WORTH A LOOK?: **
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 30/4, press night 1/5 runs to 16/6/18
We groaned when Rhys Ifans was cast in the lead here because he had been so unexpectedly right as Scrooge in this venue’s production of A Christmas Carol that we weren’t sure we wanted to see him quite so soon in something else.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 28/11, press night 29/11, runs to 20/1/18
Providing family entertainment with a message has been the aim of Old Vic artistic director Matthew Warchus since succeeding Kevin Spacey in 2015.
The final of the 62nd contest takes place in Kiev, Ukraine, on 13/5 at 8pm on BBC1 and the pre-contest publicity has been dominated by the host country’s banning of Russia’s entry. Check out the search box for our predictions for this year which include the contest’s most surefire winner: Occidentali’s Karma by Francesco Gabbani (pictured above).
Sir Ian has long been one of our favourite actors and when he shared our BFI Shakespeare Q&A with him on his Facebook page in April our traffic went into meltdown. Pictorial evidence above.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Prince Edward Theatre
WHEN: 6/6, press night 15/6 booking to 11/2/17
Summer’s biggest blockbuster shows are arguably this very panto remake of the 1992 Disney musical and Harry Potter and The Cursed Child which open within days and a stone’s throw of each other in London’s West End.
WHERE: BFI
WHEN: 28/4
Without his leading role in the film Richard III, which he also co-wrote, Sir Ian McKellen doubts whether he would ever have been cast as Gandalf and Magneto in the Lord Of the Rings and X-Men films respectively.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHERE: Old Vic
WHEN: 17/12 runs to 16/1
We’ve been quite critical of Matthew Warchus’ tenure as Old Vic artistic director but this is his debut season’s first real success and it draws on much of which made his Matilda such a must-see.
It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2015? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 11 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2015. Read on for the nominees for our four TV & film monstas of the year.
It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2015? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 11 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2015. Read on for the nominees for the monsta for gig of the year.
WHERE: BFI
WHEN: 3/10
‘You might think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.’ It’s the phrase common to both the original BBC show and the US remake of House of Cards. Beau Willimon, creator and show runner of the US version, is explaining during the BAFTA – BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series that it’s included in the reboot as homage to its source material.
