London Spotlight: June 2009

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren returns to the National after a few years’ break to play the title role in Racine’s Phedre in the hard-nosed Ted Hughes translation (June 4-August 27). Matinee idol Dominic Cooper is Hippolytus, and fine character actress Margaret Tyzack is also on hand. Company artistic head Nicholas Hytner directs, and Bob Crowley designs. This one should scorch like the sun.

After playing for quite a respectable run, slacker musical Avenue Q shuttered. But apparently it was a premature closing, because here it is again, reopening at the Gielgud (June 1-September 26). The Robert Lopez-Jeff Marx score should be just as much fun on Shaftesbury Avenue as it was on St. Martin’s Lane. The other musical entertainment bowing is Been So Long at the Young Vic (June 11-July 14), which is by Che Walker and Arthur Darvill and takes place in a seedy London bar.

Adjusted for the stage is Carrie’s War at the Apollo (June 18-September 12), which Emma Harris adapted from Nina Bawden’s novel about a sister and brother evacuated to a rural area during World War II. If the title and/or subject matter sound familiar, that’s because PBS broadcast the mini-series not that long ago. The beloved Prunella Scales heads the cast. Shakespeare’s The Tempest gathers at the Open Air (June 5-28), and according to the publicity, this one is “reimagined for everyone ages six and over.” And for something somewhat different, Derren Brown — Enigma is at the Adelphi (June 16-July 18). He’s an Olivier award-winning mentalist who shocks and amuses.

On the Fringe is Everything Must Go at the Soho (June 23-July 4). No writer is credited, so it must be an actors catchall of some topical sort. Gerard Alessandrini’s Forbidden Broadway spreads its joys at the Menier Chocolate Factory (June 25-September 13), making fun of every musical you’ve ever heard of and some you haven’t. The always worthwhile Bush is introducing Alexi Kaye Campbell’s Apologia (June 17-July 18), the story of an art critic and her sons. Mom writes a memoir but forgets to mention the boys. Problems ensue. At the adventurous Arcola is Caryl Churchill’s version of Seneca’s Thyestes. It’s in Studio 1 (June 3-27), while in Studio 2 is Samuel D. Hunter’s I Am Montana (June 2-27), in which a Montanan returns home after serving in the Israeli army and engages in other battles.

At the Hampstead, Frank McGuinness’ Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme is being revived (June 18-July 18). It’s a strong dose of anti-war medicine with plenty of flaring rockets but few glimmers of hope. At the Greenwich is a take on Jerome K. Jerome’s revered novel, Three Men in a Boat (June 16-20).

Thinking of a day trip? Peter Hall’s company is once again in residence at the Theatre Royal, Bath, where a double-bill of Terence Rattigan’s marvelous play of academia, The Browning Version, is joined with Anton Chekhov’s rarely-seen Swansong (June 25-August 1). Peter Bowles is working this promising endeavor.