News – The Theatre Playbook

Mary, Queen of Scots makes royal debut with English National Opera

Thea Musgrave’s rarely performed Mary, Queen of Scots is set to make its debut in London with the English National Opera (ENO) next month.

The ENO will stage two performances at the London Coliseum on February 15 and February 18, coproduced by San Francisco Opera.

The opera follows the story of Mary I of Scotland, her tragic life and efforts to protect her country and faith. Betrayal is front and centre, as Mary is caught between her drunken husband, plotting half-brother and fickle lover. Faced with malice from every side, she turns to her Protestant cousin, Elizabeth I.

The director and designer is Stewart Laing (La bohème), with Joana Carneiro (The Handmaid’s Tale) conducting.

American soprano Heidi Stober makes her ENO debut in the title role of Queen Mary, with British tenor John Findon as Earl of Bothwell, Mary’s fickle lover, and British baritone Alex Otterburn as Mary’s half-brother, James Stewart.

English tenor Rupert Charlesworth plays Mary’s drunken spouse, Lord Darnley, with British bass Barnaby Rea as David Riccio, Mary’s private secretary and confidante, and English bass-baritone Darren Jeffrey as Scottish statesman Cardinal Beaton.

British bass Alastair Miles is Lord Gordon, Trinidadian tenor Ronald Samm plays the Earl of Ruthven, and British/Irish baritone Jolyon Loy takes the part of Earl of Morton.

The Four Marys (Mary Seaton, Beaton, Livingstone, Fleming), known for being Queen Mary’s ladies-in-waiting, are played by British soprano Jenny Stafford, Scottish soprano Monica McGhee, and British mezzo-sopranos Felicity Buckland and Siân Griffiths, respectively.

DM Wood is the lighting designer and Alex McCabe is the choreographer.

Tickets: https://www.eno.org/whats-on/mary-queen-of-scots/

Little Women heads to Richmond Theatre on UK tour

Belinda Lang (Sister Boniface Mysteries), Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle’s War), Jack Ashton (Call the Midwife) and Grace Molony (The Great) will star in a new stage adaptation of Little Women as part of a UK tour visiting venues including Richmond Theatre.

Lang will play Aunt March, Weeks is Marmee, Ashton plays Brooke/Bhaer and Molony is Jo in the retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel.

The company is completed by Cillian Lenaghan (Laurie), Jade Kennedy (Meg), Catherine Chalk (Beth) and Imogen Elliott (Amy).

The March sisters – tomboy Jo, beautiful Meg, sensitive Beth, and spoilt Amy – navigate the challenges of the Civil War era, forging unbreakable bonds of love and family in a world of sisterhood, courage, ambition as they progress into womanhood.

Directed by Loveday Ingram, Little Women opens at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on March 19, before playing Grand Theatre, Blackpool, and then touring to a further 10 venues across the UK and concluding its run at Theatre Royal Plymouth on June 21.

Little Women will play at London’s Richmond Theatre from June 3-7.

The novel has been adapted for the stage by Anne-Marie Casey. It is directed by Loveday Ingram, the designer is Ruari Murchison, lighting by Mike Roberston, the composer and sound designer is Mathew Bugg, and movement is by Mike Ashcroft.

Details and tickets: https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/

Amanda Abbington, Rosie Day find (This is not a) Happy Room at King’s Head Theatre

Amanda Abbington and Rosie Day will team up for the world premiere of (This is not a) Happy Room, coming to the King’s Head Theatre in March.

Day has also written the dark comedy, with Hannah Price directing. It opens on March 31, with previews from March 26, and runs until April 27.

Meet the Hendersons, a happily dysfunctional family, reuniting for their dad’s third (or fourth?) wedding. Nobody expects the death of his bachelorhood to become an actual funeral… but it would be a waste of the buffet not to repurpose it, right?

Abbington and Day previously partnered for Day’s Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon.

Sound design is by Adrienne Quartly, lighting design by Rory Beaton and set and costume design by Georgia de Grey.

Tickets: www.kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/this-is-not-a-happy-room

Charing Cross Theatre rolls out red carpet for Mrs President

Miriam Grace Edwards (One of the Boys) and Sam Jenkins-Shaw (The King & I) will star in historical drama Mrs President, debuting at Charing Cross Theatre later this month.

Directed by Bronagh Lagan (Cruise), the cast are currently in rehearsals for the play, which will run from January 31 – March 16.

Mary Lincoln is a woman at war — with her grief, her detractors, and herself. Vilified by an envious elite and accused of treason, she strives to rebuild her public image to win the hearts of the American people. She turns to the world’s first celebrity photographer, Matthew Brady, who helped her husband, Abraham Lincoln, win the presidency. But their partnership unravels into a tense battle for creative control. As Mary fights to tell her story, the play delves into themes of power, identity, female agency, and the cost of representation.

Written by artist, playwright and historian John Ransom Phillips, the production features set and costume designs by Gregor Donnelly, lighting design by Derek Anderson, sound design by Sonum Batra, video design by Matt Powell and production management by Dan Weage.

The associate director and movement director is Sam Rayner. General management is by Katy Lipson and Kristie Winsen for ARIA Entertainment. Mrs President is produced by the Art Pond Foundation.

Tickets: https://www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/

Sharon Small, Tom Varey lead The Glass Menagerie at The Yard Theatre

Sharon Small (Nye), Tom Varey (Hamnet), Eva Morgan (This City is Ours) and Jad Sayegh (The Ocean and the Star) will star in a new staging of The Glass Menagerie, coming to The Yard Theatre next month.

It is evening. Tom Wingfield is smoking in the alley outside the apartment where he grew up. Through a window, he watches his mother and his sister.

Tonight is one of those nights you remember forever. Tonight, someone special is coming to dinner. Tonight, there will be a dance. Tonight, you might fall in love. Tonight, everything could change.

Small will play Amanda Wingfield, Varey will play Tom Wingfield, Morgan will play Laura Wingfield and Sayegh will play Jim O’Connor. It marks the professional stage debuts for both Morgan and Sayegh.

Directed by founder and artistic director Jay Miller, the creative team also includes Cécile Trémolières (set designer) Lambdog1066 (costume designer), Josh Anio Grigg (composer and sound designer), Sung Im Her (movement director), Arthur Carrington (casting director), Edward Hilsum (illusion designer) and Erin Guan (set and costume assistant).

The production also marks the final show in The Yard’s current space, with construction beginning on a purpose-built new venue that is scheduled to open in 2026.

The Glass Menagerie will run from February 28 – April 21. Details: www.yardtheatre.co.uk

Harriet Walter invites friends on stage for The Old Vic performance

Harriet Walter will be joined by actors including Juliet Stevenson, Leah Harvey, Meera Syal, MyAnna Buring, Olivia Williams and violinist Lizzie Ball for a theatrical adaptation of her book at The Old Vic.

The performance of Walter’s She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said will see verse, sonnets and prose brought to life in a new way on Thursday, March 6.

Walter said: “I worship Shakespeare… but the mirror that he held up to Nature reflected a predominantly male image of the world. I pondered the long shadow of his genius and tried to think of ways to let a little sunlight in on some of his women’s stories. I like to think he wouldn’t mind.”

The event is curated and directed by Cedering Fox, WORDTheatre founder and artistic director.

For information and ticket: oldvictheatre.com/stage/harriet-walter-friends

Cast set for My Neighbour Totoro’s return at Gillian Lynne Theatre

Victoria Chen will join Ami Okumura Jones, Dai Tabuchi, Jacqueline Tate and Ai Ninomiya among the cast of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro, when it begins its West End transfer at the Gillian Lynne Theatre this March.

Chen joins the company to play the role of Mei, while returning to their roles are Okumura Jones as Mei’s older sister Satsuki, Tabuchi as Tatsuo, Tate as Granny and Ninomiya as the Singer.

The show’s unique Kazego Puppetry Ensemble will once again include Matthew Leonhart, Heather Lai, Shaofan Wilson (Miss Hara) and Anna Kato, who will be joined by new members, Rachel Clare Chan, Sally Cheng, Sabrina Pui Yee Chin, Victor Itang, Gabriel S Janoras, Ronnie Lee, Kumiko Mendl (Nurse Emiko), Annakanako Mohri, Richard Peralta, Lucy Park and Chloe Ragrag.

Phyllis Ho (Yasuko), Steven Nguyen (Kanta), Jamie Zubairi (Hiroshi) and Deanna Myers (Tsukiko) complete the cast.

Satsuki and Mei’s mother has taken ill. In order to be closer to her while she recovers in a rural convalescent hospital, their father moves the two sisters from their home in a city to the countryside. And though the countryside is beautiful and the people friendly, it’s hard not to be scared when the wind rustles the trees at night. As the sisters explore their new surroundings, young Mei encounters magical creatures and the ancient protector of the forest she calls “Totoro” – and they are to be the girls’ neighbours.

Although Satsuki doesn’t believe her little sister at first, they are soon both swept up in exciting adventures with their new neighbours – transported to a long-forgotten realm of spirits, sprites, and natural wonder.

Adapted by Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer) from Hayao Miyazaki’s celebrated 1988 animated feature film, the production is directed by Improbable co-founder Phelim McDermott.

My Neighbour Totoro broke the Barbican’s Box Office record for most tickets sold in a single day in April 2022, ahead of its global premiere in October 2022. Following both critical and audience acclaim, the production returned to the Barbican Centre for a strictly limited run in Autumn 2023. The production closed at the Barbican Centre in March 2024.

The production comes from executive producer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration with Nippon TV and Improbable.

My Neighbour Totoro also features production design by Tom Pye, puppetry design and direction by Basil Twist, costume design by Kimie Nakano, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, and movement by You-Ri Yamanaka. The production features music from Joe Hisaishi’s iconic score in a new orchestration by Will Stuart, performed live with sound design by Tony Gayle. Video design is by Finn Ross and Andrea Scott, the dramaturg is Pippa Hill, casting director is Hannah Miller and sound effects & soundscape designer is Nicola T Chang.

Artwork for the stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro includes a hand drawn title by Toshio Suzuki, producer for Studio Ghibli, who was involved in the planning and production of the original animated film.

The production will run from Saturday, March 8 to Sunday, November 2. Tickets: totoroshow.com

Macbeth cast revealed for Lyric Hammersmith run

A reworked version of Richard Twyman’s Macbeth is coming to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre for a limited run, with a cast headed by Alex Austin and Lois Chimimba (pictured top).

They will play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and will be joined by Gabriel Akuwudike (Banquo), Bella Aubin (Malcolm), David Colvin (Lennox), Ammar Haj Ahmad (Macduff), Daniel Hawksford (Duncan), Bianca Stephens (Lady Macduff) and Sophie Stone (Ross).

A struggling and divided nation, tearing itself apart. So, when the Macbeths see their chance at the crown, why shouldn’t they take it?

But things don’t go according to plan. Dreams quickly turn to nightmares, humanity erodes, nature stirs. As society strives to make sense of the darkness that sits inside it, how long will it take for people to fight back against the endless cycle of violence and corruption?

The play will open with previews on February 28 and run until March 29. It is directed by Twyman, with bAsia Binkowska as designer and Azusa Ono as lighting designer. The sound designer is Tingying Dong, with projection designer Will Duke, casting director Polly Jerrold, movement director Rachael Nanyonjo, fight director Sam Lyon-Behan, dramaturg Rikki Henry, associate director Rachael Walsh and associate designer Ola Klos.

Associate LX designer and LX programmer is Jack Hathaway, and associate sound designer is Matthew Tuckey.

An ETT production, the play was originally co-produced by ETT, Shakespeare North Playhouse, Northern Stage & Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and in association with Bristol Old Vic.

Back to the Future musical launches global search for next Marty McFly

A global search is underway for a new star to play Marty McFly in the acclaimed Back to the Future The Musical, as a new actor takes up the role with London’s West End company.

Led by lead producer Colin Ingram, alongside the Back to the Future film trilogy creators Robert Zemekis and Bob Gale, the chosen actor will win the chance to lead the company in one of the show’s productions around the world.

Auditions can be submitted online. More information can be found here: https://www.backtothefuturemusical.com/audition/

Meanwhile, American actor Caden Brauch will take up the lead role of Marty when he joins the London cast from Monday, February 10. He previously made his professional debut in the role with the first US touring production, and now makes his West End debut with the Adelphi Theatre company.

Marty McFly is a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence.

Performances also began on Broadway on June 30, 2023, with its final performance on January 5, 2025. The North American tour opened in Cleveland, Ohio, in June 2024 and is currently running in cities across the US and Canada until August 2025. In addition to the newly announced German and Royal Caribbean productions, a production will also open in Japan and Australia later this year.

The productions in London and Manchester have so far been seen by over 1.6 million people and the musical has broken box office records at the Adelphi Theatre.

Based on the Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment film, Back to the Future The Musical has a book by Bob Gale and new music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including The Power of Love and Johnny B Goode.

Back to the Future The Musical is directed by director John Rando (Urinetown, On The Town), alongside the design team of Tim Hatley (set and costume design), Tim Lutkin (lighting), Hugh Vanstone (lighting consultant), Gareth Owen (sound) and Finn Ross (video), with choreography by Chris Bailey, musical supervision and arrangements by Nick Finlow and illusions by Chris Fisher. Orchestrations are by Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, with dance arrangements by David Chase. Casting is by David Grindrod CDG for Grindrod Burton Casting.

Back to the Future The Musical is produced by Colin Ingram, Donovan Mannato, Frankel/Viertel/Baruch/Routh Group, Hunter Arnold, Gavin Kalin Productions, Playing Field, Crush Music, CJ ENM, Teresa Tsai, Ivy Herman/Hallee Adelman, Robert L. Hutt, Universal Theatrical Group, Ricardo Marques, Augury, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, in association with Kimberly Magarro, Stage Entertainment, Glass Half Full Productions/ Neil Gooding Productions.

Benjamin Button grows old with extended Ambassadors Theatre run

British musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will continue its run at The Ambassadors Theatre until Saturday, April 26.

A timeless love story that defies the odds, F Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic short story is brought to life with a soundtrack from the actor-musician ensemble, as the tale is relocated to a fishing village on the north coast of Cornwall.

From writers Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, the cast includes John Dagleish as Benjamin Button and Clare Foster as Elowen Keene, alongside Matthew Burns, Jonathan Charles, Oonagh Cox, Katy Ellis, Anna Fordham, Philippa Hogg, Damien James, Elliot Mackenzie, Ann Marcuson, Jack Quarton and Benedict Salter.

The production debuted in 2019, followed by a sold-out Southwark Playhouse run in 2023.

With book and lyrics by Jethro Compton and music and lyrics by Darren Clark, it is directed by Jethro Compton, who also designs the stage, with co-music supervision, orchestration and arrangements by Mark Aspinall and Darren Clark, choreography by Chi-San Howard, costumes and associate stage design by Anna Kelsey, sound by Luke Swaffield, lighting by Zoe Spurr, musical direction by Mark Aspinall and casting by Ginny Schiller.

It is produced by ATG Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Gary Beestone Associates, Eilene Davidson Productions, Susan Edelstein & Teresa Tsai, Umeda Arts Theater, Rupert Gavin & Mallory Factor, Winkler & Smalberg, Thomas Steven Perakos and Jethro Compton Productions.

Details here: www.benjaminbuttonmusical.com