3,863 stories by "Matthew Hemley"
Hackney Empire has appointed Joanne Benjamin as a producer. The venue said she had been appointed to produce its in-house shows and "exploit Hackney's own projects commercially". She will wo…
West End theatres are facing the threat of strike action from backstage workers after negotiations over a new pay deal broke down. Backstage union BECTU has been in talks about its members' …
Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts has unveiled plans to merge its three sites, as part of a wider five-year plan to turn the school into a "centre of excellence" for the performing arts. …
Jonathan Pryce has rejected claims from fellow performers that drama school training is only for wealthier students. Pryce's comments follow comments raised by actors such as Judi Dench, who…
Choreographers Wayne McGregor, Matthew Bourne and Akram Khan are among the judges for the BBC's first Young Dancer's competition, a major new initiative aimed at discovering the UK's best ne…
Newcastle Theatre Royal, the Watermill in Newbury and the Wales Millennium Centre are among the five venues that have been shortlisted in the most welcoming venue category at this year's UK …
Leading cultural figures including Arts Council England chair Peter Bazalgette and Olivier award-winning playwright Richard Bean have defended freedom of expression in performance, following…
Catherine Tate is to present a BBC Radio 2 documentary exploring the legacy of Joan Littlewood, which will mark the centenary of the director's birth. The 60-minute programme is called The M…
Regional theatres are playing an increasingly important role in hosting stand-up comics, with the number of comedy events in venues around the UK up 46% since 2009. The finding comes from a …
Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing will tour the UK next year, starring former EastEnders actor Charlie Brooks. It is directed by Nikolai Foster, whose production of the play was first seen l…
A live cinema broadcast of Billy Elliot the Musical from its home in the West End will have repeat screenings next month, with a DVD of the show to be released on November 24. The…
Former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger is to make her West End stage debut as Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. Cats begins at the London Palladium on December 6, with press…
A new on-demand channel for the arts is to be launched with £1.8 million of funding from Arts Council England. The new channel will bring together existing arts content from video site Yo…
Theatre Delicatessen has become the first theatre company to be officially accredited as a living wage employer. The accreditation is awarded by the Living Wage Foundation, and guarantees th…
The Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are to transfer to Broadway, where they will play at the Winter Garden Theatre. Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bo…
Leading theatre figures including Marianne Elliott, Matthew Warchus, Vicky Featherstone and Jeremy Herrin have launched the industry's first body aimed at representing stage directors. Incre…
Thriller Live has entered the list of the 20 longest running musicals in West End. According to figures verified by the Society of London Theatre, Thriller Live is at number 20 with 2,391 pe…
Daniel Boys and Gina Beck have been cast in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Charing Cross Theatre in London. The revue show, which features songs written by Belgian…
Cameron Mackintosh has claimed musical dramas such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon will always last longer than musical comedies. The producer was speaking at the 25th anniversary performa…
A new £4.5 million 220-seat venue that replicates the National Theatre's temporary space is being built by Theatre Royal Stratford East, which will enable the east London venue to almost …
Morecambe and Wise show Eric and Little Ern will return to London for a run at the St James Theatre this December. It will run at the venue from December 16 until January 11, 2015,…
Little Angel Theatre artistic director Adam Bennett has stepped down from the post after just nine months. Bennett took up the post " as well as that as chief executive " in January, and rel…
Bob Carlton, who has been artistic director at the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch for 17 years, is stepping down from the post in November. Calrton " who is credited with saving the theatre f…
Brian Blessed is to play King Lear in a production of Shakespeare's play in Guildford, which will also star his real-life daughter Rosalind as Goneril. The play " which marks the first time …
Ben Whishaw is to lead the cast of Tom Rob Smith's first TV drama, London Spy. Made by Working Title Television for BBC2, the five-part spy drama is described as a "contemporary, emotional t…
