Friday 1st July 2011 by Will Langdale
A quick pick of what’s hot in the TicketTree.com office
New Season at the National Theatre
The National Theatre’s July-November ’11 season was announced this week, and we’re extremely excited about it! As well as work by Mike Leigh and two double features of some very interesting drama by up-and-coming playwrights, there’re quite a few pieces that are more than worth a mention.
The Olivier Theatre hosts Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen from August 31st. First performed at the Royal Court in 1959, the plot follows a young chef, Peter, and his affair with a married English waitress, Monique, among the high-pressure, overworked supply-and-demand back and forth madness of a West End restaurant kitchen. Then, from October 18th, award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett’s 13 makes its world premiere in a modern crossfire of visions, politics, fanaticism and apocalypse.
Also premiering is The Veil by Conor McPherson, at the Lyttelton Theatre. Set in rural 19th century Ireland, a defrocked Reverend leads a séance to explore the strange voices that haunt a seventeen-year-old girl, who is to be married off to an English Marquis to resolve her mother’s debts. The Veil runs from September 27th.
Atlanta crosses the Atlantic
The Pulitzer-winning Driving Miss Daisy’s Broadway revival, starring Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones, has announced a transition to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre from October 5th to December 26th, with previews from September 26th.
Alfred Uhry’s play originally opened in 1987, and was released as a film in 1989, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Coburn, an African-American chauffeur who works for the eponymous elderly Jewish Miss Daisy. Set in Atlanta, Georgia, the play examines a working relationship that becomes a 25-year friendship, with mid-century racism and anti-Semitism put under the spotlight.
Pride Parade 2011
We hope you all enjoyed West End LIVE 2011 last weekend, and if colourful, loud fun in the sun is what you want from this weekend too, tomorrow is the annual Pride Parade! Starting at Broadcasting House at the top of Regent Street at 1pm, keep an eye out for speakers and performers in Trafalgar Square from 3pm, followed by a Soho street party after the parade. There’s even a family area at St Anne’s Church on Wardour Street.
Deal of the week
Last week we told you that Priscilla Queen of the Desert was rumoured to be closing by the end of the year. While nothing’s been announced yet, we’ve now got discounted top-priced Gold packages extended to Friday nights! You can now see the show and stay at a hotel with a potential discount of nearly £40 per person.