"Ronnie Corbett's hardly known for giving people the spooks, yet actress Janie Dee has been left with a strange chill ever since their first encounter.
"I was more excited than meeting the Queen," Janie says, an adoring fan of Ronnie since childhood. It was in 2000 – a special year for Janie – behind the stage after one of her performances in Sir Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury
Avenue.
"I felt a hand on one shoulder and his face appeared round the other," Janie recalls. "He said 'I love you' and I said, 'No, I love you'." The compliment was returned back and forth three times before...

Helpful links: Vaudeville Theatre, Alan Ayckbourn,

"Awe-struck and slightly suspicious," was Norman Mark Greenwood's reaction to seeing his first black person. He was 10 years old, growing up in suburban Lancashire and already
aware of the 'battalio of phrases' white people used when confronted with race.

'We're all colour-blind here; we're all the same,' his foster parents would say, but Norman started to ask himself why they were denying his difference. "These phrases were hiding something, and that something was me," Norman, who has since discovered his real name, says...

Helpful links: Lyric Theatre, Lemn's Blog

"Who's luckier this Christmas? The kids who get taken to the shows, or the parents who get to take them?
Puny pantos don't cut the custard anymore, so here's a look at London's best...

Helpful links: Riverside Studios, Portobello Panto, Young Vic, Lyric Theatre, Chelsea Theatre, Duchess Theatre, Peacock Theatre

"John Retallack spotted a gap in the theatre market. "Not enough plays for teenagers and not enough transfers from Europe," says the Theatre Café Festival director. Now in its fifth year, John's detective work is beating Britain's bad habit of ignoring its continental counterparts...

Helpful links: Theatre Café Festival

"It's a while away yet, but as with all the most anticipated cultural events in London, best to book months in advance. When Simon McBurney's theatre group Complicite announce a new show, it's one of those moments. Entitled Shun-kin, their latest play is inspired by two 1933 texts by popular Japanese novelist Jun'ichiro Tanizaki...

Helpful links: Barbican , Complicite

"Things are never quite what they seem when it comes to comedic theatre group Peepolykus. Take their name, for a start. Sounds like an ancient Greek god...

Helpful links: Spyski, Lyric Theatre

"The days are getting shorter. Summer will soon wave goodbye.

But with autumn comes the comfort of our countless theatres. Whether in a tiny room above a pub, in the round, or in a mighty mansion – here's a preview of what we can look forward to...

Helpful links: Bush, Tabard, Riverside Studios, Gate, Soho, Orange Tree, Finborough, Lyric, Royal Court

"Lyric Young Company – catch their upcoming shows and you won’t forget the name.

Two teams of 16 actors, aged 14-16 and 17-19, are producing shows in collaboration with some of theatre-lands most innovative thinkers...

Helpful links: Lyric Young Company

"A mental hospital, five prostitutes and an Olympic flame. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but these are the ingredients of a timely resurrection of a Russian play.

Entitled Stars in the Morning Sky, this tale of social exclusion was first told by Alexander Galin in 1980 when Moscow was ‘cleaning up’ before the arrival of the Olympic Games...

Helpful links: Riverside Studios , The Stage review

"Shifting cultural identity; ethnic tension with Caribbeans; knife crime; ogbono soup and joloff rice – Africans are finally getting the chance to educate audiences about their culture...

Helpful links: Royal Court Theatre , Almeida, Arcola

Bola's Gone Too Far is at The Royal Court Theatre, Femi's Torn is at the Arcola Theatre, and new African playwright for every day of the week is about to fire up the Almeida Theatre with the Tiata Fahodzi residence.

This four minute edit of a 40 minute conversation touches on how Bola and Femi came to take centre-stage and the issues they want to explore through their art.

A quick cut of Peepolykus in rehearsals.
Story, photos and film by Christian McLaughlin

Editing by Bobby Krlic and Charlie Cattrall Camera work by Nico Mensinga, Charlie Cattrall, Rober Leckie and Bobby Krlic. Interview by Christian McLaughlin.

Helpful Links: Gone Too Far, The Royal Court Theatre , Torn, at the Arcola Theatre , Tiata Fahodzi residence at the Almeida Theatre , Tiata Fahodzi , Andrew Haydon's Guardian blog , Identity Drama School,

"Are you afraid of heights? Piranha Heights, that is. It's the title of Philip Ridley's latest play and it's about to start a storm at the Soho Theatre..

Helpful links: www.sohotheatre.com, Independent article of Philip Ridleyl ,
A further Independent article on Philip Ridley

"Put pen to paper and see what happens." That is the advice of Leo Butler of the young writers' programme at the Royal Court Theatre. "Whether personal, political or fantastical, if you feel passionately, write,"...

Helpful links: Royal Court Young Writers Programme , The Ambassadors Duke Of York

"Charlie Dark – haven’t heard of him?

Not to worry, by the end of this show you’ll know him better than his biggest fans. Those familiar will know him as a DJ, producer and spoken-verse poet...

Helpful links: Charile D's MySpace, British Theatre Guide review, Lyric

'Shop local' is an expression that does not apply to Natalie Abrahami. The artistic co-director of the Gate Theatre might live locally, 'loving'her daily stroll from Olympia to Notting Hill, but when it comes to scouting for new plays, her vision is set firmly further afield...

Helpful links: www.gatetheatre.co.uk

"Sunday openings are the words on theatreland's lips. From the National Theatre to the Donmar Warehouse, plans are afoot to take to the stage on the industry's traditional day of rest. Yet quietly in the background, another Sunday theatre revolution has already been taking place...

Helpful links: www.thefactorytheatre.co.uk , www.seehamlet.co.uk

"War! What is it good for? Nothing, except, perhaps, creating an excellent premise for theatre...

Helpful links: www.tricycle.co.uk , www.rsc.org.uk , An Interview with Roy Williams

"The high-profile battle to save the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush has been won. Having caused dismay by announcing it was cutting £540,000 from its grant to the Bush – a move which could have killed it off – the Arts Council has done a dramatic volte-face...

Helpful links: www.bushtheatre.co.uk

"The light of a vast Kensington Palace window shines in the distance. The cold wind whistles through gentlemen's hats and twirls their partners'skirts as they walk the long, dark, tree-lined path. As the guests for the evening approach the building, a distressed shadow is detected flitting across the window. The stage has been set and the drama has begun...

Helpful links: www.angelsinthearchitecture.co.uk

"Bang! The Arab man fires at the Jew. Bang! The Jew fires back. Bang! Bang! Bang! The audience doubles up laughing as the two carry on firing. Not the usual chain of events when dealing with an ethnic conflict...

Helpful links: www.fueltheatre.com , arts.guardian.co.uk

"Theatre has a history of cropping up in unexpected places. In recent years we've seen plays performed in lifts, in cars, even entirely underwater. But could anyone have foreseen politically subversive plays staged in both the Houses of Parliament and the US Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington? "I certainly didn't," says Nicolas Kent, the theatre impresario who achieved this very feat...

Helpful links: www.tricycle.co.uk

"Young, handsome, talented and yet with no time for love – writer and musician Tim Digby-Bell faces a conundrum...

Helpful links: www.duologuemusic.co.uk , www.newendtheatre.co.uk ,
www.offwestendtheatres.co.uk

"Ahoy there! It's time to swap your suits and boots for swimsuits and boat shoes at one of London's most daring theatres...

Helpful links: www.lyric.co.uk

"Imagine going to an interview where the best way to get the job was by having absolutely no previous experience. It might sound crazy, but that's the very formula that has made the Bush Theatre the diamond in Shepherd's Bush's cultural crown for more than 30 years...

Helpful links: www.bushtheatre.co.uk

"To pay or not to pay, for only half a play? That was the question recently posed when considering the new Rough Cuts programme at Sloane Square's Royal Court Theatre. Described as a season of diverse and experimental works-in-progress, two plays – Posh, by Laura Wade and The Girlfriend Experienceby Alecky Blythe...

Helpful links: www.royalcourttheatre.com