The Victoria Palace Theatre and London underground seem to have finally come to a resolution over a proposed redevelopment of Victoria station. The project, to provide a new ticketing hall and better access has raised concerns that the works would disrupt theatre productions and prevent the theatre’s own plans for expansion.
 
On the day the public enquiry was due to start both parties managed to reach a settlement that should ensure the smooth running of the theatre and the development to the underground station. Theatre owner Stephen Waley-Cohen said,
 
“I am delighted to be able to say that we have now reached a full agreement with London Underground which enables us to withdraw our objection. The agreement does provide us with proper and satisfactory protection from settlement, that’s the risks to the building, and from noise and vibration both during the construction period and afterwards.
 
“They are not going to do construction during performance hours and they are undertaking to use techniques which they don’t believe will cause disturbance.
 
“In the event that they do find that they are wrong, they will fix it. We know that it can be very expensive to fix and they have undertaken to do that.”
 
The agreement means that the theatre’s own plans for refurbishment will now be put on hold until after the completion of the underground station in 2016.
 
 
 

The hit star of Skins and About a Boy, Nicholas Hoult is appearing in his first West End production, New Boy, alongside more seasoned veterans, Mel Giedroyc and Ciara Jansen with the production opening at the Trafalgar Studio 2 in March 2009.
 
The show has been a hit at the Edinburgh Festival and since then has toured successfully throughout the UK and even made it to off-Broadway. The play revisits the perennial theme of a schoolboy crush and the angst that that entails.

Mark thinks that with the onset of Sixth Form that this could possibly be his last chance to try and impress those around him and become more popular, more obnoxious and finally become the most knowledgeable about Gynaecology. He stumbles upon an unsuspecting ally in the form of new boy Barry who despite being annoyingly good looking is finding it hard to make friends. It would appear that everybody is afraid of Barry and Barry could indeed be Marks key to that holy grail of all schoolboy fantasies…his first shag.

New Boy opens on the 19th March 2009 following previews on the 17th of March and runs till the 11th April. New Boy is directed and adapted by Russell Labey.
 

In a fairly bold and innovative gesture, the Arts Council England announced the results of its Pilot scheme which aims to offer over 600,000 free Theatre Tickets to kids and young adults (under the age of 26) over the next 2 years.

The list published yesterday included some of London’s top Theatres so this isn’t a case of a group of dying theatres all getting together to “bang out” seats that otherwise would never have been filled anyway.

The list of London Theatres participating in this scheme include the likes of the Almeida Theatre, BAC, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, the Greenwich Theatre, the Hampstead Theatre, The Lyric Hammersmith, the Royal Court Theatre, The Soho Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and the Young Vic. Between them they received over £300,000 worth of funding to make this scheme possible and between them represented the largest group scheme in the overall plan.

Anyone who has stands and queues for West End show tickets at the world famous ticket booths in Leicester Square in London from now on will be able to take advantage of a much wider offering in the range of tickets now available. Tkts who manage these booths on behalf of the Society of London Theatres have now struck a deal with Ticketmaster to provide advance tickets for the entire range of events that Ticketmaster handle

Paul James, Commercial Manager of the Society of London Theatre, which runs tkts, said: “I think our key customers are always going to be savvy theatregoers heading for the safest, friendliest and most knowledgeable place to get their bargain on-the-day theatre tickets – but I’m sure we’ll also be getting music and sports fans taking advantage of a convenient one-stop ticket shop in central London. Plus we can now help theatregoers plan their whole day out in London with tickets to tourist attractions. For instance, I hear ice-skating is popular at the moment!”
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West End Theatre Breaks have always been a great concept and idea for that perfect little special weekend but now there is an even added bonus with the launch recently of the annual discount ticket promotion “Get into London Theatre”. “Get into London Theatre” has this year a huge number of reduced-price tickets available for a huge range of London Theatre’s most incredible shows.

This year, over 45 shows are taking part in the promotion with tickets being on offer from as little as £15, £25 or £35, making the promotion a cheaper way to enjoy the many different shows London has to offer.

So with a great number and variety of shows on offer, there has never been a better time for thinking about Theatre Breaks

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Soho Theatre, Happy Birthday to you!!!

OK with me so far? The Soho Theatre celebrates its 40th Birthday in 2009 with some great pieces of work lined up amongst which is a new piece by Steve Thompson, the award winning debut play from model cum playwright In-Sook Chappell.

Perhaps the pertinent piece is that by Thompson whose new play “Roaring Trade” perhaps couldn’t have been shown at a better time with the current financial mess we all find ourselves in. It chronicles the fortunes (or perhaps misfortunes) of a group of totally ruthless Bond Traders. As we approach Global Financial meltdown, the question is asked.  Just how much would they sacrifice for the highest risk jobs in the City?

Playwright Thompson is the author of Damages and Whipping It Up, which both premiered at the Bush theatre, where he is Pearson writer-in-residence. Political satire Whipping It Up transferred to the Ambassadors in 2007, with a cast including Richard Wilson and Robert Bathurst, and received a 2008 Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play.