We will be in London in late April for my husband’s birthday and he wants to go to the theatre. He wants to see British plays, nothing from Broadway and no musicals. Among the current productions on offer, we have seen Witness for the Prosecution.
Any recommendations?
Is the Mousetrap still on?
Can’t get more British than Agatha Christie.
Ian McKellen will be starring in ”The Player Kings” at the Noel Coward Theatre. That would be my choice if I were in London while it was running as it would be an opportunity to see an outstanding actor.
Additionally, I’d google to see what other new plays are coming and check what will be on at the National Theatre and the Old Vic.
Ohhhh—Player Kings is perfect! He is excited to see Ian McKellen, who is 80—the same age my husband will be. The theatre is within walking distance of our hotel, too!
We have time for another, so please keep the suggestions coming. Meanwhile I will check if Mousetrap is still on during our visit.
Lola, I can recommend “The Play that Goes Wrong.” It’s a very British. very silly, slapstick comedy. Not a musical and not a NY import.
The Play That Goes Wrong is hilarious. Made for a very enjoyable evening.
For those who enjoyed The Play That Goes Wrong, the creators also produced a TV series on the BBC called The Goes Wrong Show which picks up where the play left off. It's available in the US on Amazon Prime:
https://tinyurl.com/2p82p5hz
We still have time for one more play (three total). This has been my husband’s dream—-to go to London and binge on theatre. So I am indulging him for his birthday, and he is very excited. I just came up with this idea 2 weeks ago, when he decided to attend his med school class reunion in New York. I suggested that as long as we are going that far, we might as well add London—-“It is just a short hop across the Pond”. And British Airways has so many flights each day I was able to get business class seats with our miles.
I did check the National Theatre; the shows in late April will all be new, so there are no reviews yet. Two look interesting: “London Tide”, based on Dickens’ “Our Mutual Friend” (which I have not read), and “Nye”, based on the life of Welshman Bevan Nye, architect of the NHS. They also will have one about the Brönte sisters, which does not interest my husband, and a musical at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, which would be convenient, location-wise, but it’s a musical, and an edgy one at that.
“Mousetrap” is still high on the list.
Nye is going to star Michael Sheen, an absolutely fantastic actor, so I am sure it will be well worth seeing for any fan of live theatre.
Thank you, Helen. I will pass your praise on to my husband.
I realize I misspoke when I dismissed musicals. He meant ones that we could see here in the US, the popular ones like Hamilton, etc. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge”, a new British musical, is well-regarded in the reviews. Any thoughts on this one?
I saw Noises Off a couple of weeks ago. Very funny and slapstick. Nothing serious about it.
And thanks to Laura for the mention of Player Kings - I have one night between Manchester and Chichester in May. So decided to spend it in London and just bought my ticket.
Taste in theatre obviously varies a lot. I was disappointed in "The Mousetrap". If I'm paying for live theatre and not going to a musical, I want something deeper than a play written by Agatha Christie. But I also don't care for farces, so "The Play That Goes Wrong" wouldn't work for me, either.
Lola, did you read the play or story The Mousetrap? Part of the fun of seeing it would be in not knowing the ending. I love Agatha Christie, I love The Mousetrap and I love theatre and worked in it for several decades, but I probably would not go see that because I know how it ends. Same with Witness for the Prosecution. That may not be an issue for you or your husband, though.
Michael, thank you for the link to the Play That Goes Wrong follow-up. We enjoyed seeing it live very much, and it was perfect for the night we arrived. Anything more serious would have seen us nodding off ;-)
and Laura, thank you for the information about Ian McKellen on stage. We almost went to see him in a Shakespeare production a few years ago, because we had been told it would be his last appearance on stage (I'm wondering who told us that, now, haha) but there were no good seats left and it would not have been good for us with jet lag.
Here is what we decided:
My husband said he would rather watch the sequel to “The Play that Goes Wrong” here on Amazon than spend London time on the play. And he nixed The Mousetrap..
So in addition to The Player Kings, I have booked “Nye”, and “Operation Mincemeat”, a quirky musical based on the true story of a covert operation during WW2.
I would steer you away from Book of Mormon, yes it was an odd choice but I thought I'd enjoy it. It's quite coarse and bawdy and while well done, not especially entertaining. IMHO of course, and what do I know the theater was chockful and they seemed to enjoy it.
Lol Phred. If you had known who wrote it, you would definitely not have been surprised to find it coarse and bawdy. And wickedly satirical.
Best not watch any Shakespeare. Can be rather coarse and bawdy. 😉
“Nye”, based on the life of Welshman Bevan Nye, architect of the NHS.
Just a quick note to say it’s Nye Bevan, not Bevan Nye. Nye is an abbreviated form of the Welsh first name Aneurin, which is pronounced something like A-NYE-rin. He’s a real hero.
Playing in April is Long Day's Journey Into Night with Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson.
Not a specific suggestion, but if you find yourself with extra time to add a
show, the TodayTix app offers rush tickets to shows on day-of at good-to-great
prices, usually 25-35 GBP.
For something British but different than theatre, you might be able to get
(free) tickets to the taping of a chat (talk) show, such as Graham Norton
or Jonathan Ross. The studio is in White City on the west side of London,
near Shepherds Bush, Portobello Road, etc. Check out sroaudiences.com.
So I got busy during the holidays and procrastinated on booking “Nye”, and now it is sold out on the days we have available to go. So it’s back to the drawing board.
I’ll look into Long Days’ Journey into night if my husband is interested in that.
Thank you, Shoeflyer! Have just applied to see some shows being taped. How fun!
@Laura and anyone else who might want to have a go at the TV shows; the studio
is pretty large, and even though they do issue more tickets than seats for the
probability of no-shows, they don't do standbys.
So if you really want to see a particular show (for the chat shows, they usually
announce the guests a week or so in advance) and you didn't get tickets, you
can consider just turning up at the studio (BBC Television Centre) and you might
get in at the last minute.
Lola, I don't know if you have finalized your theatre plans, but if not, I wanted to recommend a production I saw last night in London.
A friend of mine who works in theatre told me about a play at the Ambassador Theatre called Harry Clarke starring Billy Crudup. It’s a one-man show that lasts about an hour and 20 minutes and is about an awkward Midwestern man who moves to New York and pretends to be an Englishman. I happen to love Billy Crudup, and so I booked a ticket for last night
The play is based on a book by David Cale, an English writer, who also writes a lot for theatre, and Billy Crudup’s performance was masterful. He played 19 different characters; both men and women, and played them to perfection. It was a very funny and very well-crafted play. The audience gave him a well-deserved standing ovation at the end and we were all cheering him quite loudly during the curtain call. I highly recommend it.
Thank you, Mardee, I will check it out. We do have 3 plays booked. But if they have a matinee the day we arrive it might be perfect. We will be coming from New York so not that much time change to deal with, and with an 8 am arrival we have a long wait until we can check in at our hotel.
What about https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/
