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These pages are changed every two or three weeks whenever possible.
Click below to go to previous News and Gossip from UP WEST
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| Mark Rylance Declines Critics' Distinction??? |
4th February 2003
You might have thought Mark Rylance would be pleased to receive the Critics' Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his gamine portrayal of Olivia in Twelfth Night last summer (See Today's News). In fact, the mood of the Shakespeare's Globe artistic director could more accurately be described as livid.
According to Rylance, he'd only come to today's awards ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - accompanied by his entire company - because he'd been led to believe that the honour was for the production rather than his personal performance. He said either praise or criticism for individuals was invidious as, at the Globe, the productions were all so collaborative. "I will not be separated out," Rylance declared at the podium, going further to promise that "I will not appear again for any future awards until there is an award that recognises the ensemble."
Can anyone who knows Rylance please let him know that our own Theatregoers' Choice Awards, also announced today, have recognised Best Ensemble Performance - as well as Best Shakespearean Production (for which his Twelfth Night was nominated) - for the past two years running? Perhaps best not to mention, however, that he was also individually shortlisted here for Best Actor. And, all those keen Rylance fans take note. He's not being modest. He really doesn't want you to nominate him next year.
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| Kevin Spacey Becomes Old Vic Artistic Director??? |
4th February 2003
The invitation which came through to Whatonstage.com offices on Friday was surely one of the most tantalising ever: "(Producer) Sally Greene invites you to meet Kevin Spacey and Elton John at the Old Vic". Okay then! But what's it all about? Both Spacey and John are on the board of the Old Vic Theatre Trust and are taking part tomorrow in a high-profile, star-studded fundraising concert for the theatre (See News, 28 Jan 2003) so one presumed the event was to generate further exposure for those efforts. But the front page of today's Times suggests that it's much more than that. According to the newspaper, Spacey - who's been an increasingly active supporter of the Old Vic since appearing there in the Almeida's 1998 production of The Iceman Cometh - is to be announced as the theatre's artistic director. The article also suggests that Spacey will use tomorrow's press conference as an opportunity to speak publicly about his sexuality, which has been a subject of media speculation for many years. A year ago, Greene informally announced, in an interview with the Evening Standard, that director Matthew Warchus (whose West End successes include Art and, this past year, Madness musical Our House) was to become Old Vic artistic director, but that never came to pass. At the moment, there is no artistic director for the theatre, which acts primarily as a receiving house for productions such as the current Sheffield Crucible transfer of The Tempest, starring Derek Jacobi. Tomorrow's press conference at which, the invitation promises, Spacey will "discuss his involvement in the future of the Old Vic", takes place at noon. Check back in Whatsonstage.com News tomorrow afternoon for all the facts and a full report from the event. How exciting is that!?
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| Will Marti Make a Chicago Splash in New York??? |
4th February 2003
Marti Pellow wowed London theatregoers - and Whatsonstage.com voters - so much when he made his musical stage debut last year in Chicago that he received a special mention, for his takeover role as 'Billy Flynn', for Best Actor in a Musical in this year's Theatregoers' Choice Awards. He also seems to have made an impression on the show's New York producers, who've signed him up to star in the Broadway production for five weeks from 17 March 2003. Will win rave reviews like compatriot Denise Van Outen, who took the London-to-New York route with her Roxie Hart in 2001? And, if so, will Pellow, like Van Outen, reprise his role once again in London? Even if he doesn't, UK audiences will still have another chance to see the former Wet Wet Wet pop star play the superslick lawyer in Kander and Ebb's hit musical. Despite the Broadway attention, Pellow is standing by his commitments to appear in the UK touring production of Chicago. He's in Manchester with the show this month and, after New York, he'll appear in Dublin and in Liverpool (See {News: E8821038937308}, 4 Dec 2002). In other Chicago-related titbits, Catherine Zeta Jones has got her own back over film co-star Renee Zellwegger by winning her own Best Actress prize at the Evening Standard Film Awards and, in the London stage production, Gaby Roslin has added another fortnight to her stint as prison matron. Like current Billy Micheal Greco, she'll now stay on until 22 March 2003.
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| Who's in Charge at the West End's Playhouse??? |
3rd February 2003
Things can change quickly in the West End. Just a fortnight after a press release was sent out confirming the new ownership and management structure at the Playhouse theatre, it seems to have been completely rewritten. As reported by Whatsonstage.com back in November (See News, 20 November 2002), the Playhouse has been acquired by American producing brothers Ted and Norman Tulchin. London-based producer Kevin Wallace, who the pair had previously worked with on Eden and Gagarin Way, had been assigned the task of managing and programming the 800-seat venue. He told Whatsonstage.com that the aim would be to present high-quality productions, particularly of new writing. However, last week the Tulchins and Wallace decided to go their separate ways. Although the split is said to be "completely amicable", it seems to be based on a change of programming emphasis. The venue is now due to be booked by fellow theatre owner, the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), which, an insider told Whatsonstage.com, "can take the Playhouse in a very different direction". The first production slated for the new Playhouse is ATG's long-planned mounting of Three Sisters, originally mooted as a co-production with the now-defunct Natural Nylon (See News, 31 Jan 2003).
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| Nunn Signs Up for Webber's Woman in White??? |
3rd February 2003
Trevor Nunn may not be missing that £2.5 million he's donating to the National Theatre for long (See Today's News). Certainly he's not going to be short of lucrative work. In addition to his long-awaited production of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, which will open the new Almeida's season this spring (See News, 9 Dec 2002), Nunn has been signed up to direct Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical, The Woman in White (See The Goss, 4 Nov 2002). The director owes much of his estimated £40 million fortune to Lloyd Webber's Cats and, though it's unlikely any musical will ever rival that record-breaker's 21-year run, the new project will no doubt have its compensations. Based on Wilkie Collins' 19th-century romantic novel The Woman in White will have a book by playwright Charlotte Jones, whose Humble Boy won both the Critics' Circle and the Whatsonstage.com 2002 Theatregoers' Choice Awards for Best New Play in 2002. The musical is due to have an outing at Lloyd Webber's private Sydmonton festival this summer ahead of a West End premiere in early 2004.
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| Kidman Hankers After London Town & Theatre??? |
31st January 2003
There's been much talk in the press this week about Hollywood's Nicole Kidman possibly relocating to London. Apparently, she's moving out of the Los Angeles home she once shared with ex-husband Tom Cruise and is now looking to settle in a safer city to bring up their two children. She's spoken previously about her love for London, where she spent a lot of time while filming Eyes Wide Shut and performing in Sam Mendes' 1998 Donmar production of The Blue Room. But what theatregoers really want to know is, when is Kidman going to commit to a UK stage project? There have been rumours galore for years of her appearing back at the Donmar (at one point mooted to star in Mendes' farewell double bill of Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night) and at the National in Trevor Nunn's production of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea. The latter will now be seen at the Almeida in April, and speculation has continued that Kidman will finally figure in it, though no casting has been announced (See News, 9 Dec 2002). Speaking in today's Daily Mail, the Australian actress has again been pining for the London stage, encouraged by the high thesp count on her latest Oscar-tipped film release, The Hours, which was scripted by playwright David Hare, directed by former Royal Court chief Stephen Daldry and which co-starred Olivier winner Stephen Dillane. In addition to Daldry and Mendes, Kidman has now named another young British stage director she'd like to work with: up-and-comer Katie Mitchell. According to Kidman, "I've seen her work and I'd love to work with her. I want Sammy Mendes, Stephen Daldry and Katie to know I'm looking for something to do in London, either at the end of this year or early next. I love being in London - I could easily move there." Mitchell's next major project is a new mounting come late summer/autumn 2003 of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the NT Lyttelton (See News, 23 Jan 2003). Could Kidman be in the frame for that? Although NT artistic director-designate Nicholas Hytner has boycotted celebrity casting gimmicks at the South Bank, Kidman's name would certainly put that production on a par with another Three Sisters - starring Kristin Scott Thomas - which has been scheduled for the West End's Playhouse this spring (See Today's News).
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| Salman Rushdie Catches the Playwriting Bug??? |
30th January 2003
Salman Rushdie - whose stage adaptation of his own Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children has just received its world premiere - is keen to flex more of his dramatic muscles. At last night's opening of the Royal Shakespeare Company production at the Barbican, he described working with director Tim Supple and dramaturg Simon Reade on the adaptation as "the greatest experience of my creative life" and one that has given him "the itch to write more plays". The author says that after completing his current novel, which he postponed during rehearsals, he'd like to try writing an original play. It's also his dream to transfer Midnight's Children to India, taking it to Delhi, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. The book of Midnight's Children, which was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" in 1993, firmly established Rushdie's reputation as one of Britain's leading contemporary novelists. His other titles have included Shame, The Moor's Last Sigh, East/West, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and, most famously, 1989's The Satanic Verses, which so angered Muslims that Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declared a "fatwah" against Rushdie. According to the author, after 25 years of the solitary work of novel-writing, he has been enjoying immensely the collaboration of staging a play. Let's hope his enthusiasm hasn't dimmed this morning with the papers' mixed reviews of his first theatrical foray.
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| Will My Fair Lady Be Able to Do an Art??? |
28th January 2003
It has certainly worked for the likes of Art, The Vagina Monologues and now, This Is Our Youth, but could the quick-rotation cast concept work for a big-budget musical? It's worked to an extent with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's supporting role of the Child Catcher, who, in less than a year, has been played by Richard O'Brien, Paul O'Grady, Peter Polycarpou and soon Derek Griffiths. Now, rumour has it, producer Cameron Mackintosh wants to give it a go with none other than the leads in Trevor Nunn's multi award-winning revival of My Fair Lady. The current Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle - Alex Jennings and Joanna Riding - have both been nominated for Olivier awards this year, but they'll be off soon. They're expected to be replaced in March by Anthony Andrews (best remembered for the likes of Brideshead Revisited and Under the Volcano on television) and Laura Michelle Kelly (Mamma Mia!), but the length of those contracts, especially for Andrews, may be shorter than normal for a musical. Talks about taking on the role of the irritable linguistics professor for short stints have apparently been had with several big names, not least Jeremy Irons and original star Jonathan Pryce.
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| Could You Perform at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe??? |
27th January 2003
You may have visited the Edinburgh Fringe before, but have you ever considered mounting your own show at the world's largest arts festival? If so, it's worth attending one of the roadshow events that festival organisers are holding around the country over the next month. At these free events, you can learn how to get the most as a participant in the frenetic festival experience and also register your company or production for the 2003 programme. Last year's Fringe was the largest ever, attracting more than 15,000 performers from around the world. Roadshows will be held: 8 February in London (Pleasance Theatre), 15 February in Leicester (Leicester Comedy Festival) and 22 February in Edinburgh (Crowne Plaza Hotel). For those wanting advice on promoting their shows at the event, there will be an additional press and marketing event held in London on 23 March 2003. For further information, call the Fringe Office on 0131 226 0024.
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| £10 Frenzy Spreads to Old Vic & Tempest??? |
24th January 2003
Taking a leaf out of the National's book, producers of the Sheffield Crucible transfer of The Tempest - now at the West End's Old Vic, starring Derek Jacobi and Daniel Evans - are implementing their own £10 ticket policy. The catch is that, to get the cheap seats, you have to be under 26. If you've got valid proof of ID, you can purchase stalls tickets (they're normally priced up to £37 and are subject to availability) in person at the Old Vic box office only. Apparently, the young people pricing was one of director Michael Grandage's conditions of transfer. He has already had success with the scheme in Sheffield. Should we look out for it soon at London's Donmar Warehouse? Grandage took over as artistic director there last month and would no doubt like to tinker with pricing, though the "subject to availability" may be the sticking point as the majority of productions at the high-profile though terribly intimate (just 250-seat) venue are sell-outs.
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| Could the RSC & NT Ever Combine Forces??? |
24th January 2003
Perhaps if the National's artistic director-designate Nicholas Hytner had discussed the matter with West End producer Thelma Holt, he wouldn't have looked so stunned at the press conference held yesterday to announce details of his inaugural season (See News, 23 Jan 2003). Holt, who is co-producing the West End season of the Royal Shakespeare Company's five-play "Jacobethan" season, told an Evening Standard journalist this week that she had a "straightforward" solution to the Stratford-based institution's current malaise. "In my dreams, I would like the National and the RSC to combine," she says, "to keep their autonomy but to use each other's three theatres, build on each other's strengths." Or perhaps not so straightforward. The issue arose at yesterday's NT press conference when one journalist asked Hytner whether he's ever consider renting space to the RSC. Visibly taken aback, the National chief-to-be admitted, "I don't think I've ever been asked that". After brief reflection, however, he vigorously rejected the notion, saying: "We (the National and the RSC) measure ourselves against each other, we define ourselves against each other."
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| Dundee Rep Shakespeare Scores an Iranian Hit??? |
23rd January 2003
Dundee Repertory Theatre has made more history for the Bard this week by taking, with the help of the British Council, their production of The Winter's Tale to Iran. The Scottish company is the first British theatre outfit to perform in the strict Islamic country in more than a quarter of century - not since Derek Jacobi - currently starring in The Tempest at the rather less risky address of London's Old Vic - gave the Iranians his Hamlet in 1977. The current transfer hasn't been without its troubles. The production has had to be adapted for the culture in which women must be covered and any public contact between the sexes is forbidden, and there have been a few technical hitches with the Farsi surtitles, flashed on a screen above the stage. Despite all this, things seem to be going well. Last night's opening performance received a standing ovation from the full house at the 1,600-seat Vahdat Hall in Tehran.
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This page is re-produced with the kind permission of the website whatsonstage.com
References to "The Goss" in the text refer to the gossip pages of Whats on Stage.
If you are planning a trip to a West End theatre check out the Whats on Stage pages first.
There are always lots of concessions on offer.
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