New NT director's first season; religion on the British stage; Blur v Oasis and Midsommer Murders on stage; 360° Lowry; 2nd Krapp in 2 weeks; death of Roger Foss; CATS panto award
News, reviews, features and podcast on theatre across the UK
The British Theatre Guide Newsletter
No 1210: 4 May 2025
Editorial
Another bank holiday weekend, though a little cooler here in the North West than earlier in the week.
The new Director of the National Theatre, India Rubasingham, has launched her first season on the South Bank, and also tantalised us with hints about a couple of future projects. Apart from our news article, Philip Fisher has looked at what she is offering and at what this says about diversity at the National at a time when this is becoming a dirty word in some quarters.
Also on diversity, Andrew Cowie has examined the representation of religion on the British stage, initially prompted by a Guardian interview with Asif Khan about being a Muslim playwright, but also looking at controversies over religion on stage going back to the Renaissance, when the arts were separating from religious worship for the first time.
Our third feature this week is David Cunningham’s report on a visit to a new exhibition staged as part of The Lowry, Salford’s 25th anniversary. Titled LOWRY 360, it is an immersive cinematic experience that takes the viewers inside Lowry’s paintings. It reminds me of the Cinema 180 experiences I used to enjoy back in the 1980s when you stood in front of a wraparound screen watching a film taken from the front of a rollercoaster as it hurtled around the track, which made you sway as though you were actually in the car. As the name suggests, these were only 180° screens, so only half the experience of the Lowry exhibition.
In the news, a new play is to tour about the ‘battle’ between Blur and Oasis back in the ’90s, which will no doubt do very well on the back of the sold-out reunion tour of the latter and the slightly less overhyped reunion of the former a couple of years ago. At the time I thought it all seemed like a PR stunt—which worked; the press fell for it in a big way—and though I quite liked some of the work of both of them, I didn’t really care who ‘won’. Pulp were better anyway…
We heard recently that Sunday night TV favourite Midsommer Murders was to tour on stage, but this week we learned that Daniel Casey, who played Sergeant Troy on TV, will take on the role of his character’s boss, Tom Barnaby, originally taken by John Nettles. That should be an added draw for fans of the programme.
We have a second review of Krapp’s Last Tape, Beckett’s solo piece about a man looking back on his life through tapes he made as a younger man, in two weeks. Last week, it was Gary Oldman’s portrayal in York, but this week it is Stephen Rea in London—who even had the foresight to make tapes of the relevant speeches twelve years ago in the hope that he would one day play the role.
I was sad to read of the death of Roger Foss, whom I knew slightly as a reviewer for The Stage and often chatted to at press nights, but, as his obituary in The Stage by Mark Shenton shows, he had quite a full life as an actor for TV and stage and a singer back in the ‘60s and ‘70s before turning to theatre journalism, and he also wrote several theatre-related books.
Finally, the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland has added a panto category to its next batch of awards, interestingly sponsored by ice cream manufacturers Mackie’s of Scotland, which, according to awards co-convenor Mark Brown, is "a Scottish company whose ice cream is so closely associated with a trip to the pantomime".
Hayman tours as Miller's Willy Loman Actor David Hayman and director Andy Arnold on the current touring production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Indhu Rubasingham's first season as the National Theatre's Director features "16 brand new productions... nine world premières, two tours for schools and a return to repertory theatre"
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Live Theatre, Newcastle's Unearthed Festival will feature Royal Court Live, masterclasses with Alistair McDowall and a Q and A with Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Daniel Casey, who played Sgt Troy in the television series Midsomer Murders, will take the role of Inspector Tom Barnaby when the first stage adaptation goes on a UK tour in 2025.
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical (Stage Entertainment, Joop van den Ende and Tali Pelman, in association with Tina Turner) - Grand Opera House, Belfast, –
Murder for Two (Bruiser Theatre Company and the MAC) - The MAC Belfast, Belfast, –
