SHOWS TO SEE
Image: The Tailor-Made Man at Stage Door Theatre, Covent Garden until 31 July
Bedazzled by some actual sunshine, let's also prepare for some great shows. View all our recommendations below.
CHECK OUT OUR WHAT'S ON PAGES HERE for more shows at London pub theatres
THE TAILER-MADE MAN
Stage Door Theatre, Covent Garden 9 May - 31 July
In the dazzling Hollywood of 1930, William Haines soared to unprecedented heights as the unrivaled No. 1 box office sensation, eclipsing even the legendary Greta Garbo.
A meteoric rise that left the world in awe, but the glitz and glamour quickly turned to ashes when the powerful Louis B. Mayer made a shocking move – firing Haines and erasing his cinematic legacy from the silver screen just three short years later.
The tantalizing question lingers: what dark secrets and ruthless machinations led to the abrupt downfall of Hollywood’s golden boy?
Uncover the scandalous truth behind the curtain of fame and fortune as we delve into the enigmatic tale of William Haines’ rise, fall, and the untold drama that unfolded behind the scenes.
Quid Pro Quo Theatre presents
THE HOUSE WE INHERIT
Bridge House Theatre, Penge 21 May - 01 Jun
poignant and relatable, new-writing.
In a small town in America, the Wrights reside. Timothy Wright lives alone in his childhood home after taking it over from his deceased parents – and due to an innate heart defect he only has a couple months left to live.
After Timmy falls down the stairs and breaks his leg, his adoptive brother, Kevin. and their older sister, Helena, all find themselves reunited in their childhood home. But why are Kevin and Helena not talking? And what is up with her incessant need to clean the house?
The House We Inherit is a story about love, loss, family and the impact of the truth. It examines how we are conditioned by both the darkest and the dearest parts of our upbringing – and how we can find a way to move on.
THE GREAT PRIVATION: at Theatre503, Battersea 14 May - 1 June
The Great Privation is about Grave Robbing during the early 1800’s, during the Cholera outbreak in Pennsylvania. Robbing of Black bodies for medical research. Black bodies that were commodified even after death. Black bodies that never got their rest.
Nia Akilah Robinson’s beautiful and haunting debut play captures humour and joy amongst the darkest moments, and asks us all to reflect deeply on who we once might have been.
TAILORED PERFORMANCES:
14 May 7.30pm WRITERS NIGHT
22 May 7:30pm & 25 May 2:30pm PAY WHAT YOU CHOOSE
29 May 12pm PARENT & BABY
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN ROOM written and directed by Luke Adamson
Jack Studio Theatre 21 - 25 May
As the heavens open and the thunder cracks, a young writer dives into a never before seen bookshop for shelter on his way home one Autumn evening. Despite nobody answering his calls he has the distinct feeling that he is not alone.
When he discovers a secret room hidden behind an old mahogany bookcase things take a turn for the weird. Poetry scrawled into the pages of a handwritten diary reveals the details of a forbidden love affair.
Could this mysterious author be his unseen companion? As he dives further into the writing, the spirit’s dark purpose is revealed.
Can he calm the spirit in time? Will he ever escape The Green Room?
Inspired by The Green Room by Walter De La Mare, The Girl In The Green Room is an atmospheric one-man ghost story.
Sunday on the Rocks by Theresa Rebeck
directed by Rachael Bellis
Bread and Roses Theatre, Clapham 22 May - 1 June
It's an idyllic Sunday in a sleepy Boston suburb, and three housemates decide to have scotch for breakfast, naturally. A Theresa Rebeck masterpiece, Sunday on the Rocks, explores the problems of several young women in the nineties. Elly is pregnant and considering an abortion, Jen is being harassed by a coworker, and Gayle feels lost. Their problems are exacerbated by a fourth roommate -- Jessica -- whose religious compassion and activist zeal does not extend to their individual problems. As they drink, debate, discuss, and dance, it becomes clear just how muddied making a moral decision is in a world with only shades of grey.
“Sunday on the Rocks” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd.
THE WINDRUSH WARRIORS
On tour, London dates:
24 & 25 MAY Theatre Peckham
28 MAY - 1 JUNE Etcetera in Camden
4 - 8 JUNE Applecart Arts Theatre
The Windrush Warriors is a dramatic comedy. The show will affect people’s emotions whilst also making them laugh. The Windrush scandal is exposed and also the real-life trauma that affected so many innocent people. The Pensioners share funny and heart-breaking insight into the experience of Caribbean migrants who helped shape the UK and are now being treated like undesirables. And their answer to this treatment? To fight adversity with Warrior like ferocity!
Book now > (Etcetera Theatre)
FONDLY REMEMBERED by Gareth Armstrong
Theatre at the Tabard,Chiswick 22nd May - 15 June 2024
Is a man’s memorial service the right time to tell the truth? Reunited for the occasion, a group of friends gather to celebrate a life.
But who are they remembering? A creative genius, a former lover, a bitter rival or the man who deceived them all?
From Gareth Armstrong, the writer of last year’s critically acclaimed A Critical Stage this wickedly funny new play is full of revelation, rediscovery and revenge.
REVIEWS FROM LAST YEAR’S A CRITICAL STAGE
A Critical Stage is beautifully conceived with a huge depth of knowledge informing the story and realisation onto stage. ★★★★★ The Review Chap
Pithy opinions and witty ripostes…well worth seeking out.
★★★★ The Daily Mirror
So Help Me Dog
The Hen & Chickens Theatre, Islington 28th May – 1st June, 4th – 8th June, 11th – 15th June 7.30pm £10/6.50
Directed by Lil Warren
A2B2C.I.D – SO HELP ME DOG
DANNY FRANKS was born into a tough crime family. Diagnosed with ADHD aged 3. Dyslexic. He left school aged 14 with no formal qualifications. But his family still taught him to “make a living”, It is 2004. He is facing trial for possession of 6 million pounds worth of contemporary art. A collection the upper echelons of society says, he, has no right to have.
The audience will be immersed in a revealing, tough, humorous courtroom drama and witness the consequences when Danny Franks starts to lose the stacked game he is playing against the establishment. A sometimes-surreal trip with plenty of authentic bite.
Tom Lehrer Is Teaching Math and Doesn’t Want to Talk to You
Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate 28 May - 9 Jun 2024
Production by:
Francis Beckett
In 1960, at the height of his fame, singer, songwriter, and satirist Tom Lehrer gave it all up. He spent the rest of his career as an obscure maths lecturer. This show investigates the strange disappearance of Tom Lehrer - and includes some of his greatest songs, like Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, and The Elements.
From the writer of sell-out shows including VODKA WITH STALIN and A MODEST LITTLE MAN, this new musical featuring the music of Tom Lehrer sheds light on the most enigmatic figure in musical comedy.
THAT GIRL VS THE WORLD by George Lester, directed by Luke Adamson
Jack Studio Theatre, Lewisham,
28 May - 1 June
What started as reading books about kindness and inclusivity to children became a battle of false principles and faux outrage that taught That Girl more about about the power of community and the strength within than she’d have thought possible. And now it’s time for her to tell her story.
THAT GIRL VS THE WORLD is an all lip-syncing, all singing, all dancing extravaganza taking you from her humble origins to centre stage in a media storm.
After its Five Star, award-nominated, run at the neighbouring Bridge House Theatre, That Girl Vs The World is getting a new life at the Jack Studio for one week only!
The Raymondos Presents: MACPLEBS
Golden Goose Theatre, Camberwell 30th May - Sat 1st June
Following a tram related accident, the renowned cast of Macbeth have been all but wiped out. The only two surviving members are The Messengers. After realising they can split the profits 50/50, these plebs attempt to tell the tale as a two-man show. One problem - they haven’t read it!
Armed only with their wits, wigs and willies, these fools will have you singing and dancing as they fumble their way through Shakespeare’s epic.
Whether you know every sonnet and soliloquy, or have never batted an eye at the bard, the Plebs will have you laughing from start to finish.
ENFIN EN SCENE return to White Bear Theatre with a season of shows in French
Les Nouveaux Barbares
de Frédéric El Kaïm
Mis en scène par David Furlong
30 June - 4 July
En attendant Godot
Acte 1 de la piece Samuel Beckett
Mise en scène d’Alexis Danan
2 - 3 July
UN AIR DE FAMILLE
de Jean-Pierre Bacri et Agnès Jaoui
Mise en scène de Hervé Goffings
6 - 7 July
Côté Scène
Côté Orchestre
d'après “Italienne Scène et Orchestre” de Jean-François Sivadier
Mise en scène de David Furlong
10 - 13 July
KAFKA - translated, devised & performed by Jack Klaff
Finborough Theatre 11 June - 6 July
A hundred years on from his terrible death at the age of just 40, Kafka remains the voice of the outsider and the disempowered – struggling between the agony of solitude and the pains of intimacy, isolated in the big city and in the world, whilst never quite forgetting the mordant humour of existence.
Kafka himself presented an actor friend of his in Prague in a series of theatrical one man shows. Inspired by this knowledge, multi-award-winning writer and performer Jack Klaff created his internationally acclaimed solo evocation of Kafka’s life, works and times. Featuring a tremendous array of indelible characters from Kafka’s unmatchable imagination, drawing on all of Kafka’s works including Metamorphosis, The Trial, Amerika, The Castle, and his letters, diaries, and fragments, Jack Klaff also impersonates a star-studded cast of Kafka’s friends, lovers, fans and commentators, including – amongst many others – Alan Bennett, Bertolt Brecht, Max Brod, Albert Camus, Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Melvyn Bragg, Ben E King, Harold Pinter, David Baddiel, Samuel Beckett, and Albert Einstein. And the many Kafka ‘scholars and intellectuals’ whose pomposity and pretension are satirised without mercy.
It’s a Mystery!
written and performed by Tim Benzie & directed by Sarah Chew
produced by Tim Benzie at Bread and Roses Theatre
25th - 29th June at 7pm
2nd-4th July at 9:30pm
5th & 6th July at 5pm
Tim Benzie, the acclaimed creator and host of Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote presents his new one-man show, a funny and engrossing deep dive into the appeal of murder mysteries.
The audience are summoned to the drawing room as Tim takes on the role of detective, examining the clues that drew him to the genre as a child, a journey from Scooby Doo and Encyclopedia Brown, to German mystery-puzzle books via reading the entire works of Agatha Christie as a teenager. Along the way he draws connections between obsessions with detective films, the TV series Murder, She Wrote, his role as Detective Tim for Disney TV and his current Solve-Along show.
★★★★★"Funny, touching and showcasing the delight in pop culture minutiae that has made Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote a cult hit, It’s a Mystery! will appeal to fans of the genre and anyone who’s ever wondered whodunnit (and why)."
West End Best Friend
ABOUT BILL Written by Matthew Strachan and Bernie Gaughan
Theatre at the Tabard, Chiswick 28 June - 6 July
Kim Ismay returns to the Tabard for five performances of her hit one woman musical About Bill. About Bill is a show entirely about Bill, although we never meet him. Instead, we hear from all of the women in his life. Some loved him, others fled from him. All were affected by Bill Fitzgerald, the legendary swashbuckling jazz trumpeter.
“The show’s a triumph – with Kim Ismay, a brilliant actor and singer using all the skills at her command – and the kind you can’t leave without grinning and humming at least one of the unknown but cleverly familiar tunes from six decades.”
London Pub Theatres ★★★★★ – Nominated for a Standing Ovation Award
“The show is a perfect mix of monologue and music. You’ll be enthralled. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll want more.”
Spy in the Stalls ★★★★★
Book now >
First peek at shows coming up in July
YOGA & SEX...for women (over 40) at Canal Cafe, Little Venice 8 - 13 July
Being a woman! Being over 40! Sex!
Kath has found the solution to all three of these problems. YOGA! Based on three real Australian self-help books from the 1960s, Yoga for Women, Sex and Yoga and Yoga Over Forty by Nancy Phelan and Michael Volin. Are they out-of-date? Of course not! Kath (Kathryn Haywood) has found loads of helpful advice and practical exercises that are still relevant today to help you “stay slim for your husband,” “destroy your wrinkles” and “save your unhappy marriage.” You don’t have to be a woman, you don’t need to be over forty and you don’t even have to be sexual.
★★★★★"Sheer delight...Haywood's timing is pitch perfect, her expressive face like an Australian Fleabag. You laugh and laugh and it's all over too quickly. Brilliant." The Reviews Hub
Canal Cafe Theatre
Book now >
ED: the totally unofficial ginger-inclusive sketch show
Canal Cafe Theatre, Little Venice 22 - 24 July 7.30pm
Accompanied by a glittering live band and transferring from five star reviews at Edinburgh Fringe, don’t miss Ed: the totally unofficial ginger-inclusive sketch show, charting the story of the ginger pop sensation who just wants to play music. He’s our ginger hero!
Starring Rosie Parrish and ensemble cast, Ed combines joyful comedy, first-class musical talent and a kid with suspiciously decent guitar skills. Can Ed survive fame, fortune and being ginger? A cheeky and raucous night out of remixed pop hits, slammin’ music industry peccadilloes and championing auburn culture.
“Every second is comedy gold … Out-there, intelligently written, and unafraid of having fun … A rip-roaring, hilarious parody” – Edinburgh Fringe Review – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The 18th Camden Fringe will be happening from the 29th July to the 25th August 2024
We’ve already got a bumper crop of brand new shows on sale - check out what's on here
Psst ... more shows being added each week
We are very proud to announce that LONDON PUB THEATRES MAGAZINE is now an OFFIE AWARD WINNING publication
A ONEOFF Special Award has been awarded to London Pub Theatres Magazine and Editor Heather Jeffery for providing a vital forum for highlighting the excellent work that happens in rooms in pubs, with sensitive editing, and an acute sense of the importance of tiny fringe venues to the health and development of British Theatre