Hampstead Theatre – The Theatre Playbook

Hampstead Theatre adds new dates for Dickie Beau’s Re-Member Me

Dickie Beau’s Re-Member Me has had its run extended at Hampstead Theatre.

Originally due to finish on June 17, the show will now continue until Saturday, June 24.

The master of lip-sync, in Re-Member Me he conjures many celebrated actors that have played Shakespeare’s tragic prince Hamlet such as Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ian McKellen.

The epic one-man show, directed by Jan Willem Van Den Bosch, is also a reflection on memory and mortality and includes exclusive recordings of interviews with some of theatre’s most illustrious personalities – all lip-synced by Beau.

Re-Member Me is described as part documentary theatre, part 21st century séance, and a unique theatrical eulogy to one of the greatest Hamlet’s almost never seen.

Opening at Hampstead Theatre on May 25, Sir Ian McKellen took guests to the first performance as part of his 84^th birthday celebrations. Other star theatre-goers have included Benedict Cumberbatch, Ruby Wax, Fiona Shaw, Gyles Brandreth, Indira Varma, Anoushka Shankar, Denise Gough, Liz Carr, Martin Sherman and Paul Gambaccini.

Giles Terera (Hamilton) will join Beau on Thursday, June 22 for a post-show Q&A.

Tickets available at hampsteadtheatre.com

Hampstead Theatre unveils eight new productions for 2023/24

Hampstead Theatre has announced its 2023/24 season with a run of eight new productions set to start this September.

The season includes three world premieres on the main stage: Anthropology by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Anna Ledwich; To Have and To Hold by Richard Bean, directed Richard Wilson; and Double Feature by John Logan, directed by Jonathan Kent.

A further three world premieres and a UK premiere will play in Hampstead Downstairs: Octopolis by Marek Horn, directed by Ed Madden; Nineteen Gardens by Magdalena Miecznicka, directed by Alice Hamilton; This Much I Know by Jonathan Spector, directed by Chelsea Walker and Out of Season by Neil D’Souza, also directed by Alice Hamilton.

Completing the season is Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, directed by Nina Raine.

Tickets are now on sale.

The programme for autumn 2023 marks a new future for Hampstead Theatre following Arts Council England’s decision to cut its NPO grant by 100 per cent. Hampstead’s future and renewed commitment to present ambitious original work will be driven by ticket sales, commercial income and philanthropic support.

Here’s more about the new season:

HAMPSTEAD THEATRE MAIN STAGE

Anthropology
By Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Anna Ledwich
September 7 – October 14, 2023

Merril is one of Silicon Valley’s leading software engineers, but her life disintegrates when her younger sister Angie vanishes on her way home from college. A year later, when the police have long abandoned their search, Merril assembles all the digital material Angie has left behind and sets about building herself a digital simulation of her sister. The resultant ‘virtual Angie’ offers her some solace – until, that is, it starts to reveal new details about the real Angie’s disappearance.

To Have and To Hold
By Richard Bean
Directed by Richard Wilson
October 20 – November 25

After sixty years of marriage, happily settled into their retirement village in Yorkshire, Jack and Florence have elevated bickering almost to the status of high art. That said, they’re otherwise getting along fine with the support of a cousin and the hilarious interventions of the man known locally as ‘Rhubarb Eddie’. But will their anxious son, shuttling between London and LA, and their errant daughter, contemplating a move to Australia, leave them to live out their days in peace?

Rock ‘n’ Roll
By Tom Stoppard
Directed by Nina Raine
December 6 – January 27

1968: Russian tanks have rolled into Czechoslovakia, and Syd Barrett has been dumped by Pink Floyd. Jan, a visiting postgrad at Cambridge, breaks with his old professor Max, a Marxist philosopher, and heads home to Prague with his suitcase full of “socially negative music”. Rock ’n’ Roll covers the ensuing 21 years in the lives of three generations of Max’s family while Jan is caught in the spiral of dissidence in a Communist police state. But it’s a love story too – and then there’s the music…

Double Feature
By John Logan
Directed by Jonathan Kent
February 8 – March 16

1964/1967. In a rented cottage in Suffolk, a brilliant young film director, deep in making his magnum opus, confronts the ageing star that the studio has imposed on him. Vincent Price is about to walk out on the film, and Michael Reeves’ career hangs by a thread. Across the world, in a strange simulacrum of a Suffolk cottage created on a Hollywood lot, a great director and his star are engaged in a very different sort of power-game, as Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren take time off from making Marnie for one final confrontation.

HAMPSTEAD DOWNSTAIRS

Octopolis
By Marek Horn
Directed by Ed Madden
September 15 – October 28

Professor George Grey is a brilliant behavioural biologist who, alongside her recently deceased husband, became world-renowned for her pioneering research into octopus intelligence. Mainly the intelligence of one particular octopus, in fact: Frances, who still resides in a large, purpose-built tank in George’s campus accommodation.

Into this house of grief walks Harry – an ambitious anthropologist, despatched by the university with permission to test his breath-taking new theory on Frances. The nature of his assignment is shocking to George, and threatens to tear her world apart in more ways than one.

Nineteen Gardens
By Magdalena Miecznicka
Directed by Alice Hamilton
November 3 – December 9

Nearly two years after the end of their affair, John and Aga meet once more. Each has filled the void left by the other: he has withdrawn into his world of wealth and privilege; she has found herself working as a chambermaid to support her family. Both recognise that the spark between them is still there. Will they rekindle what they had, or is an altogether darker game about to be played out?

This Much I Know
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Chelsea Walker
December 13 – January 27

A tenured professor of psychology, Lukesh enjoys a life as organised and logical as his mind. But then his wife vanishes, sending only a text message by way of explanation and leaving him to re-evaluate their relationship. He discovers she has embarked on an epic odyssey, crossing and recrossing Russia and delving deep into Soviet history on a quest to unravel a family mystery of which he was unaware – one in which Josef Stalin himself may be involved.

Out of Season
By Neil D’Souza
Directed by Alice Hamilton
February 16 – March 23

Yes – the band is back in town! Michael, Chris and Dev are returning to Ibiza and the hotel where it all began thirty years ago. But Michael’s stuck in London, Dev’s got a bad back and Chris…well, he’s just Chris. And it turns out that none of them are in their twenties anymore! As this middle-aged trip down memory lane is about to hurtle off the tracks, Holly and Amy arrive, so down-to-earth they might just save our feckless heroes from really humiliating themselves…

Dickie Beau brings Re-Member Me to Hampstead Theatre

It’s the show that’s described as a Hamlet mix-tape.

When actor and artist Dickie Beau realised he might never get to play Shakespeare’s iconic Danish prince, the lip-syncing sensation instead took recordings of great Hamlets from the past to create a unique one-man show.

Beau has now created a Hamlet that can never be “re-membered” because no recordings exist.

In his show, part documentary theatre, part 21st century séance, Beau brings Hamlet back to life through exclusive recordings of interviews with Ian McKellen, Richard Eyre and others.

Beau’s previous work include iShowmanism! at the Ustinov Studio, Bath, last year. He played the title role in Botticelli in the Fire at Hampstead Theatre in 2019. His other credits include Kenny Everett in Bohemian Rhapsody and The Dame in Dick Whittington at the National Theatre.

Re-Member Me was first presented as a scratch performance at the Almeida Theatre on the set of Robert Icke’s production of Hamlet in 2017, before it transferred to the Public Theater, New York, and went on to play at the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Perth International Festival.

The show is directed and co-devised by Jan-willem van den Bosch with lighting design by Marty Langthorne.

Re-Member Me is at Hampstead Theatre from May 25-June 17.

Will Young brings Song From Far Away to Hampstead Theatre

Will Young will star in Song From Far Away during a strictly limited run at Hampstead Theatre.

Marking Young’s first live theatre role for a decade, the play was staged at HOME Manchester earlier this year and is now heading to London.

Song From Far Away is described as an unforgettable story and a personal letter to those left behind. One crisp winter day in New York, Willem receives a phone call – it’s time to go home. Home to Amsterdam – to estranged family and forgotten relationships. As he reflects on his life, unwilling to face the future, he finds himself reaching out to the brother he lost.

Written by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and Mark Eitzel, Song From Far Away is directed by Kirk Jameson and designed by Ingrid Hu with sound by Julian Starr. The composer, musical supervisor and arranger is Paul Schofield and the dialect coach is Penny Dwyer. It is coproduced by Thomas Hopkins, Guy Chapman and HOME.

Song From Far Away is at Hampstead Theatre from June 28-July 22.

Hampstead Downstairs sets spring casts

Hampstead Theatre has confirmed the casts for three shows set to play in its Downstairs venue.

The world premiere of Sea Creatures, by Cordelia Lynn and directed by James Macdonald, will feature Geraldine Alexander, Pearl Chanda, Thusitha Jayasundera, Tom Mothersdale, Grace Saif, Tony Turner and June Watson. It runs from March 24-April 29.

Set in a cottage by the sea, four women live in a house made for five. Meals are prepared, stories are shared and the tide breaks on the shore. When only one of their two guests arrive for the summer, it isn’t quite the reunion they were all hoping for.

Another world premiere, Biscuits for Breakfast, by Gareth Farr and directed by Tessa Walker, will feature Boadicea Ricketts and Ben Castle-Gibb. It runs from May 5-June 10.

A tender story of dreams and survival, it introduces Joanne and Paul, who aren’t an obvious match – she is spiky, defensive and a survivor, while he is quiet, considered and hiding profound grief for his father. The pleasure Paul takes in cooking – and the astonishing food he prepares – creates a bond between them. When the hotel where they both work closes and they start to spiral into poverty, it throws everything up in the air – first the dreams of a cookbook and a restaurant, and, eventually, even the dreams of a future together.

Finally, Stumped, by Shomit Dutta and directed by Guy Unsworth, will feature Stephen Tompkinson and Andrew Lancel. It plays from June 16-July 22.

Before Samuel Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer. He is still the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter, whose best-known works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, described cricket as ‘the greatest thing that God created on Earth’. Exploring what the friendship between these two playwrights may have looked like, Stumped, was first streamed online as a digital only production in 2022. Now, Dutta has extended it into a full-length play and its stage premiere production at Hampstead Theatre coincides with the Ashes test match at Lord’s, a stone’s throw from the theatre.

Hampstead invites Sea Creatures, Biscuits for Breakfast and Stumped downstairs

Hampstead Theatre has unveiled three new plays for its Downstairs space for spring 2023.

Sea Creatures, running from March 24-April 29, marks the world premiere of Cordelia Lynn’s play, directed by James Macdonald.

Set in a cottage by the sea, four women live in a house made for five. Meals are prepared, stories are shared and the tide breaks on the shore. When only one of their two guests arrive for the summer, it isn’t quite the reunion they were all hoping for.
Lynn is an award-winning playwright whose other work includes Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse), Three Sisters (Almeida) and One for Sorrow (Royal Court).

A second world premiere is Biscuits for Breakfast by Gareth Farr, directed by Tessa Walker. It will run from May 5-April 29.

A tender story of dreams and survival, Joanne and Paul aren’t an obvious match – she is spiky, defensive and a survivor, while he is quiet, considered and hiding profound grief for his father. The pleasure Paul takes in cooking – and the astonishing food he prepares – creates a bond between them. When the hotel where they both work closes and they start to spiral into poverty, it throws everything up in the air – first the dreams of a cookbook and a restaurant, and, eventually, even the dreams of a future together.
Farr’s play Britannia Waves the Rules (Royal Exchange Manchester) won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2011.

Stumped, by Shomit Dutta and directed by Guy Unsworth, will have its stage premiere from June 16-July 22.

Before Samuel Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer. He is still the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter, whose best-known works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, described cricket as ‘the greatest thing that God created on earth’.
Exploring what the friendship between these two playwrights may have looked like, Stumped, was first streamed online as a digital only production in 2022. Now, Dutta has extended it into a full-length play and its stage premiere at Hampstead Theatre coincides with the Ashes test match at Lord’s, a stone’s throw from the theatre.

Full creative teams and cast for all three plays will be announced in due course.

Poirot returns as David Suchet heads to Hampstead

David Suchet is bringing his show Poirot and More, A Retrospective to Hampstead Theatre on the back of its West End run.

A limited run of just 18 performances will offer audiences an insight into Suchet’s career as he discusses some of his most acclaimed performances.

Poirot and More, A Retrospective is described as a celebration of Suchet’s stage and screen career spanning five decades and an array of roles. He is best known as playing Agatha Christie’s elegant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot for more than 25 years.

However, the Emmy-winning actor has been celebrated for playing iconic roles such as Lady Bracknell, Cardinal Benelli and Sigmund Freud. Around the world, he has also brought the literary greats to life, including Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Edward Albee.

Suchet said: “Following the success of my one man show in the West End and on Tour last year, and in the light of the 100% cut in Arts Council funding which Hampstead Theatre is having to navigate, I wanted to show my support by bringing my show to this wonderful intimate theatre for a strictly limited season. I was last on stage at Hampstead Theatre in 1987 in Separation, directed by Mike Attenborough, so I think it’s about time!”

Poirot and More, A Retrospective is at Hampstead Theatre from 11 – 29 March. Tickets are now on sale for priority bookers and on general sale from 10.30am on Thursday 9 February at hampsteadtheatre.com.

Hampstead lines up Linck & Mülhahn

Hampstead Theatre will see the world premiere of Linck & Mülhahn, a new play written by Ruby Thomas and directed by Owen Horsley.

Inspired by the real life of an 18th century gender pioneer, the story takes place in 1759 Prussia, where dashing musketeer and skilled seducer Anastasius Linck has no intention of falling in love. But when he meets passionate young Catharina Mülhahn, so strong is the attraction that the match becomes inevitable.

As the couple strive to build a radical kind of marriage, Catharina’s mother becomes obsessed with her mysterious son-in-law and sets out to uncover his secret – a secret that, if revealed, threatens to engulf them all.

Maggie Bain (Man to Man) stars as Anastasius Linck, with Helena Wilson (Jack Absolute Flies Again) as Catharina Mülhahn. Lucy Black (The Durrells) plays Mother, with the cast also including Daniel Abbott, David Carr, Marty Cruikshank, Kammy Darweish, Qasim Mahmood, Leigh Quinn and Timothy Speyer.

Linck & Mülhahn follows Thomas’ two sold-out plays for Hampstead Downstairs: The Animal Kingdom, and Either. The show also marks the first Hampstead project for Horsley, whose credits include Rebellion and War of the Roses for the RSC.

The show is designed by Simon Wells with lighting design by Matt Daw, sound design by Max Pappenheim and assistant direction by Dewi Johnson. The fight and intimacy direction is by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper Brown.

Linck & Mülhahn will run at Hampstead Theatre from January 27-March 4, 2023.

Hampstead welcomes Lotus Beauty cast

As Hampstead Theatre gears up for the world premiere of Satinder Chohan’s new play Lotus Beauty, here’s the full cast and creative team.

Inspired by “the resilient women and vibrant beauty salons” of Chohan’s hometown in Southall, London, Lotus Beauty follows the intertwined lives of five multigenerational women. Audiences will be taken into Reita’s salon, where clients can wax lyrical about their day’s tiny successes or have their struggles massaged, plucked or tweezed away. But with honest truths and sharp-witted barbs high among the treatments on offer, will the power of community be enough to raise the spirits of everyone who passes through the salon doors?

Directed by Pooja Ghai, the cast is headed by Anshula Bain (Tartuffe), Souad Faress (The Archers), Zainab Hasan (The Welkin), Ulrika Krishnamurti (Pink Sari Revolution) and Kiran Landa (Line of Duty).

Ghai will be joined by designer Rosa Maggiora, lighting director Matt Haskins, sound designers The Ringham Brothers, dialect coach Gurkiran Kaur and assistant director Cassia Thakkar.

Ghai said: “Lotus Beauty is both funny and poignant. Satinder’s play shines a lens on the beauty and complexity of being a migrant and a South Asian woman in modern day Britain. I am so excited to work with our wonderful cast, creative and technical teams to bring the story to life.”

Lotus Beauty will run at Hampstead Downstairs, in association with Tamasha Theatre Company, from May 13 until June 18, 2022.

Cast unveiled for The Breach

The cast for Naomi Wallace’s play The Breach, coming to Hampstead Theatre, has been set.

Charlie Beck (Masters Of The Air), Jasmine Blackborow (Shadow and Bone), Alfie Jones (Teenage Dick, Richard III), Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack), Douggie McMeekin (Bach & Sons, Chernobyl), Stanley Morgan (The Sandman) and Shannon Tarbet (Yous Two, Killing Eve) will lead the show, which is directed by Sarah Frankcom (West Side Story, Light Falls).

The creative team also includes designer Naomi Dawson, lighting director Rick Fisher, sound designer Tingying Dong, voice director Michaela Kennen, movement director Jennifer Jackson, casting director Nadine Rennie and assistant director Tramaine Reindorf.

The story introduces the Diggs siblings, for whom love knows no limits. There’s nothing that 17-year-old Jude won’t do to keep her younger brother Acton safe. Growing up in the turbulence of 1970s America, Jude works nights and weekends to pay the bills, just so that they can stay together and with their mother. But when Acton’s troublesome pals form a club in their basement, a foolish game threatens to upend Jude’s plans, and derail their lives forever. How far will Jude go to protect her brother? And who will pay the eventual price of her doing so?

Wallace (One Flea Spare, Slaughter City) said: “The Breach is my first in a trilogy of plays focused on different communities in my home state of Kentucky. It tells a story of love and survival amongst a specific set of youths in 1970s America, shining light on the political landscape designed to fail them and the American Dream intended to fool them. I am thrilled that the play is receiving its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre, and I am excited to see what director Sarah Frankcom and the fantastic ensemble of young actors bring to The Breach.”

The Breach will run at Hampstead from May 6 until June 4, 2022.