Dateline 27th August, 2000
Kids' Week in the West End
In Kids' Week, one child aged 5-16 goes free to the theatre when accompanied
by a full paying adult. Most West End shows suitable for children are participating.
Offer subject to availability.
Dougray Scott back on the London stage
Mission Impossible 2 villain, Scottish actor Dougray Scott, will join Ray Winstone in To the Green Fields Beyond which premieres at the Donmar Warehouse on 25th September, previewing from 14th. The play will be directed by Sam Mendes, who is also making his return to the stage after the success of his first film American Beauty.
New Caretaker production in November
15th November will see a major new revival of Pinter's classic The Caretaker at the Comedy. Directed by Patrick Marber, the cast will be Rupert Gaves and Douglas Hodge, with Michael Gambon playing the tramp Davies.
Double Coward revival
Producer Bill Kenwright will open two Noel Coward revivals in the next couple of months. First will be Brief Encounter with Jenny Seagrove and Christopher Cazenove at the Lyric on 11th September (limited run), and it will be followed by Fallen Angels with Felicity Kendall and Frances de la Tour at the Apollo on 25th October.
Brief Encounter is a stage adaptation by Andrew Taylor of Coward's script for the 1946 David Lean film.
Fame returns to London
The current touring production of the musical Fame, which originated at the Cambridge in 1995, will move into the Victoria Palace on 3rd October, previewing from 28th September. This will be the show's fourth London outing, and its second at the Victoria Palace, where it played in 1997.
Guardsman for the West End
The new production of Molnar's The Guardsman, starring Greta Scacchi and Michael Pennington, who opens tomorrow (28th August) at the Churchill, Bromley, will transfer, after a short tour, to the Albery on 11th October.
O'Neill classic confirmed
It has been confirmed that the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, starring Jessica Lange and Charles Dance, will open at the Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue, on 21st November, after the short season of Coward's Brief Encounter mentioned above.
New Art cast
On 24th October the sixteenth cast will take over in Yasmina Reza's hit play Art at Wyndham's. The new cast will be Warren Mitchell as Marc, John Fortune as Serge and Ken Campbell as Yvan.
Unknowns star in ALW premiere
The cast for the new Andrew Lloyd Webber - Ben Elton musical The Beautiful Game, due to open at the Cambridge on 26th September (previews from 5th) is to be made up of almost entirely unknown actors, the Really Useful Group has announced.
Kidman to return to London stage?
Rumour has it that Nicole Kidman is set to make a return to the London stage, this time in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea at the RNT, which will be directed by Trevor Nunn. It is said that her return depends upon whether or not the Screen Actors Guild strikes, as it has threatened to do.
Peter Hall to work off-Broadway
Sir Peter Hall is to direct Troilus and Cressida for Theatre for a New Audience from 12th April to 6th May, 2001. He has also accepted the Lyndall F Worthall Chair of Performing Arts at the University of Houston's School of Theatre, where he will teach two courses: Shakespeare's Text for Actors and Graduate Directing.