Creative reimaginings of timeless productions and groundbreaking new plays take centre stage across London’s theatres this July, from The Glass Menagerie at the Duke of York to Mad House at The Ambassador.
The Glass Menagerie | The Duke of York Theatre
Until 27th August
Amy Adams makes her West end debut in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie
Six time Academy Award nominated actress Amy Adams makes her West End debut in a new production of Tennessee Williams’s celebrated memory play The Glass Menagerie directed by Jeremy Herrin (Wolf Hall Trilogy, People Places and Things, This House).
Devastated by her husband’s abandonment, Amanda Wingfield (Adams) obsesses over the futures of her restless son, Tom (Tom Glynn-Carney – The Ferryman, Dunkirk), and emotionally vulnerable daughter, Laura. Years later, through the fractured prism of memory, Tom reflects on the crushing pressures placed on his sister to secure a suitor, and the betrayal inflicted by his pursuit of freedom.
Tony [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] | Park Theatre
1st June – 19th July
Almost a decade after their epic West End flop ‘I Can’t Sing!’, comic Harry Hill and his writing partner Steve Brown have joined forces again for this musical adaptation of the Tony Blair story which, frankly, looks like a right laugh.
Jitney | Old Vic, Waterloo
9th June – 9th July
Jitney follows the lives of eight black men in post-Vietnam America, united by their connection to Jim Becker’s cab company, which go to parts of Pittsburgh that other drivers will not. The eighth play in the great American playwright August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, the 1982 play takes its name from US slang for an unlicensed cab.
Mad House | Ambassador’s Theatre, Seven Dials
15th June – 4th September
David Harbour and Bill Pullman star in Mad House, Theresa Rebeck’s dark comedy about a group of siblings who converge on their dying father’s rural Pennsylvania home, with one eye on divvying up his inheritance. Harbour will play Michael, the sensitive, mentally unwell sibling who has cared for their father while the others were away; Pullman will play Daniel, the gracelessly dying father.
King Lear | Globe Theatre
10th June – 24th July
The great Kathryn Hunter takes on the title role of King Lear in the flagship play of the Globe’s 2022 season. Hunter is one of the strangest, most striking stage actors of her times; she’ll be joined by Globe boss Michelle Terry, who makes her traditional showing of the season as an actor to co-star in the dual roles of the Fool and Cordelia.
That Is Not Who I Am | Royal Court Theatre
10th June – 16th July
It’s the mystery that’s been consuming some of the more hipster-ish bits of the theatre world for some time now: who is Dave Davidson, the never photographed, first-time writer author of this thriller about stolen online identities. It’s all very curious, and hard to exactly take at face value, but the truth should be unveiled soon.
A Doll’s House Part 2 | Donmar Warehouse, Seven Dials
10th June – 6th August
This sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 proto-feminist masterpiece A Doll’s House, written by US playwright Lucas Hnath, sees heroine Nora return home 15 years after she walked out on her own marriage in an effort to pick up the shattered pieces. The brilliant Noma Dumezweni plays Nora, in her first stage role since her Olivier-winning turn as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
