Shirley Valentine

Meera Syal  puts in a stellar comic performance in Willy Russell’s hilarious and touching play about a middle-aged Liverpudlian housewife who decides to change her life.

Historic year for West End theatres

An historic number of West End theatres celebrate important anniversaries this year, including 80th birthdays for three theatres in September.

A boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s has resulted in six West End theatres celebrating their 80th anniversaries in 2010.

September proves a particularly important month, with three theatres celebrating their 80th: the Cambridge Theatre on Earlham Street on 4 September; Charing Cross Road’s Phoenix Theatre on 24 September; and the Trafalgar Studios on Whitehall, formerly known as the Whitehall Theatre, on 29 September.

Already this year the Prince Edward Theatre has celebrated its 80th birthday on 3 April, and later in the year the Apollo Victoria Theatre will mark its 80th on 15 October and the Adelphi Theatre on 3 December.

Celebrations will include a charity gala for the Apollo Victoria on 10 October featuring the cast of the venue’s current show, Wicked, and past productions including Starlight Express.

Advisory Body, The Theatres Trust, commented on the anniversaries: “The West End theatres that celebrate their 80th anniversaries this year are among the UK’s best examples of art deco and moderne style venues. Each is distinctive and unique, built to appeal to a public eager for entertainment, plays, films, variety and musicals. It is a mark of their quality that they continue to do so to this day.”

2010 also marks theatrical milestones for a number of other venues, notably the 100th anniversary of the famous London Palladium on 26 December. A special Facebook page has been set up for the London Palladium’s centenary allowing theatregoers and theatre professionals to remember the historic venue. Also, on Radio 2 this autumn a two-part documentary series, The London Palladium Story, will tell the story of the theatre, narrated by Michael Grade.

Also this year the Peacock Theatre, originally called the Royalty Theatre, will celebrate its 40th birthday in June, and the former Leicester Square Theatre, now the Odeon West End cinema, will turn 80.

QUICK THEATRE FACTS

Adelphi Theatre

Opened: 3 December 1930

Designed: Ernest Schaufelberg, incorporating parts of the former Sans Pareil theatre

Location: Strand, London, WC2E 7NA Adelphi Theatre Map

First production: Ever Green by Benn W. Levy and Lorenz Hart

Current production: Love Never Dies

Apollo Victoria Theatre

Opened: 15 October 1930

Designed: E. Wamsley Lewis and W E Trent

Location: 17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LL Apollo Victoria Theatre Map

First production: originally opened as a cinema (film: George Arlis in Old English)

Current production: Wicked

Cambridge Theatre

Opened: 4 September 1930

Designed: Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie with Serge Chermayeff

Location: Earlham Street, London, WC2 9HU Cambridge Theatre Map

First production: Charlot’s Masquerade by Ronald Jeans

Current production: Chicago

London Palladium

Opened: 26 December 1910

Designed: Frank Matcham

Location: London Palladium, Argyll Street, London, W1F 7TF London Palladium Map

First production: A Variety Show and one act play called The Conspiracy.

Current production: Sister Act

Peacock Theatre

Opened: June 1960

Designed: Lewis Solomon and Kaye and Partners

Location: Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT Peacock Theatre Map

First production: opened as a cinema

Current productions: include La Boheme, Euridice

Phoenix Theatre

Opened: 24 September 1930

Designed: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew, and Cecil Masey, with Theodore Komisarjevsky

Location: Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP Phoenix Theatre Map

First production: Noel Coward’s Private Lives

Current production: Blood Brothers

Prince Edward

Opened: 3 April 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS Prince Edward Theatre Map

First production: Rio Rita by Harry Tierney

Current production: Jersey Boys

Trafalgar Studios

Opened: 29 September 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY Trafalgar Studios Map

First production: The Way To Treat A Woman by Walter Hackett

Current productions: include Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita, State Fair

LINKS:

The Theatres Trust

Arthur Lloyd website

Educating Rita – Save £27.50

BOOK NOW: Educating Rita at the Trafalgar Studios – Save £27.50

Two of Willy Russell’s best known plays,  Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, are currently running at the Trafalgar Studios in London for a limited run.

The productions, which originally premiered at the Menier Chocolate Factory, have been a critical and audience hit since they transferred to the West End.

And now westendtheatre.com presents a very special offer on Educating Rita, which stars Tim Pigott-Smith and Laura Dos-Santos, and is directed by Jeremy Sams, who will direct Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz early next year. 

Willy Russell’s much-loved play follows a young, brash hairdresser who, much to the dismay of her husband, has recently discovered a passion for English literature and enrols with the Open University.  Her fresh, unschooled reaction to the classics challenges the attitudes of the university and her lecturer Frank who begins to question his own understanding of his work and himself.

Westendtheatre.com also presents a special offer on Shirley Valentine starring Meera Syal: Save £16 on top price tickets until 31 August

EDUCATING RITA REVIEWS

“Highly recommended” – Telegraph

“Willy Russell is a dramatist of exceptional warmth and humanity” – Evening Standard

“Perfect” – Times

“Memorable and Joyous” – The Independent

BOOK NOW: Educating Rita at the Trafalgar Studios – Save £27.50

Special Offer: Best seats reduced from £39.50 to £11.99 until 31 August 2010

Great offers on West End plays

Fancy seeing a good play – and saving money?

The West End is having a bit of a Plays renaissance at the moment and to celebrate we have put together some great offers on the best drama and comedy in London.

LA BETE

Hotly anticipated, must-see production by critically acclaimed comedy by American playwright David Hirson.

Starring the extraordinary 2010 Olivier Award-winning actor Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing), ‘the most exciting stage actor of his generation’ (Times), the wonderful Tony and Emmy Award-winning David Hyde Pierce (best known as Niles in the smash-hit sitcom Frasier), and one of the country’s most loved and popular actresses, the magnificent Joanna Lumley, this new staging is directed by the internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning Matthew Warchus (God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing, Art, The Norman Conquests).

When Princess Conti (Joanna Lumley) invites street clown Valere (Mark Rylance) to inject some bawdy fun and mischief into her staid acting troupe, she anticipates an exciting creative combination. But the troupe’s leader, Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), is an elitist and fervent lover of high-brow theatre who clashes with Valere – a gaudy comic and a fervent lover of …. well, himself.  So begins a gloriously witty and wildly hilarious battle of art and egos.

Written in 1991, La Bete was a huge critical success in London in 1992 and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

BOOK NOW: Tickets from only £12 to see La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London

GHOST STORIES

Direct from a sell-out season at the Lyric Hammersmith, comes Ghost Stories a truly terrifying theatrical experience. Written and directed by The League of Gentlemen’s master of the macabre, Jeremy Dyson, and Andy Nyman, co-creator and director of Derren Brown’s television and stage shows and star of Dead Set and Severance this is one event not to miss this Summer.

Please be advised that Ghost Stories contains moments of extreme shock and tension. The show is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending.

BOOK NOW: Save £13 on tickets to see Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre

HOLDING THE MAN

LAST CHANCE to see this acclaimed play starring Kath & Kim’s Jane Turner.

Based on the much loved award winning book by Tim Conigrave, adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tommy Murphy, Holding the Man is a hilariously funny, tender and moving play following the remarkable true life love story of Tim Conigrave and John Caleo. It is a celebration that speaks across generations, sexual preference and culture.

BOOK NOW: Save up to £27 on tickets to see Holding The Man at the Trafalgar Studios

ENRON

One of the most infamous scandals in financial history becomes a unique theatrical event in ‘Rupert Goold’s brilliant production’ (Guardian). Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, it reviews the tumultuous 1990s and casts new light on the current financial situation. In what promises to be ‘an outstanding evening’ (ES), Enron is ‘the exhilarating answer to a $60bn question’ (Times). Inspired by real-life events and using music, dance and video, Enron is directed by Headlong Theatre’s Artistic Director Rupert Goold whose recent credits include the award-winning Macbeth and Six Characters in Search of an Author, King Lear, No Man’s Land and Oliver!

BOOK NOW: Save up to £11 on tickets to see Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre

SHIRLEY VALENTINE

Starring Meera Syal in ‘London’s Best Comic Performance’ (Time Out).

Meet Shirley: a middle-aged Liverpudlian housewife who talks to the wall whilst preparing her husband’s egg and chips.  She’s in a rut.  What has happened to her life?  When her best friend Jane pays for a holiday for two to Greece, she packs her bags, heads for the sun and starts to see the world and herself rather differently…..  Commissioned by the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine premiered in 1986 directed by Glen Walford. In 1988, under the direction of Simon Callow, it opened in the West End, wining the Olivier Award for Best Comedy, and starring Pauline Collins, who went on to play Shirley on Broadway (winning a Tony Award) and in the 1988 film (winning a BAFTA Award and Oscar nomination).

BOOK NOW: Save £7 on tickets to Shirley Valentine at the Trafalgar Studios

AS YOU LIKE IT and THE TEMPEST

Award winning director Sam Mendes returns to the UK to direct two new productions as part of  The Bridge Project.

A stellar transatlantic lineup includes Michelle Beck, Christian Camargo, Ron Cephas Jones, Stephen Dillane, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski in an intriguing pairing of Shakepeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest.

BOOK NOW: Save £12 on tickets to see As You Like It and The Tempest at the Old Vic Theatre

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actress Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – BEST ACTRESS WINNERS

Best Actress

2011 Nancy Carroll for After the Dance
2010 Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire
2009 Margaret Tyzack for The Chalk Garden
2008 Kristin Scott Thomas for Chekhov’s The Seagull
2007 Tamsin Greig for Much Ado About Nothing
2006 Eve Best for Hedda Gabler
2005 Clare Higgins for Hecuba
2004 Eileen Atkins for Honour
2003 Clare Higgins for Vincent In Brixton
2002 Lindsay Duncan for Private Lives
2001 Julie Walters for All My Sons
2000 Janie Dee for Comic Potential
1999 Eileen Atkins for The Unexpected Man
1998 Zoë Wanamaker for Electra
1997 Janet McTeer for A Doll’s House
1996 Judi Dench for Absolute Hell
1995 Clare Higgins for Sweet Bird Of Youth
1994 Fiona Shaw for Machinal
1993 Alison Steadman for The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice
1992 Juliet Stevenson for Death And The Maiden
1991 Kathryn Hunter for The Visit
1989/90 Fiona Shaw for Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person Of Sichuan
1987 Judi Dench for Antony and Cleopatra
1986 Lindsay Duncan for Les Liaisons Dangereuses
1985 Yvonne Bryceland for The Road To Mecca

Actress of the Year in a New Play

1988 Pauline Collins for Shirley Valentine
1984 Thuli Dumakude for Poppie Nongena
1983 Judi Dench for Pack Of Lies
1982 Rosemary Leach for 84 Charing Cross Road
1981 Elizabeth Quinn for Children Of A Lesser God
1980 Frances de la Tour for Duet For One
1979 Jane Lapotaire for Piaf
1978 Joan Plowright for Filumena
1977 Alison Fiske for Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi
1976 Peggy Ashcroft for Old World

Actress of the Year in a Revival

1988 Harriet Walter for Twelfth Night and The Three Sisters
1984 Vanessa Redgrave for The Aspern Papers
1983 Frances de la Tour for A Moon For The Misbegotten
1982 Cheryl Campbell for A Doll’s House
1981 Margaret Tyzack for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
1980 Judi Dench for Juno And The Paycock
1979 Zoë Wanamaker for Once In A Lifetime
1978 Dorothy Tutin for The Double Dealer
1977 Judi Dench for Macbeth
1976 Dorothy Tutin for A Month In The Country

Best Actress in a Musical

2011 Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde – The Musical
2010 Samantha Spiro for Hello Dolly!
2009 Elena Roger for Piaf
2008 Leanne Jones for Hairspray
2007 Jenna Russell for Sunday In The Park With George
2006 Jane Krakowski for Guys And Dolls
2005 Laura Michelle Kelly for Mary Poppins
2004 Maria Friedman for Ragtime at the Piccadilly
2003 Joanna Riding for My Fair Lady
2002 Martine McCutcheon for My Fair Lady
2001 Samantha Spiro for Merrily We Roll Along
2000 Barbara Dickson for Spend Spend Spend
1999 Sophie Thompson for Into The Woods
1998 Ute Lemper for Chicago
1997 Maria Friedman for Passion
1996 Judi Dench for A Little Night Music
1995 Ruthie Henshall for She Loves Me
1994 Julia McKenzie for Sweeney Todd
1993 Joanna Riding for Carousel
1992 Wilhelmenia Fernandez for Carmen Jones
1991 Imelda Staunton for Into The Woods
1989/90 Lea Salonga for Miss Saigon
1988 Patricia Routledge for Candide
1987 Nichola McAuliffe for Kiss Me Kate
1986 Lesley Mackie for Judy
1985 Patti LuPone for Les Misérables and The Cradle Will Rock
1984 Natalia Makarova for On Your Toes
1983 Barbara Dickson for Blood Brothers
1982 Julia McKenzie for Guys And Dolls
1981 Carlin Glynn for The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas
1980 Gemma Craven for They’re Playing Our Song
1979 Virginia McKenna for The King And I

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Comedy Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Comedy Winners

Best New Comedy

2010 The Priory
2009 God of Carnage
2008 Rafta Rafta
2007 John Buchan’s The 39 Steps adapted by Patrick Barlow from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
2006 Heroes by Gerald Sibleyras translated by Tom Stoppard

Best Comedy

2003 The Lieutenant Of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh
2002 The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben
2001 Stones In His Pockets by Marie Jones
2000 The Memory Of Water by Shelagh Stephenson
1999 Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle And Dick by Terry Johnson
1998 Popcorn by Ben Elton
1997 Art by Yasmina Reza
1996 Mojo by Jez Butterworth
1995 My Night With Reg by Kevin Elyot
1994 Hysteria by Terry Johnson
1993 The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright
1992 La Bête by David Hirson
1991 Out Of Order by Ray Cooney
1989/90 Single Spies by Alan Bennett
1988 Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell
1987 Three Men On A Horse by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott
1986 When We Are Married by J.B. Priestley
1985 A Chorus Of Disapproval by Alan Ayckbourn
1984 Up’N’Under by John Godber
1983 Daisy Pulls It Off by Denise Deegan
1982 Noises Off by Michael Frayn
1981 Steaming by Nell Dunn
1980 Educating Rita by Willy Russell
1979 Middle Age Spread by Roger Hall
1978 Filumena by Eduardo de Filippo, adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
1977 Privates On Parade by Peter Nichols
1976 Donkey’s Years by Michael Frayn

Best Comedy Performance

1995 Niall Buggy for Dead Funny
1994 Griff Rhys Jones for An Absolute Turkey
1993 Simon Cadell for Travels With My Aunt
1992 Desmond Barrit for The Comedy Of Errors
1991 Alan Cumming for Accidental Death Of An Anarchist
1989/90 Michael Gambon for Man Of The Moment
1988 Alex Jennings for Too Clever By Half
1987 John Woodvine for The Henrys
1986 Bill Fraser for When We Are Married
1985 Michael Gambon for A Chorus Of Disapproval
1984 Maureen Lipman for See How They Run
1983 Griff Rhys Jones for Charley’s Aunt
1982 Geoffrey Hutchings for Poppy
1981 Rowan Atkinson for Rowan Atkinson in Revue
1980 Beryl Reid for Born In The Gardens
1979 Barry Humphries for A Night With Dame Edna
1978 Ian McKellen for The Alchemist
1977 Denis Quilley for Privates On Parade
1976 Penelope Keith for Donkey’s Years

Willy Russell season to transfer

Menier Chocolate Factory’s Willy Russell season to transfer to the Trafalgar Studios

The Menier Chocolate Factory’s double-bill of Willy Russell plays will join his long-running musical Blood Brothers in the West End from 8 July.

Two of Russell’s best known plays,  Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, which have been a critical success at the Menier, will transfer to the Trafalgar Studios in London for a limited 16 week run.

Educating Rita will star Tim Pigott-Smith, who will replace original cast member Larry Lamb, and Laura Dos-Santos. Shirley Valentine will once again feature TV star Meera Syal.

Educating Rita is directed by Jeremy Sams, who will direct Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz early next year.  Shirley Valentine is directed by Glen Walford, and both shows have designs by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Paul Anderson and sound by David Ogilvy.

Book tickets to Educating Rita at the Trafalgar Studios

Book tickets to Shirley Valentine at the Trafalgar Studios

CREDITS:

EDUCATING RITA:

Tim Pigott-Smith received a 2010 Olivier Award nomination for his performance as Ken Lay in Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre.  His extensive theatre credits include Pygmalion at the Old Vic, Little Nell for the Bath Theatre Royal, Hecuba for the Donmar Warehouse and Mourning Becomes Electra for the National Theatre as well as many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.  On film his credits include Alice in Wonderland, Quantum of Solace, V for Vendetta and Bloody Sunday.  His more recent television credits include The Queen, Midsomer Murders, On Expenses and The Last Flight to Kuwait.

Laura Dos Santos has most recently starred opposite Bill Nighy in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Educating Rita, broadcast last Christmas.  Her previous theatre credits include We Will Be Gone at the Camden People’s Theatre, Look Back In Anger at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Stags and Hens at the Royal Court Liverpool, On The Middle Day at the Old Vic Theatre, In Your Hands at the New End Theatre and The Morris at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre.  Her television credits include Bad Girls, Fingersmith, Innocent Party and The Bill.

Jeremy Sams’ directing credits include The King and I at the Royal Albert Hall, The Sound of Music at the Palladium and on tour in the UK, Donkeys’ Years at the Comedy Theatre, The Little Britain live UK tour, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off at the National Theatre which transferred to the West End and Broadway and Spend Spend Spend at the Piccadilly Theatre and on tour nationally.  His many adaptations and translations include The Rehearsal, Mary Stuart, La Bohème, The Magic Flute and The Merry Widow. His composing credits include Jane Austen’s Persuasion, for which he won a BAFTA and The Mother for the BBC, Arcadia for the National Theatre and The Merry Wives of Windsor for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as the film score for Enduring Love for which he won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Score.  He has also adapted the book of the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

SHIRLEY VALENTINE:

Meera Syal is best known for her television work including Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars at Number 42 (for which she received a BAFTA nomination for Best Comedy Performance), Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, My Sister Wife and Beautiful People.  Later this year she will be seen in the new series of Dr Who playing geologist Nasreen Chowdhury opposite Matt Smith.  Her theatre work includes Rafta Rafta, The Vagina Monologues and Serious Money.  Syal is currently filming My First Love for Sky Arts Documentaries in which she returns to a past love, jazz singing.  Following her mentoring sessions with Jacqui Dankworth, she performed at Ronnie Scott’s earlier this year.

Glen Walford was Artistic Director of Liverpool Everyman Theatre where she commissioned and directed the world premiere of Shirley Valentine.  During her time as Artistic Director of Ludlow Festival her productions included The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Walford was the founding Artistic Director of London Bubble Theatre.  She has directed extensively on tour and in London she has directed productions for the Royal Court, Bush, Tricycle and Hampstead Theatres.

WILLY RUSSELL

As well as Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, both of which were made into major award-winning features films, playwright, lyricist and composer Willy Russell is the author of the long running West End hit Blood Brothers. His other work includes John Paul George Ringo…& Bert, Stags and Hens, One for the Road and Breezeblock Park. His writing for television includes Our Day Out and One Summer. Russell’s plays have been performed in many countries across the globe, winning countless awards as well as academic honours.  Willy Russell’s Our Day Out The Musical will play at the Royal Court Liverpool this Autumn.

Hal Prince to stage new show

New Menier Chocolate Factory season announced. Hal Prince to return to London to direct Mandy Patinkin musical

The new Menier Chocolate Factory season will see a strong line-up of new shows, many of which promise West End and Broadway transfers.

Most high-profile will be a jointly directed Hal Prince and Susan Stroman musical starring Broadway legend Mandy Patinkin, a major coup for the small theatre that has built up a sizeable reputation: its successful production of La Cage Aux Folles starring Douglas Hodge will open on Broadway in 2010.

The musical, Paradise Found, will run at the theatre from 19 May to 26 June before a possible Broadway transfer. Based on Joseph Roth’s novel The Tale Of The 1002nd Night, the show is about a visit the Shah of Persia made to Europe in 1873. Patinkin will play the Shah’s eunuch.

The show features music by Austrian waltz maestro Johann Strauss II and Jonathan Tunick, lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and a libretto by Richard Nelson. Composer Tunick is widely known for orchestrating many Broadway musicals, including the works of Stephen Sondheim.

Legendary director Hal Prince was responsible for the premiere productions of Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade and Bounce.

Tony-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman has created shows including The Producers and Young Frankenstein, and last collaborated with Prince on the Broadway revival of Show Boat.

Trevor Nunn directs Aspects of Love

Also in the new season Trevor Nunn follows his successful production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which transferred to the West End and is now playing on Broadway starring Catherine Zeta Jones, by directing a new production of Aspects of Love.

The first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical since Nunn’s original production, the show is based on David Garnett’s novel and originally starred Michael Ball. It tells the story of passion, love and loss across three generations of a family and their companions set against the background of 1940’s France and Italy.

The show will preview from 3 July.

Willy Russell double-bill

Also showcasing at the Menier Chocolate Factory will be a double-bill of Willy Russell plays Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita.

Both award-winning movies, the plays will provide a long overdue London tribute to Willy Russell’s work.  Willy Russell’s most famous stage work is Blood Brothers, which has played in the West End since 1988 and currently stars Spice Girl Melanie C.

Shirley Valentine will star Meera Syal, acclaimed comedienne and actress whose credits include Bombay Dreams and Goodness Gracious Me. The play will be directed by Glen Walford.

Larry Lamb and Laura Dos Santos will star in Educating Rita, directed by Jeremy Sams. Larry Lamb has recently enjoyed two high-profile TV roles in Gavin & Stacey and EastEnders. Relative newcomer Dos Santos appeared in Look Back in Anger at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2008.

The productions run in rep from 26 March to 8 May.