Author: James Haddrell

As we approach pantomime season, which for us is the biggest period of the year by far, attention is again turned to the huge economic and social importance of festive theatre.

The courtroom drama genre has produced some of the best known, and maybe just some of the best, plays and films around, but Marek Horn’s Yellowfin is surely the first based around a tin of tuna…

Amal, whose name means hope in Arabic, made appearances at a range of London locations.

This November, in a thrilling piece of programming, Siân Phillips will appear alongisde Charlotte Emerson in a Samuel Beckett double-bill at Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

When writers, producers and venues look for inspiration for their next new production, it’s common to consider stage versions of existing stories. Adaptations give a framework for a writer, a narrative to recreate, and we’ve long had to accept that a recognisable title is often easier to sell to an audience than a piece of new writing.

This week I was invited to teach a couple of day-long sessions for the drama department at the University of Greenwich. This is something I love doing – I’ve run sessions for Greenwich before, and earlier this year I was back in a live rehearsal  room long before most directors when I worked with a company of graduating actors to put on a show at St Mary’s University in Twickenham.

The Festival of Radical Care, presented by ClerkinWorks and The Albany, is set to reach a dramatic end this Sunday with a Queer Cabaret and a conference addressing racism in the theatre industry.

As we approach the end of the year we are awaiting imminent announcements about two major casting decisions, with the press full of rumours about those being considered. Which two performers, from the country’s vast pool of acting talent, are going to take over the roles of Doctor Who and James Bond?

Last week I opened my column with a quote from Hamlet. This week I am back in the theatre and looking forward to two shows that do just as Hamlet suggested – forcing us to face up to uncomfortable truths in the world around us.

The last few months has seen a spate of small cast shows at major theatres across London, no doubt to keep costs under control after a punishing couple of years and to allow for as much resilience in the event of renewed restrictions. One such show is Camp Siegfried at the Old Vic…

Throughout the last year, various research organisations have been talking to theatregoers to find out if and when they’ll feel comfortable returning to theatres. The research is designed to help us plan our programme for the near future

The term ‘theatre of war’ has been in use for more than 300 years. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, its first use was recorded in 1703.

For a long time I have been interested in the significance of the gender choices that playwrights make in theatre, and the way in which directors and performers then tackle those roles choosing to match the written gender with the performer cast on stage, to change character gender definitions and see what impact that has, or to cast gender blind and allow any performer to take on the role.

Greenwich Theatre is back and we have certainly taken on a series of ambitious shows and projects since reopening, from producing a 50th anniversary programme of short plays by Caryl Churchill to staging our first ever repertory season of family theatre for the summer.

Reopening this summer, we’ve been trying something new in Greenwich – a pair of family shows – Pinocchio and The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase with the same cast of actors performing both and presented on alternate days.

As COVID restrictions are lifted, theatres across the country are facing a host of questions. What should we programme to bring audiences back? In theatre we are always looking for the next exciting storyteller and the next inspirational tale, but they don’t always appear where you would expect.

As COVID restrictions are lifted, theatres across the country are facing a host of questions. What should we programme to bring audiences back? In many ways, although government guidance on isolation is still presenting challenges to a full and confident reopening the arts are beginning to breathe a cautious sigh of relief.

As COVID restrictions are lifted, theatres across the country are facing a host of questions. What should we programme to bring audiences back?

This time last year I was writing a column listing my highlights for 2020, from big West End shows to fringe shows full of exciting potential, mapping out a year of theatregoing. Little could I know that theatres would end up closed for most of the year.