ALT’s guide to some of the best shows in town….
& Juliet (main image)
Now – 25 June 2022
@ Shaftesbury Theatre, London
Written by David West Read
Directed by Luke Sheppard
What if Juliet’s famous ending was really just her beginning? What if she decided to choose her own fate?
With her bags packed and ready to escape Verona, Juliet recovers from heartbreak in the best way possible… by dancing the night away with her best friends by her side! But when the sparkle fades, the confetti falls and reality catches up, it’s clear that Juliet needs to face her past in order to find her future. Can she reclaim a story that has been written in the stars? Is there really life after Romeo… or could he be worth one more try?
Join Juliet on this sensational journey of self-discovery and second chances, told through some of the most glittering pop anthems of the last three decades from legendary songwriter Max Martin, including …Baby One More Time, Since U Been Gone, Roar, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), Love Me Like You Do and Can’t Feel My Face.
& Juliet is the hilariously irreverent new musical that proves when it comes to love, there’s always life after Romeo…
For tickets and more information on & Juliet click here.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
11 January – 27 May 2022
@ The Piccadilly Theatre, London
Written by John Logan
Directed by Alex Timbers
Set in Paris, 1899, a world of indulgent beauty and unparalleled extravagance, of bohemians and aristocrats, of boulevardiers and reprobates, Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the story of a lovesick American writer, Christian, and Satine, the dazzling star of the Moulin Rouge nightclub. When their lives collide, they fall hopelessly in love – only to be thwarted by the nightclub’s host and impresario, Harold Zidler, and The Duke of Monroth, the wealthy and entitled patron of the club who thinks he can buy anything he wants, including Satine. Together with his Bohemian friends (the brilliant and starving artist Toulouse-Lautrec, and the greatest tango dancer in all of Paris, Santiago) Christian stages a musical spectacular to save the Moulin Rouge and finally win the heart of Satine.
CAST
Liisi LaFontaine | Satine
Jason Pennycooke | Toulouse-Lautrec
Zoe Birkett | Arabia
Sophie Carmen Jones | Nini
Johnny Bishop | Baby Doll
Timmika Ramsay | La Chocolat
For tickets and more information on Moulin Rouge! click here.
The Glow
21 January – 5 March 2022
@ Royal Court, London
Written by Alistair McDowall
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
“People find me. In the dark.”
1863.
An asylum.
A woman locked in a windowless cell, with no memory as to who she is, or how she arrived there.
When spiritualist medium Mrs Lyall requires a new assistant, this nameless woman seems the perfect candidate.
But as the woman’s past begins to reveal itself, so do new powers neither are prepared for. “Matter may decay, but the spirit persists. The energy we exude remains.”
CAST
FisayoAkinade |
Rakie Ayola |
Tadhg Murphy |
Ria Zmitrowicz |
For tickets and more information on The Glow, click here.
A Number
24 January – 19 March 2022
@ Old Vic, London
Written by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Lyndsey Turner
Every parent makes mistakes.
Salter makes a number of them.
Now 35 years later, his only child realises he’s not alone.
The play follows conflict between a father (Lennie James) and his sons; Paapa Essiedu plays all 3. Caryl Churchill’s gripping drama about what it costs to start again unpacks reason and ethics surrounding human cloning as two of the sons are clones of the first one.
CAST
Paapa Essiedu | Michael Black/ Bernard
Lennie James | Salter
David Carr | Michael Black/ Bernard (Understudy)
Phillip Olagoke | Salter (Understudy)
For tickets and more information on A Number, click here.
Wuthering Heights
3 February – 19 March 2022
@ Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre, London
Written by Emily Brontë
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice
The epic story of love, revenge, and redemption.
Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff (Ash Hunter) is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights.
In their daughter Catherine (Lucy McCormick), Heathcliff finds a kindred spirit and a fierce love ignites. But, when forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.
Shot through with music and dance, Emma Rice (Bagdad Cafe, Wise Children, Brief Encounter) transforms Emily Brontë’s masterpiece into a passionate, powerful, and uniquely theatrical experience.
CAST
Nandi Bhebhe | The Moor
Ash Hunter | Heathcliff
Jordan Laviniere | John
Nadine Lee |
Kandaka Moore | Zillah
Renell Shaw |
Witney White | Frances Earnshaw/ Young Cathy
For tickets and more information on Wuthering Heights, click here.
Two Billion Beats
5 February – March 2022
@ Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, Surrey
Written by Sonali Bhattacharyya
Directed by Nimmo Ismail
Seventeen-year-old Asha is an emphatic rebel, unafraid of pointing out the hypocrisy around her but less sure how to actually dismantle it. Her younger sister, Bettina, wide-eyed and naïve, is just trying to get through the school day without getting her pocket money nicked. Between essays, homework, and bus journeys home the two sisters meet outside the school gates each afternoon, smarting at the injustice of the world around them.
Bouncing with wit, Sonali Bhattacharyya’s mesmerising new play is an insightful, moving and tremendously funny coming-of-age story about the unfairness of growing up in a world where you don’t make the rules. Originally presented as a short play as part of the OT’s Inside/Outside livestreams in 2021.
CAST
Safiyya Ingar | Asha
Anoushka Chadha | Bettina
For tickets and more information on Two Billion Beats, click here.
Queens Of Sheba
7 February – 26 February 2022
@ Soho Theatre
Written by Jessica Hagan
Adapted By Ryan Calais Cameron
Directed by Jessica Kaliisa
Turned away from a nightclub for being “too black”, four women take to the stage with their own explosive true stories: the music and the misogyny, the dancing and the drinking, the women and, of course, the (white) men.
Loosely based on the DSTRKT nightspot incident of 2015, Queens of Sheba tells the hilarious, moving and uplifting stories of four passionate Black Women battling every-day misogynoir; where sexism meets racism.
CAST
Elisha Robin |
Eshe Asante |
Kokoma Kwaku |
Tosin Alabi |
For tickets or more information on Queens of Sheba, click here.
Running With Lions
10 February – 12 March 2022
@ Lyric Hammersmith
Written by Sian Carter
Directed by Michael Buffong
Joshy is gone. No badda bawl an disappear, yuhcyaan bring him back.’
A family drama of love, loss and hope.
Following the death of a loved one, a British-Caribbean family struggles to come to terms with their grief. Isolated by their generational beliefs and challenges to their faith and mental health, they live between the things they do and do not say.
Running With Lions explores the journey of one family’s reconciliation after loss and the rediscovery of love and joy.
CAST
Velile Tshabalala | Gloria
Ruby Barker | Imani
Wil Johnson | Maxwell
Suzette Llewellyn | Shirley
Nickcolia King-N’da | Joshua
For tickets and information on Running With Lions, click here.
An Unfinished Man
12 February – 12 March 2022
@ The Yard Theatre, London
Written by DipoBaruwa-Etti
Directed by Taio Lawson
Kayode hasn’t had a job in seven years.
(Can’t we juss name it? – Ur depressed.)
He needs to get help –
(Therapy won’t undo the spell, Kayode.)
His marriage is suffering –
(I need ya help ta stage an intervention.)
His mother knows what to do.
(The Lord told me and I went to Pastor Matanmi.)
Can Kayode be cured?
Centring witchcraft alongside the clash between West African and Western attitudes to mental health, An Unfinished Man explores the interplay of racism, patriarchy & capitalism. Juju exists, spirits battle, and the witches and wizards of Lagos chant loudly in East London in this performance written by Channel 4 playwright bursary winner DipoBaruwa-Etti and directed by Taio Lawson.
CAST
FodeSimbo | Kayode
Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter | Kikiope
Selina Jones | Itan
Mark Springer | Matanmi
Lucy Vandi|Layo
For tickets and more information on An Unfinished Man, click here.
Red Pitch
16 February – 26 March 2022
@ Bush Theatre, London
Written by Tyrell Williams
Directed by Daniel Bailey
The way they’re changing endz is nuts. Red Pitch. South London. Three lifelong friends Omz, Bilal and Joey are playing football. Like they always have. Living out dreams of football stardom. Beyond their football pitch, local shops are closing, old flats are being demolished as new flats shoot up, some residents struggle to stay while others rush to leave. When a small football pitch has been a home from home, a place you’ve laughed, fought, and forged friendships, what happens when it’s under threat?
A coming-of-age story about what it means to belong to a place. The fast-paced and sharp-edged new play tells a powerful story about gentrification or regeneration and the impact of this relentless change on London’s communities.
For tickets and more information on Red Pitch, click here.
The Collaboration
16 February – 2 April 2022
@ Young Vic, London
Written by Anthony McCarten
Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah
In 1984, an ageing Andy Warhol, long past the peak of his fame, persuaded rising star Jean-Michel Basquiat to collaborate with him. Playwright Anthony McCarten’s new play ‘The Collaboration’ imagines their New York workshops together, just a few years before both men’s deaths.
CAST
Jeremy Pope | Jean-Michel Basquiat
Paul Bettany |Andy Warhol
For tickets and more information on The Collaboration, click here.
Small Island
24 February – 16 April 2022
@ Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London
Written by Andrea Levy
Adapted by Helen Edmundson
Directed by Rufus Norris
Small Island embarks on a journey from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948 – the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury.
The play follows three intricately connected stories: Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as the play traces the tangled history between Jamaica and the UK.
It’s an historic epic that explores the arrival of the Windrush generation from both the perspective of the Windrushers and the first white people they lived with. It is very much about historical racism (and not-so-historical racism, too). It is also about historical sexism: Queenie seems to fit well with the Jamaican characters because she too shares an optimistic outlook on the nature of the world that is not met by the reality of Britain in 1948. She must use men to survive, not least the unlovable but deeply damaged Bernard.
CAST
Elliot Barnes-Worrell |Michael
Chereen Buckley | Woman
Leonie Elliott | Hortense
Sandra James-Young | Miss Jewel
LeemoreMarrett Jr | Gilbert
Alicia McKenzie | Celia
David Webber | Dr Philip
Flo Wilson | Miss Ma
For tickets and more information on Small Island, click here.
Shedding A Skin
2 March – 26 March 2022
@ Soho Theatre
Written by Amanda Wilkin
Directed by Elayce Ismail
Sometimes you crack.
Sometimes you didn’t mean to yell that.
Sometimes you have to lay low until you’ve figured it out
And sometimes, sometimes you have to hibernate until you’ve healed.
This is a new day.
Shedding a Skin is a story for our times. A play about finding kindness in unexpected places, connecting with what our elders can teach us – new skin honouring old skin, a play about joy, healing, protest, and having a good belly laugh.
CAST
Amanda Wilkin |
For tickets and more information on Shedding A Skin, click here.
Cock
5 March – 4 June 2022
@ Ambassadors Theatre, London
Written by Mike Bartlett
Directed by Marianna Elliot
The award-winning play explores the impact of changing relationships and sexual fluidity. John is happy in himself, and with his boyfriend, until one day he meets the woman of his dreams. The play centres around John, a gay man who is in a loving relationship with his boyfriend, M. After seven years living together, the pair take a break, but little does John know it’ll change his identity forever. One morning, John meets a woman, named W, and begins seeing someone of the opposite sex. Torn between his long-term boyfriend and his new female lover, John’s love life is conflicted. Can he escape the entanglement? Or will the battle of the sexes be redefined?
In a world full of endless possibilities why must we still limit ourselves with labels?
This razor-sharp play about love and identity redefines the battle of the sexes as we know it.
CAST
Taron Egerton | M
Jonathon Bailey | John
Jade Anouka | W
Phil Daniels | F
For tickets and more information on Cock, click here.
To Kill a Mockingbird
10 March – 13 August 2022
@ Gieglud Theatre, London
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s civil rights classic ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ took Broadway by storm – and caused a fair amount of controversy after now-disgraced producer Scott Rudin aggressively tried to shut down productions of other adaptations of Lee’s 1960 masterpiece.
Bartlett Sher’s production was due on the West End in 2020, but finally arrives two years later under the auspices of Sonia Friedman Productions.
Rafe Spall will star as principled white Southern attorney Atticus Finch, who defends black man Tom Robinson in a rape trial in deeply prejudiced Alabama.
For the past six decades and for every generation, this story, its characters and portrait of small-town America have helped to, and continue to, inspire conversation and change.
CAST
Rafe Spall |Atticus Finch
Harry Attwell | Mr Cunningham/ Boo Radley
Pamela Nomvete | Calpurnia
Jude Owusu | Tom Robinson
Natasha Williams | Mrs Dubose’s Maid
For tickets and more information on To Kill a Mockingbird, click here.
TRAPLORD
26 March – 16 April 2022
@ 180 Studios The Strand
Written and directed by Ivan Michael Blackstock
Award-winning dance artist and cultural innovator Ivan Michael Blackstock’s TRAPLORD Is an immersive dance performance meditating on life, death and rebirth.Wandering between dreams and reality, TRAPLORD takes us on a new heroic journey to self-actualisation.
Using dance, theatre and spoken word to explore raw and confrontational themes of mental health and masculinity, TRAPLORD is an invitation to question the stereotyping of Black men in contemporary western society; an attempt to escape from the mental state of being condemned before having lived.
Blackstock is the rising star of the dance world, using movement and hip hop to unpack the lives of socially disenfranchised young Black men for theatre audiences
For tickets and more information on TRAPLORD, click here.
Oklahoma!
26 April – 25 June 2022
@ Young Vic, London
Written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (1943)
Directed by Daniel Fish
Oklahoma! tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Seventy-five years after Rodgers and Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this visionary production is funny and sexy, provocative, and probing, without changing a word of the text.
This is Oklahoma! as you’ve never seen it before, re-orchestrated and reimagined for the 21st century.Oklahoma! follows a love triangle between farm girl Laurey, cowboy Curly and farmhand Jud. The play features songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, including “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’” and “I Cain’t Say No.” Winner of the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, Daniel Fish’s bold interpretation transfers to the Young Vic, direct from an acclaimed run on Broadway and a U.S. tour.
For tickets and more information on Oklahoma! click here.
The Fellowship
17 June – 23 July 2022
@ Hampstead Theatre
Written by Roy Williams
Directed by Paulette Randall
Children of the Windrush generation, sisters Dawn and Marcia Adams grew up in 1980s London and were activists on the front line against the multiple injustices of that time. Decades on, they find they have little in common beyond family… Dawn struggles to care for their dying mother, whilst her one surviving son is drifting away from her. Meanwhile, high-flying lawyer Marcia’s affair with a married politician might be about to explode and destroy her career. Can the Adams sisters navigate the turmoil that lies ahead, leave the past behind, and seize the future with the bond between them still intact?
For tickets and more information on The Fellowship, click here.
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