Samuel West News

Though hardly an ideal start to the new theatrical year, we want to applaud all of the incredible casts, creatives, backstage and front-of-house staff who are working so hard to keep shows on. If you can support productions, please do – whether revisiting an amazing long-running show or checking out something new. And speaking of which: here are some of the most intriguing London additions for this month. Keep checking back for our reviews, interviews and features!

Wind of Change, in association with Cahoots Theatre Company, today announce the world première of Tim Walker's Bloody Difficult Women, charting the events behind the court case Gina Miller brought against Theresa May in 2016 and what has ensued.

Nominations are now open for the 6th annual Hearts for the Arts Awards, celebrating local authority and cultural trust arts champions and creative community projects.

Theatre Royal Brighton has today announced its plans to welcome back audiences on Saturday 24 July, providing step 4 of the government’s roadmap goes ahead as scheduled. The lights will finally come up and the curtain will rise again!

This Wednesday 31 Mar, Bristol Old Vic will host a free Open Conversation around Giles Terera's debut play The Meaning Of Zong, looking at the issues raised by the play and its resonance today.

As the UK approaches the anniversary of theatre closures due to lockdown, Bristol Old Vic partners with the BBC Lights Up season celebrating British Theatre and new writing, with a radio broadcast of Olivier Award-winner Giles Terera's debut play, The Meaning of Zong. 

Bristol Old Vic today announced an ambitious range of digital work running Feb-May to keep people entertained through the Spring and beyond, allowing stories to be shared and creativity to flourish in new ways once again.

The winners have been announced for the annual National Campaign for the Arts' (NCA) Hearts for the Arts Awards 2021. The awards celebrate the unsung heroes of Local Authorities who are championing the arts against all odds.

Nominations are now open for the 2021 Hearts for the Arts Awards, celebrating local authority and cultural trust arts champions and creative community projects.

Actors, writers and directors including Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduates Patrick Stewart and Trudie Styler, Toby Jones (Messiah), Games of Thrones' Patrick Malahide, Lesley Manville (Long Day's Journey Into Night), former writer-in-residence Kwame Kwei-Armah and Samuel West (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) have contributed to Bristol Old Vic's fundraising appeal.

Initial casting is announced today for the West End transfer of Laura Wade's The Watsons, following sold-out runs at both Chichester Festival Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory. Samuel West directs Sam Alexander (Robert Watson), Sally Bankes (Nanny), Jane Booker (Lady Osborne), Elaine Claxton (Mrs Edwards), Ralph Davis (Lord Osborne), Tim Delap (Mr Howard), Sophie Duval (Mrs Robert), Louise Ford (Laura), John Wilson Goddard (Mr Watson), Rhianna McGreevy (Margaret Watson), Grace Molony (Emma Watson a?" she was Evening Standard Award nominated for her performance), Elander Moore (Bertie), Paksie Vernon (Elizabeth Watson) and Cat White (Miss Osborne), who reprise their roles. Full casting will be announced shortly.

Jane Austen's House in Chawton, Hampshire, has announced that Laura Wade, Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter and her partner, actor and theatre director Samuel West will be its joint Ambassadors for 2020.

With the critically acclaimed production of The Boy Friend currently running at the theatre, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announce the forthcoming two productions a?" the European première of Paula Vogel's Tony Award-winning play Indecent, directed by Rebecca Taichman; and Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus directed by Patrick Marber, who returns to the Menier following his smash-hit production of Tom Stoppard's Travesties.

Following sold-out runs at both Chichester Festival Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory, Laura Wade's The Watsons transfers to the West End in 2020. The production opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 19 May, with previews from 8 May, and runs until 26 September. Public booking opens on 15 November, priority booking is open now.

Nominations are now open for the 2020 Hearts for the Arts Awards, celebrating local authority and cultural trust arts champions and community culture projects.

Chichester Festival Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory today presents the London première of Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade's The Watsons at the Menier.

Laura Wade isn't the first to tackle Jane Austen's unfinished novel, abandoned in 1805, but she is the only one so far to write herself, the struggling adaptor, into the text. This witty, ingenious and surprisingly philosophical play, which premiered at Chichester last year, merges Austen with Pirandello, and satire with big existential questions.

Chichester Festival Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory present the London première of Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade's The Watsons at the Menier.

After winning a Stage Debut Award in 2017 for The Country Girls and starring alongside Jennifer Saunders in Lady Windermere's Fan, Grace Molony can now be seen in the London transfer of Laura Wade's The Watsons, which opens tonight at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Directed by Samuel West, The Watsons tackls Jane Austen's unfinished final novel. BroadwayWorld spoke with Grace about Austen's legacy, returning to the show, and the play's unexpected relevance today.