11 New Theatre Shows To Book Now
Driving Miss Daisy
Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Driving Miss Daisy is set in Atlanta, just before the civil rights movement. Spanning 25 years from 1948 to 1973, the play tells the story of Daisy Werthan (Susan Tracy), a Southern widow who is told by her son that she must hire a chauffeur. The person he hires for the job is a thoughtful, unemployed African American, Hoke, whom Miss Daisy immediately dislikes and who, in turn, is not impressed with his employer’s patronising tone and prejudices. Daisy’s prejudices are gradually broken down and they grow ever closer and more dependent on each other. Daisy teaches Hoke to read and write, while Hoke encourages Daisy to let go of her insecurities. Eventually, they form an inseparable friendship.
On now until 17th September
Visit BarnTheatre.org.uk
The Clinic
Playwright Dipo Baruwa-Etti won a Channel 4 Playwrights' bursary back in 2018. He used it to write The Clinic – now on stage for the first time. It’s a tense portrait of a woman who’s eager for change, and a family on fire and rising from the ashes of a broken world. Wunmi is tired of the fight. When her world collapses, she turns to Ore for help. Ore resolves to save Wunmi, providing sanctuary in her parents’ home – a family of charity workers, therapists and politicians, dedicated to serving their community. However, Wunmi’s presence soon disrupts familiar patterns; cracks start to widen and bad blood thickens. As these pillars of society crumble, Wunmi wonders whether she’s walked into a refuge or a trap?
3rd September-1st October
Visit Almeida.co.uk
Antigone
Playwright Inua Ellams has taken Sophocles’ ancient Greek epic into the 21st century. Antigone is about a torn family, a hostile state and one heroic brother. When Creon refuses to bury the body of Antigone's unruly brother, Antigone's anger quickly turns to defiance. Creon condemns her to a torturous death: she's to be buried alive. This is a timeless story about loyalty and truth, about how we make meaning out of life and death, and what in the end really does matter.
3rd-24th September
Visit OpenAireTheatre.com
The Cherry Orchard
Chekhov’s seminal play has been reimagined as a sci-fi. Featuring an all-Asian cast, The Cherry Orchard centres on an old star ship which travels through space, almost at the speed of light, searching for a home billions of miles from earth. Like their ancestors before them, the crew were born on the ship and the voyage is all they’ve ever known. And then, they spot a planet. It’s a miracle, but not everyone wants to see it. Captain Ramesh is adamant they can’t leave, but the crew are getting restless. Will they leap into a new future, or stay stuck on this journey forever?
5th September-22nd October
Visit TheYardTheatre.co.uk
Who Killed My Father
Belgian director Ivo van Hove (Network, All About Eve, Westside Story, The Human Voice) has adapted Édouard Louis’s award-winning book for the stage. Who Killed My Father stars Hans Kesting as the protagonist of this one-man play. Returning home to the small, conservative town in the north of France where he grew up as a gay teenager, he finds his dying father virtually unrecognisable after years of alcoholism, social deprivation and gruelling manual labour. He starts to wonder: who’s responsible?
7th-24th September
Visit YoungVic.org
The Crucible
Arthur Miller’s classic tale of power and its abuse returns in a new staging by director Lyndsey Turner (Under Milk Wood, Top Girls). A witch hunt is beginning in Salem. Raised to be seen and not heard, a group of young women suddenly find their words have a terrible power. As a climate of fear spreads through the community, private vendettas fuel public accusations and soon the truth itself is on trial. Stars Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Sophia Brown (The Capture).
14th September-5th November
Visit NationalTheatre.org.uk
The Prince
A timely release in light of Pride celebrations, The Prince features a majority trans cast and revolves around the idea of identity. Written by and starring trans actor Abigail Thorn, the play tells the story of Jen and Sam who are trapped in the world of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One. But they’re not like the other characters, destined to repeat the words and actions written for them, they belong in the real world – and they’re going to find their way out. But on their quest to discover the path that leads to reality, they notice something unusual about Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland. Perhaps he is more than a character too. Perhaps he isn’t a man at all?
15th September-8th October
Visit SouthwarkPlayhouse.co.uk
Blues For An Alabama Sky
Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale, Orange Is the New Black) makes her UK stage debut alongside an all-Black cast that includes Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (Three Sisters) and Osy Ikhile (Sweat). It’s 1930s New York, and following a decade of creative explosion, the Harlem Renaissance is starting to feel the bite of the Great Depression. In the face of hardship and dwindling opportunity, Angel and her friends battle to keep their artistic dreams alive. But when Angel falls for a stranger from Alabama, their romance forces the group to make good on their ambitions or give in to the reality of the time.
20th September-5th November
Visit NationalTheatre.org.uk
The Doctor
Olivier Award winner Juliet Stevenson takes the lead in this new production at The Duke of York’s Theatre. Robert Icke’s play is about a doctor who is struggling to find her place in society amid questions of gender, race and identity. On an ordinary day, at a private hospital, a young woman fights for her life. The doctor does everything she can for the patient, but when a priest arrives to save her soul, she refuses him entry. In a divisive time, in a divided nation, a society takes sides.
29th September-11th December
Visit TheDukeofYorks.com
Good
After a two-year delay, David Tennant returns to the West End stage with this new production of the political play Good, directed by Dominic Cooke (The Courier, The Hollow Crown). John Halder is a good man. But good men must adapt to survive. As the world faces a world war, this decent, intelligent, music-loving German professor finds himself swept along in a movement that crescendos towards an unthinkable finale. A timely release.
6th October-24th December
Othello
Award-winning director Clint Dyer directs this new adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies, Othello. A bright, headstrong daughter of a senator is elevated by her status but stifled by its expectations, while a refugee of slavery has risen to the top of a white world. Desdemona and Othello find love that crosses racial lines and social barriers. They get married in secret and crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide. Stars Giles Terera (Hamilton) and Rosy McEwen (The Alienist).
23rd November-21st January
Visit NationalTheatre.org.uk