London Spotlight: February 2009

For new fare, look to the National where England People Very Nice by Richard Bean bows with company artistic director Nicholas Hytner at the helm (Olivier Theatre, February 4-April 30). The subject matter is a look at four centuries of immigrants. In the Lyttelton is Burnt by the Sun (February 24-April 21), Peter Flannery’s adaptation of the Nikita Mikhalkov and Ruslam Ibragimbekov screenplay. Ciaran Hinds, Anna Carteret, Michelle Dockery and Rory Kinnear, four stalwarts, are directed by Howard Davies. In the teeny-tiny Cottesloe at the National, a Macbeth by Carl Heap is being promoted as a family event. The treatment is apparently intended to introduce children from the age of seven to the Bard’s glories.

Also for Bardolators: At the Hackney Empire (February 2-14) the touring Royal Shakespeare Company’s Othello docks and surely deserves a look. The Taming of the Shrew (Novello, through March 7) is yet another RSC entry, with Conall Morrison at the helm. Edward Bennett, who recently made theater-news headlines replacing the injured David Tennant in Hamlet, is in the first cast here. Maybe the most unusual low bow to the Bard this month is the Macbeth presented throughout the month in the Shoreditch Church St. Leonard’s. What makes this something of a vital must-see is that St. Leonard’s is where Richard Burbage, for whom the role was written, is buried. In other words, the Scottish play will be taking place — as near as the fervent local historians can tell — directly over the crypt where Burbage was lain as well as those of his father, brother, and other members of Shakespeare’s company.

The Royal Court Theater will stage the world premiere of Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children — A Play for Gaza, (February 6-21), a 10-minute work written in response to the current humanitarian crisis that examines the history of the state of Israel. The free-of-charge work will be presented following performances of Marius von Mayenburg’s The Stone (February 5-28). Molly Davies’ new play about a miracle baby, aptly titled A Miracle, is upstairs at the Royal Court (February 27-March 21), with Lyndsey Turner guiding the enterprise. Meanwhile, downstairs is Mark Ravenhill’s latest, Over There (February 25-March 21), which is to do with things political.

Also new to this metropolis is David Greig’s Damascus, which comes to the Tricycle (February 3-March 7), and is about a bookseller at a crossroads. And yet more freshly-minted ones: At the Soho is In-Sook Chappell’s This Isn’t Romance (February 12-March 7), an autobiographical treatment of the adopted Korean-born playwright’s growing up in the U.K. At the Trafalgar Studios, Zoe Lewis is bowing Touched…For the Very First Time (February 4-March 14), the title of which conjures Madonna thoughts for a good reason as it’s about someone who longs to be BFF with the rock icon.

An important revival is Brian Friel’s miraculous Dancing at Lughnasa at the Old Vic (February 26-May 9). Anna Mackmin directs it, and Niamh Cusack and Susan Lynch are two of the five concerned sisters. Israel Horowitz’s dark one, The Indian Wants the Bronx, which put Al Pacino on the entertainment map, will fill the Young Vic (February 2-14), and will still give the impression it’s just been ripped from the headlines.

A tip to Yazmina Reza fans: Her latest and arguably best play, God of Carnage in the glittering Christopher Hampton translation, has left the West End but can be seen at the Theatre Royal, Bath (February 3-14). Ralph Fiennes and Janet McTeer are no longer in it, but Richard E. Grant and Lia Williams are, directed by the sharp-as-a-tack Matthew Warchus. The short underground or overland railroad trip is well worth it.

The London Coliseum is presenting two opi this month that theater lovers and musical theater lovers may want to examine. The great and gleefully iconoclastic Jonathan Miller is returning to the ENO to guide a version of Puccini’s La Boheme (February 2-March 8) and John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the first atom bomb test at Los Alamos detonates (February 25-March 20). Gerald Finley is in the title role he’s been singing all over the map.

Families may want to stop at the Hackney Empire for The Sponge Who Could Fly, a musical adaptation of — what else? — a SpongeBob SquarePants adventure (February 3-8).