Guide to new productions opening in London and the UK Regions
January 18 - Travelling Light
NT Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 (020 7452 3000)
Antony Sher returns to the NT to star in this new comedy by Nicholas Wright charting the story, beginning in 1900, of Eastern European immigrants who become major players in Hollywood's Golden Age. Nicholas Hytner directs.www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
January 18 - The Madness of George III
Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1V 7DH(0844 412 4658)
Christopher Luscombe's Bath Theatre Royal production of Alan Bennett's 1991 play comes to London, starring David Haig in the title-role for a season till March 31.
January 19 - Alfie
Bolton Octogon, Howell Croft South, Bolton BL1 1SB (01204 520661)
David Thacker, in a co-production with five other theatre companies in the North, revives this 1963 play, twice made into a film (with Michael Caine and Jude Law in the title-role) by Bolton's own and best-known playwright, Bill Naughton.
January 24 - She Stoops to Conquer
NT Olivier, South Bank SE1 (020 7452 3000)
The Goldmsith classic is revived by Jamie Lloyd with design from Mark Thomson. Katherine Kelly is Kate Hardcastle and her parents are played by Steve Pemberton and Sophie Thompson. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
February 15 - Singin' In the Rain
Palace, Cambridge Circus, W1V 8AY
Adam Cooper leads the cast of Jonathan Church's production first seen at the Chichester Festival Theatre in the summer of 2011 and now to transfer to London's West End.
February 22 - All New People
Duke of York's, St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4BG
Zack Braff stars in this London production of his own play, directed by Peter Dubois who was responsible for the original off-Broadway debut of the piece in 2010. Braff plays 35-year-old Charlie holed up on his birthday in winter in a friend's apartment in the summer resort of Long Beach Island, New Jersey.
March 14 - Moon on a Rainbow Shawl
NT Cottesloe, South Bank, SE1 (020 7452 3000)
Errol John's 1953 play is directed by Michael Buffong with design from Soutra Gilmour. The play is set in Port of Spain, Trinidad, as troops returning from the Second World War fill the town. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
March 20 - Sweeney Todd
Adelphi, Strand, WC2E 7NA
Jonathan Kent's sellout Chichester Festival revival of Sondheim's grisly musical about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street comes to London starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton in a production designed by Anthony Ward .
March 28 - Can We Talk About This?
NT Lyttelton, South Bank, SE1 (020 7452 3000)
This is a co-production with DV8 Physical Theatre and is conceived and directed by Lloyd Newson and examines the controversial territory which extends from the 1989 book burnings of Salam Rusdie's The Satanic Verses to the murder of Theo Van Gogh and the 'Muhammad Cartons' in 2005. It is based on real voices and interviews.www.natonaltheatre.org.uk
April 3 - Long Day's Journey Into Night
Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue, W1V 7DH
David Suchet returns to London's West End to star in this revival of Eugene O'Neill's epic family drama set in 1912.
April 21 - World Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare's Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, SE1 9DT (020 7401 9919)
All 37 of the Bard's plays will be given in as many languages from visiting companies from all over the world in a six-weeks season. www.shakespearesglobe.com
May 18 - Ragtime
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park , Inner Circle, NW1 4NP
This 1996 musical with book by Terrence McNally and music by Stephen Flaherty, last seen in London at the Piccadilly in 2003, shares the repertoire of the 2012 Open Air season (till September 8) with just a revival of A Midsummer Night's Dream in a much slimmed-down production schedule.
May 20 - Top Hat
Aldwych, The Aldwych, WC2 4DF
Matthew White directs this stage musical based on the Irving Berlin Astaire/Rogers movie of 1935 now starring Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen.
June 1 - The Comedy of Errors
Roundhouse, Chalk Farm NW?
The RSC returns to its long-term London base as part of the World Shakespeare Festival. And it shares its London platform this year with Brazilian CompaniaMecanica. The RSC's Comedy of Errors production (in rep June 1 - July 4) follows CompaniaMecanica's Two Roses for Richard III (May 18 - 23). David Farr's new production of Twelfth Night plays in rep June 5 - July 5, to be joined by Michael Boyd's new production of The Tempest (June 9 July 5). The season is completed with a Roundhouse/LIFT co-production , The Dark Study of Love, featuring CompaniaMecanica's Renata Roche in a presentation inspired by Shakespeare's tragedies.
August - Julius Caesar
Noel Coward Theatre , 85 St Martins Lane WC2N 4AK
Gregory Doran's new production, which opens first at the RST in Stratford-on-Avon in early summer, is said to present Shakespeare's Roman play in terms of modern Africa. It transfers to London's West End in late August to play back to back with Iqbal Khan's new production of Much Ado About Nothing which opens first at Stratford-on-Avon at the Courtyard and will then rrive in a London to complete aseason that will continue until early October.
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