What are they doing?

Index

Dateline 7th May, 2000

Mendes changes plans
Donmar Warehouse director Sam Mendes has decided not to direct Twelfth Night as his first production since winning his Oscar. Instead he will direct a new play by Nick Whitby, To the Green Field Beyond in September. He expects to come back to Twelfth Night later.

EIF drama 2000
The drama productions for the 2000 Edinburgh International Festival will be:

• Barbaric Comedies by Ramon de Valle-Iclan in a new version by Frank McGuinness. Presented by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, at the King's Theatre. Monday 14th to Sunday 20th August and Wednesday 23rd to Monday 28th at 6.00pm.
• Don Juan by Moliere, presented in Swedish with English supertitles by the Royal Dramatic Theatre of Stockholm, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Monday 14th to Thursday 17th August at 7.30pm.
• Cabin Pressure, conceived by Anne Bogart and created and performed by SITI, New York, at the Royal Lyceum. Saturday 19th to Tuesday 22nd August at 7.30, matinees Sunday 20th and Tuesday 22nd at 2.30pm.
• War of the Worlds, conceived by Anne Bogart, created and performed by SITI, written by Naomi Iizuka at the Royal Lyceum. Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th August at 7.30pm; matinees Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th at 2.20pm.
• War of the Worlds - The Radio Play, by H.G. Wells, adapted for radio by Howard Koch, adapted and performed by SITI, at the Royal Lyceum. Friday 25th August at 11.00pm.
• Mil Quinientos Metros Sobre el Nivel de Jack, by Frederico Leon, at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, performed in Spanish with Engish supertitles. Wednesday 23rd, Thursday 24th, Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August at 10.30pm.
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare, performed by the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, with Angela Winkler as Hamlet, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. In German with English supertitles. Wednesday 30th August to Saturday 2nd September at 6.00pm.

McPherson double at the Fringe
The programme for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is expected to be announced in June, but it is already known that Conor McPherson (The Weir) will have a double bill of two new plays at the Assembly Rooms. The two plays, both monlogues, are Rum and Vodka and The Good Thief.

Art on radio tonight
BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a production of Yasmina Resa's Art tonight at 7.30, with Alan Bates as Serge, Michael Gambon as Marc, and Simon Russell-Beale as Yvan.

The stage version, at the Wyndham's, is currently booking till 16th July. It is rumoured that Nigel Havers, Roger Lloyd and Barry Foster, who are currently starring in the regional tour, will be the next West End cast.

Rumours
The following rumours are currently circulating in the theatre world:

• David Hare's new play My Zinc Bed is expected at the Royal Court in the autumn.
• Also in the autumn, a production of Pinter's The Caretaker with Michael Gambon.
• And also in the autumn a new production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• The musical Man of La Mancha is said to be set for a revival in autumn 2001.

Wit to close
Margaret Edson's Wit which stars Kathleen Chalfont and is currently running at the Vaudeville, is to close on 13th May. It had been booking until the end of June.

BITE:00 opens this month
The Barbican's BITE 2000 international festival opens this month with productions by the Comedie Francaise (Les Fouberies de Scapin), Steppenwolf's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the Abbey Theatre (Dublin) production of The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde amongst the nine drama productions.

ALW for BBC?
It is reported that the BBC is negotiating for the first broadcast rights for Andrew Lloyd Webber's work. An agreement is said to have been reached on the Cats video and the BBC hope to secure another nine shows, including the Joseph video released in the USA last year, and the new Superstar video. The total cost to the corporation is expected to exceed £10m.