production which the audience really enjoyed. It was great to see a younger more culturally diverse audience.

As mentioned already the production is framed within a TV screen, the actual set design is quite minimal. An interconnecting set of two blocks are moved around to form the island home, the ship and the flat. The addition of a few props helps to augment the stage. As the story is told from a child’s point of view, Floella and her siblings are for most of the production dressed as children. They wear fancy frocks, ankle socks, t-bar shoes for the girls and shorts, shirts and sandals for the boys. The clever use of colours highlights the differences between the island and England.

Floella naively imagines that the family will be welcomed by the Motherland and live in luxury and comfort. Floella is confronted with cold  weather, grey skies, drab clothes and racist comments and messages . However under  Mamie’s guidance and loving care the young Floella is urged to turn away from anger and violence and to embrace positivity and love.

As Marmie wisely counsels Floella, winners are always smiling.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

FOR THE INAUGURAL

STALLS TO STAGE AWARDS

The organisers of the Stalls to Stage Awards are proud to announce its inaugural cohort of winners, following an industry ceremony at the Bush Theatre, London on Sunday, 26 January 2025.

Established to celebrate the best of Theatre, the Awards saw 105 nominees across 25 categories. Shows opened between 1^st October 2023 and 30^th September 2024 were eligible for consideration by a team of creators, art makers and theatre fans, the shortlist of which were then voted upon by the general public, with 3500 votes and counting.

In the Plays and Musicals categories, ROMEO & JULIET led the Play awards with Tomiwa Edun and Freema Agyeman awarded Best Supporting Actor/Actress in a Play respectively. Andrew Scott was recognised as Best Actor in a Play for his performance in VANYA, with Denise Gough and Heather Agyepong jointly named Best Actress in a Play for PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS and SHIFTERS. HADESTOWN led the Musicals category with Melanie La Barrie and Dónal Finn awarded Best Supporting Actress and Best Actor in a Musical. NEXT TO NORMAL also took home two awards with Jack Wolfe and Caissie Levy winning Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress in a Musical (the former alongside Mitchell Zhangazha for MJ THE MUSICAL).

The Production awards were given to STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW, HADESTOWN and HAMILTON (UK & Ireland Tour) for Best Play (with Miriam Buether also winning Best Set Design for the show), Best Musical and Best Touring Production respectively. Jamie Muscato’s solo concert at Cadogan Hall, presented by FOURTH WALL LIVE and WESTWAY MUSIC,alongside the staged concert production of Spring Awakening at Victoria Palace Theatre, produced by JACK MAPLE and EVELYN HOSKINS, also received a special mention.

The Performance category celebrated lesser-known roles, underrepresented artists and emerging talent. Having just led an audience acclaimed world premiere run in WHY AM I SO SINGLE?, Jo Foster was awarded Best Non- Binary Performer, with Grace Hodgett Young (SUNSET BOULEVARD and HADESTOWN) and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (ROMEO & JULIET) recognised for Best Graduate and Best Professional or West End Debut. The work of swings and takeover performances were also highlighted in Madeline Charlemagne and Lauren Azania’s individual performances in HADESTOWN, earning them Best Takeover and Best Performance by a Cover/Alternate respectively.

The final batch of winners paid tribute to the unsung heroes driving change in the constantly evolving theatrical landscape. Clint Dyer & Roy Williams, Lynette Linton and Jacob Sparrow were recognised for their playwriting, directorial and casting achievements earning Best Writer for DEATH OF ENGLAND, Best Director for SHIFTERS and Best Casting for HADESTOWN, THE HOT WING KING and THE BIG LIFE. Rob Madge and Amy Trigg’s advocacy efforts did not go unnoticed, as they each received the Award for LGBTQ+ Champion and Disability Champion.

Finally, in loving memory of the community spirit exemplified by individuals and organisations within the industry, the late Gavin Creel was honoured with the Special Recognition Award, renamed after the actor himself for future years moving forward.

Speaking of the memorable event, Bri O’Reilly, Founder and Director of Stalls to Stage said, ‘When I decided in September to do the Stalls to Stage Awards, I didn’t for a moment imagine it would get the response that it did when I posted nominees. The joy that it created was not something I had anticipated at all, never mind the sheer number of votes that flooded in. When I decided in October that if I’m doing it then I should really do it and put on a whole night of celebration, all I had was unmedicated ADHD and a healthy dose of delusion. I could not have fathomed the response from our guests last night. The warmth, the joy, the love, it was beyond palpable, I still feel it now. Thank you isn’t enough but it’s all I have right now. A huge congratulations to all the winners, and all the nominees, and here’s to Year 2!’

The rejoiceful ceremony was attended by distinguished guests, nominees and performers from across the performing arts industry, hosted by Marcus Collick with a roundup of presenters including Christina Bennington, Natalie Kassanga, Rolan Bell, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, Sharon Rose, Dylan Wood, Ryan Reid, Reda Elazouar, Jamael Westman and Jyuddah Jaymes.