The heyday of Hollywood is recreated at the Above the Stag theatre
ABOVE THE STAG
72 ALBERT EMBANKMENT
SE1 7TP
020 3488 2815
Goodbye Norma Jeane
16 March To 7 April
by Liam Burke
Jack Cole taught Hollywood to dance. Now he’s writing a weekly column for Dance Magazine. Or trying to. Young men splash and yell in his swimming pool outside, and as the afternoon wears on a parade of his former muses arrives at his front door – Betty Grable, Jane Russell and Rita Hayworth among them. And each is determined to have the last word.
Romance Romance
From 12 March
by Barry Harman
This charming and intelligent musical brings together two contrasting stories, set 100 years apart. In late 19th Century Vienna, two bored high-society lovers disguise themselves as struggling members of the working class. Can their love survive without the comforts and luxuries they’re used to? And 100 years later, two couples rent a beach house in The Hamptons, where a spot of extramarital flirtation might explode into something more. Romance Romance was nominated for five Tony Awards for its Broadway run.
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BRIDGE THEATRE
SOUTHBANK
SE1 9PX
020 7452 3000
Alys, Always
To 30 March
by Lucinda Coxen
Frances works on the books pages of a Sunday newspaper. One evening, driving back to London after visiting her infuriating parents, she comes across an upturned car crumpled on the side of the road. She waits with the injured driver, Alys Kyte, until the ambulance arrives. A gripping psychological thriller that excavates the fault line that separates the entitled from the unentitled.
A German Life
6 May to 11 April
by Christopher Hampton
Drawn from the true testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel, of her life that spanned the twentieth century. She struggled to make ends meet as a secretary in Berlin during the 1930s, her many employers including a Jewish insurance broker, the German Broadcasting Corporation and, eventually, Joseph Goebbels. Maggie Smith, alone on stage, plays Brunhilde Pomsel.
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NATIONAL THEATRE
SOUTHBANK
SE1 9PX
020 7452 3000
Downstate
12 March to 27 April
by Bruce Norris
In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors share a group home where they live out their lives in the shadow of the offences they committed. A man shows up to confront his childhood abuser — but does he want closure or retribution?
Small Island
17 April to 10 August
by Andrea Levy
An epic, Orange Prize-winning novel bursts to new life on the Olivier stage. A company of 40 tells a story which journeys from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948 – the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. Small Island follows three intricately connected stories. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as the play traces the tangled history of Jamaica and the UK.
Top Girls at the National Theatre (photo by Rosaline Shahnavaz)
Top Girls
26 March to 22 June
by Caryl Churchill
Now hiring: top girls wanted for prestige positions. Must be self-motivated go-getters with an appetite for success. No timewasters. Marlene is the first woman to head the Top Girls employment agency. But she has no plans to stop there. With Maggie in at Number 10 and a spirit of optimism consuming the country, Marlene knows that the future belongs to women like her.
Kathy Kiera Clark in Tartuffe by Moliere
Tartuffe
To 30 April
by Molière
A ferocious new version of Molière’s comic masterpiece. Orgon is the man who has everything. Money, power, a beautiful home and family. But lately he’s been questioning the point of it all. When he invites the irresistible Tartuffe into his seemingly perfect household, he unleashes a whirlwind of deception and seduction that threatens everything.
Follies
To 11 May
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves.
Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical includes such classic songs as Broadway Baby, I’m Still Here and Losing My Mind.
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SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
56 PARK STREET
SE1 9AR
020 7261 9565
Edward II
To 20 April
by Christopher Marlowe
King Edward recalls his lover, Gaveston, from banishment and sets in motion a chain of events that will culminate in some of the most shocking scenes in all of early modern theatre. Threatened by the preferment shown to the ‘upstart’ Gaveston, and exasperated by Edward’s neglect of matters of state, the king’s nobles join forces with Queen Isabella and the clergy to plot the downfall of Edward’s circle of flatterers, and ultimately of the king himself.
Richard II
To 21 April
by William Shakespeare
Adjoa Andoh and Lynette Linton direct the first ever company of women of colour in a Shakespeare play on a major UK stage, in a post-Empire reflection on what it means to be British in the light of the Windrush anniversary and as we leave the European Union. Beset by problems at home and abroad, a capricious king is forced to relinquish his ‘hollow crown’. As his supporters abandon him and his power trickles away, Richard reflects with startling eloquence on the disintegration of his status and identity.
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SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE
77-85 NEWINGTON CAUSEWAY
SE1 6BD
020 7407 0234
Billy Bishop Goes To War
To 6 April
by John Gray
Based on the true story, and brought to life with musical numbers, this ‘poignantly beautiful’ (Libby Purves) production of Billy Bishop Goes to War transfers to Southwark Playhouse from 13 March after a critically acclaimed run at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Billy Bishop, a failing Canadian military college student, overcomes intense prejudice from British High Command and astonishing danger to become the most successful fighter pilot of his generation.
The Rubenstein Kiss
To 13 April
by James Phillips
1953. In the midst of the Cold War and with McCarthyisim at its height the world watched as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sent to the electric chair for allegedly passing US atomic secrets to the Soviet Union – protesting their innocence to the last. Inspired by this haunting true story, James Phillips‘ multi-award winning play The Rubenstein Kiss comes to Southwark Playhouse in its first London revival.
Other People’s Money
17 April To 11 May
by Jerry Sterner
The Wire and Cable Company of New England is a sleepy family-run business – that is until Larry-the-Liquidator threatens to bring a little corporate pillage to the village. With a jam-today approach to both doughnuts and investments, Larry is accustomed to grabbing life by the assets. But CEO Jorgy has a different approach. Will his small town ideas stack up against booming Wall Street? In this darkly funny 80’s play, it all comes down to whether ‘values’ have their price.
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THE OLD VIC
103 THE CUT
SE1 8NB
020 7928 2651
All My Sons
13 April to 8 June
by Arthur Miller
America, 1947. Despite hard choices and even harder knocks, Joe and Kate Keller are a success story. They have built a home, raised two sons and established a thriving business. With the return of a figure from the past, long buried truths are forced to the surface and the price of their American dream is laid bare. Jeremy Herrin directs Sally Field and Bill Pullman in Arthur Miller’s blistering drama, All My Sons.
The American Clock
To 30 March 2019
by Arthur Miller
The American Clock turns, fortunes are made and lives are broken. In New York City in 1929, the stock market crashed and everything changed. In an American society governed by race and class, we meet the Baum family as they navigate the aftermath of an unprecedented financial crisis. The world pulses with a soundtrack fusing 1920s swing and jazz with a fiercely contemporary sound, creating a backdrop that spans a vast horizon from choking high rises to rural heartlands.
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THE YOUNG VIC
66 THE CUT
SE1 8LZ
020 7922 2922
Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train at the Young Vic (photo by Johan Persson)
Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train
To 6 April
by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Inside the lockdown wing of Rikers Island prison, a frightened young man accused of murdering a cult leader is confronted with a charismatic born-again serial killer and a sadistic guard. Will one man’s redemption lead to another’s damnation?
Death of a Salesman
1 May To 29 June
by Arthur Miller
Following her recent award-winning success for Company and Angels in America, Marianne Elliott co-directs with Miranda Cromwell, bringing a unique vision to one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century, seen through the eyes of an African American family. Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Suits, Selma) makes his UK stage debut as Willy Loman.
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