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37 guide 14-20 Oct 2017 theatre

dance

The Winter Selection
London

Emma Rice bows out of her
short tenure as artistic director
of Shakespeare’s Globe with
a typically colourful and
unconventional winter season at
its Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
The season opens with her
directing Romantics Anonymous
(Fri to 6 Jan), a new musical
based on the French-Belgian film,
Les Emotifs Anonymes, in which
an anxious young chocolate-
maker encounters the awkward
boss of a struggling chocolate
factory, and their shared passion
for the sweet stuff results in

an unlikely love story. The cast

includes stalwarts of Rice’s old

company Kneehigh, including

Carly Bowden and Dominic

Marsh, plus Olivier award-winner

Joanna Riding, recently seen

in Tim Firth and Gary Barlow’s

The Girls. The book is by Rice,

lyrics by Christopher Dimond

and music by Michael Kooman.

Prior to Christmas, there is also

an Elizabethan spy thriller, The

Secret Theatre (16 Nov to 16

Dec) by Anders Lustgarte and

directed by Matthew Dunster,

set amid the intrigue-obsessed

court of Elizabeth I. Then we see

the return of cabaret star Meow

Meow in Apocalypse Meow: A

Crisis is Born (20 to 31 Dec), a

non-traditional festive offering

that promises reflections on

loneliness, lost dreams and and

the apocalypse. Not much chance

of decking the halls there.

Mark Cook

Shakespeare’s Globe, SE1, Fri to

6 Jan

The Slaves of Solitude

London

The delightfully named

Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding

house is the setting for Nicholas

Wright’s new play, set in Henley-

on-Thames in 1943. Fenella

Woolgar stars as Miss Roach, who

fl ees war in London for a life of

polite penury, until a handsome

American lieutenant

Dayton PIke (Daon Broni,

pictured, left) livens up

proceedings. Wright’s

play is based on a story

by Patrick Hamilton

• best known for
  the plays Rope
  and Gas Light
  – and directed
  by Jonathan
  Kent. MC
  Hampstead
  Theatre, NW3,
  Fri to 25 Nov

Opening this week

g

fl ees war in Londo

polite penury, unt

American lie

Dayton PIk

pictured, l

proceedin

play is b

by Patr

• be
  th
  an
  – a
  by
  K
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1

Kenneth MacMilan: A

National Celebration

Britain’s leading classical

companies including the

Royal Ballet (pictured)

pay tribute to the great

choreographer 25 years

after his death. Includes

the rarely seen Baiser de

la Fée.

Royal Opera House, WC2,

Wed to 2 Nov

2 

Aditi Mangaldas:

Inter_rupted

The Kathak

choreographer

performs alongside her

own company in her

experimental piece,

exploring notions of

fragility and transience.

Tramway, Glasgow, Fri

to 21 Oct

3 

Lyon Opera Ballet:

Trois Grandes Fugues

The choreographic trio

of Lucinda Childs, Anne

Teresa de Keersmaeker

and Maguy Marin

respond to Beethoven’s

Grande Fugue in their

own distinctive styles.

Sadlers Wells, EC1,

Thu & Fri

Judith Mackrell

Three of

the best

Apologies for mentioning the
C-word again and so early,
too, but Christmas Eve is not
really about the festivities
themselves. Written by German
playwright Daniel Kehlmann

• whose play The Mentor,
  starring F Murray Abraham as
  an irascible writer, premiered
  in Bath and transferred to the
  West End earlier this year


• it concerns a philosophy
  lecturer who finds herself
  unexpectedly dragged
  into police custody and
  interrogated about
  terrorism-related
  matters. Niamh
  Cusack and Patrick
  Baladi play its lead
  roles. MC
  Theatre Royal:
  Ustinov Studio,
  Thu to 18 Nov

Christmas Eve Bath