It’s very nearly June, and I can’t remember one quite like it: the month promises big revivals of Evita (starting previews on Friday, before opening on June 21) and the Royal Albert Hall’s arena stage version of Show Boat (June 10-25); Avenue Q arriving from Broadway (previewing from tomorrow, before opening on June 28); the re-opening of the Roundhouse next Monday; new plays by David Eldridge (Market Boy, opening next Tuesday at the National’s Olivier) and Tom Stoppard (Rock ‘n’ Roll, previewing from Saturday, before opening on June 14); plus revivals of Mortimer (Derek Jacobi in A Voyage Round My Father, opening June 13), Shepard (Juliette Lewis in Fool for Love, opening June 15) and Chekhov (Juliet Stevenson in The Seagull, opening June 27), plus the return of Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (opening June 19) and Philip King’s wartime farce See How they Run (opening June 29). Then there’s the unknown: a play by a previously unproduced playwright opening at the New Ambassadors under the watchful eye of the TV cameras for the Channel 4 reality series, The Play’s the Thing (opening June 22). The Roundhouse re-opens next Monday, too, after a £29.8m refit. And that’s without the usual run of fringe openings everywhere.
I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me, since no sooner did I get back from the US late last night than this time next week I’m off to Australia for my (third consecutive) annual trip to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. And before I go, I’ve got Bromley and Brighton tomorrow, and Blackpool on Friday! It’s going to be hard to keep up. Watch this space…!
