the lyons menier chocolate factory
american psycho: the musical almeida theatre
Hilarious and heartbreaking, Nicky Silver’s family drama tells of dying father Ben Lyons, whose family attend his side as he succumbs to terminal cancer in a hospital bed. Rather than an outpouring of love though, it’s bitterness, betrayal and secrets that unfold as the family that never got on faces up to why.
Brett Easton Ellis’s debut novel, a raging satire of 80s America, was said to be unfilmable, but Mary Harron turned it into the pretty excellent Christian-Bale-starring flick. It now undergoes further transformation and makes the jump not just to the stage, but with songs too as a hotly anticipated musical thriller, with Patrick Bateman continuing to wear the sharpest suits, go to the best bars and restaurants, and kill his way around the streets of Manhattan.
£27.50+
Sep 19-Nov 16, Tue-Sat, 8pm. Sat & Sun, 3.30pm 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU London Bridge menierchocolatefactory.com
£10+
let the right one in the royal court theatre TV writer Jack Thorne (This Is England ‘90) adapts Swede John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel about a lonely young teenage boy and the strange vampire he befriends. If this all sounds a little Twilight, think again. Tomas Alfredson’s 2007 movie refused to scale back much of the novel’s darker aspects – most likely as Lindqvist penned the screenplay too – and the US remake maintained much of this fidelity. It’ll be fascinating to see how Thorne gets on. £10+
Dec 3-Jan 25, 2014, 7.30pm Almeida Street, N1 1TA Highbury & Islington almeida.co.uk
Nov 29-Dec 21, Mon-Sat, 7.30pm. Thur & Sat, 2.30pm SW1W 8AS Sloane Square royalcourttheatre.com
tory boyz ambassadors theatre
the scottsboro boys young vic theatre
The National Youth Theatre presents this update of James Graham’s (This House) production, which goes behind the scenes and into the corridors of Westminster to peek at the machinations that go on behind closed doors as deals are made, political power plays staged and the odd scandal avoided.
Kander and Ebb, the creators of Chicago and Cabaret, bring their 12 Tony-Award-winning Broadway show to the West End. It’s about the 1931 trial of nine black teenagers in Alabama for rape, a trial that shook a nation. A contemporary musical theatre classic.
£12+
from here to eternity shaftesbury theatre This classic 1953 drama starred the likes of Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. Its tale of a trio of servicemen stationed on Hawaii in the run up to the Pearl Harbour attacks in the Second World War won no fewer than eight Oscars. Musical theatre legend Tim Rice (above) will be hoping that his new musical take on the story, which is one of this season’s biggest and most anticipated new openings, will be able to conjure some of that magic. Should be interesting. £15+
Sep 30-Apr 26, 2014. Mon-Sat, 7.30pm. Wed & Sat, 2.30pm WC2H 8DP Holborn shaftesburytheatre.com
8
tntMagazine.com
Sep 23-Nov 29, times and dates vary West Street, WC2H 9ND Leicester Square theambassadorstheatre.co.uk
barking in essex wyndham’s theatre Funnyman Lee Evans stars in this broad family-gangster comedy. £19+
Until Jan 4, 2014. Mon-Sat, 7.30pm. Thur & Sat, 2.30pm WC2H 0DA Leicester Square delfontmackintosh.co.uk
£10+
Oct 18-Nov 23. Mon-Sat, 7.30pm. Wed & Sat, 2.30pm 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ Waterloo youngvic.org
henry V noel coward theatre
A stunning love story about a Turkish girl who moves to London to start her life afresh.
The fifth and final production in Michael Grandage’s season that has already seen David Walliams star in the Bard’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now it is the turn of Hollywood actor Jude Law (above) to take on the lead role in Shakespeare’s drama about the English monarch and his campaign against the French.
Oct 1-26. Mon-Sat, 7.45pm. Thu & Sat, 3pm SW1 2DY Charing Cross trafalgar-studios.co.uk
Nov 23-Feb 15, 2014. Mon-Sat 7.30pm. Wed & Sat, 2.30pm WC2N 4AH Covent Garden michaelgrandagecompany.com
hidden in the sand trafalgar studios £15+
£10+