What’s On Stage In London: September 2014

Ruth Hargreaves
By Ruth Hargreaves Last edited 115 months ago
What’s On Stage In London: September 2014

Welcome to September’s edition of our What’s On Stage In London series, where we look at the month ahead to give you our pick of new openings. Organised by (very general) category and opening date, we hope this will allow you to browse and book ahead of time so you don’t miss out on seeing your favourite London shows. Useful? Missing something? Please let us know.

Festivals

2 September: Scottish Referendum Season at Finborough Theatre — Not a festival so much as a season, Finborough Theatre hosts four plays this month to coincide with the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18 September. £10-£18, until 27 September

2 September: Reptember at New Diroama Theatre — The Faction is a young company that focuses on presenting modern texts in innovative ways, and their Reptember features a triple bill of solo performances. £16/£13, until 20 September

24 September: Calm Down Dear: A Festival of Feminism at Camden People's Theatre — The festival of feminist theatre returns to Camden People's Theatre for another two and a half weeks. Full line up to be announced soon. Until 12 October

The Liberation of Colette Simple at Jackson's Lane Theatre

Musicals and Opera

2 September: The Return of the Soldier at Jermyn Street Theatre — Coinciding with the centenary of the First World War, this new chamber musical is based on Rebecca West's 1918 novel about love after the home front. £15-£22, until 20 September

8 September: Fame Forever at Lyric Theatre — Details are still hush-hush around the staging of this official sequel to the stage musical Fame, staging for one night only ahead of a planned UK tour in 2015-16.

10 September: Sweeney Todd at Twickenham Theatre — Twickenham Theatre's autumn season launches with a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Victorian musical thriller, starring David Bedella and Sarah Ingram. £15/£14, until 4 October

16 September: Evita at Dominion Theatre — Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical returns to London’s West End for 55 West End performances. £28.25-£88.25, until 1 November

16 September: The Liberation of Colette Simple at Jackson's Lane Theatre — Based on the early Tennessee Williams play The Case of the Crushed Petunias, this play uses musical theatre, absurd comedy and live music to tell the story of Colette, a simple woman who finds herself in a magical world. £14.95/£12.95, until 4 October

22 September: City Stories: Tales of Love and Magic in London — Billing itself as "a new type of cabaret drama", City Stories is a sequence of interwoven love stories and a love letter to London, backed with a score of original music. £17.50/£15, until 23 September

29 September: Urinetown at Apollo Theatre — This satirical musical comedy about a town bursting (literally) with privatised public loos transfers to the West End from St James Theatre. £19.50-£59.50, ongoing

The Secret Life of Suitcases at Unicorn Theatre

Kids

3 September: Peppa Pig’s Big Splash at Churchill Theatre Bromley — Expect puppets and sing-a-longs galore as Peppa and her friends present another all-singing, all-dancing adventure full of songs, games and muddy puddles. £16.40-£18.40, until 4 September

18 September: The Secret Life of Suitcases at Unicorn Theatre — Larry works in an office and likes order, so when a mysterious suitcase appears outside his door, he's not quite ready for the adventure it takes him on. £10-£16, until 12 October

20 September: Something Very Far Away at Unicorn Theatre — A touching tale of love, loss, space and time that uses puppetry, music, sound and live animation. £10-£16, until 28 September

22 September: The Muddy Choir at Greenwich Theatre — A new play for young audiences, to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, about a trio of young soldiers whose singing causes a disturbance on the front line. £9.50-£16, until 24 September

Chicken Shop at Park Theatre

Contemporary

2 September: King Charles III at Wyndham’s Theatre — Following a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre, Mike Bartlett’s critically acclaimed future history play transfers to the Wyndham’s Theatre. We loved it last time and are very much looking forward to seeing it in its new home. £19.50-£59.50, until 29 November

2 September: Chicken Shop at Park Theatre — A story about a young man, a young woman and a secret friendship in a sordid room above a chicken shop. £12-£19.50, until 28 September

2 September: The Me Plays at Old Red Lion Theatre — A double bill of monologues written and performed by Andrew Maddock and directed by Ryan Bradley. £12/£10, until 20 September

3 September: Fully Committed at Menier Chocolate Factory — Kevin Bishop stars in this culinary comedy about the hottest restaurant in New York and the man in charge of the red-hot reservation line. £20-£35, until 15 November

3 September: The Play That Goes Wrong at Duchess Theatre — With £20 seats available, this production about a drama society's disastrous attempt to put on a play certainly has the price right. £20-£67, until Feb 2015

3 September: Oh, the Humanity at Tabard Theatre — A debut production from End of Moving Walkway about eight ordinary people and their all-too-ordinary inadequacies. £16/£14, until 20 September

9 September: Spank House at Jack Studio Theatre — Spank House is a solo show set in 2008 when ‘boiler room’ scams were rife, using actual con-scripts that were used to dupe investors. £10/£8, until 13 September

10 September: The Wolf from the Door at Royal Court Theatre — A wild road trip across Middle England, where Lady Catherine is on a mission to change the country forever. £20, until 1 November

11 September: Ballyturk at National Theatre — Cillian Murphy returns to the National in this physical comedy documenting the quickly unravelling lives of two men over the course of 90 minutes. £15-£45, until 11 October

12 September: Albion at Bush Theatre — It’s Saturday night at The Albion, it's a proper East End boozer, it’s karaoke night and it’s going to be big. £12-£19.50, until 25 October

15 September: Long Story Short at Charing Cross Theatre — Based on research and interviews with journalists, Long Story Short looks at the ever-increasing speed of our digital lives and illuminates the implications of such a climate. £17-£22, until 11 October

17 September: Teh Internet is Serious Business at Royal Court Theatre — A 16-year-old London schoolboy and an 18-year-old recluse in Shetland meet online, pick a fight with the FBI and change the world forever. A fictional retelling of a true story about the birth of hacktivism. £10-£32, until 25 October

23 September: Beyond Cragporth Rock at Bussey Building — Six sisters, living in a ramshackle cottage on the edge of an eroding cliff, explain differing versions of their mutual demise. From £5, until 4 October

24 September: Speed the Plow at Playhouse Theatre — Actress Lindsay Lohan takes on her first ever stage role in this satirical portrayal of Hollywood. £25-£59.50, until 29 November

25 September: Seminar at Hampstead Theatre — Four aspiring young writers have paid big bucks to seek wisdom from fearsome Leonard, once a celebrated novelist, now a cantankerous editor. But how far are they willing to go? £15-£32, until 18 October

30 September: Oh, I Can’t Be Bothered at Soho Theatre — Award-winning theatre company RashDash "make theatre for the body and the mind" and return to Soho Theatre with this new production. £10-£15, until 19 October

Exhibit B at The Vaults © Sofie Knijff

Alternative

5 September: Mother Courage and her Children at The Royal Arsenal Site, Woolwich — A site specific promenade production around the historic Royal Arsenal site, Mother Courage and Her Children was written in 1939 and explores the business and cruel realities of war. £12/£7, until 21 September

12 September: One Night With Joan at Leicester Square Theatre — You may be wondering why this is under 'Alternative'. But, really, how many nights have you spent with Joan Collins? £30-£60, until 13 September

17 September: Fields Unsown at Morden Hall Park — Taking place at the lovely National Trust grounds, Fields Unsown tells the stories of the men and women who lived, worked and nursed at Morden Hall 100 years ago. £12/£10, until 21 September

23 September: Exhibit B at The Vaults — Exhibit B uses motionless performances and scenes drawn from real life to critique the ‘human zoos’ and ethnographic displays that showed Africans as objects of scientific curiosity through the 19th and early 20th centuries. £20, until 27 September

29 September: Karaoke at Battersea Arts Centre — A performance about love and rockets for two performers and an auto-cue, the text and action read off of a screen and projected up for all the audience to see. £12/£9, until 18 October

The James Plays at National Theatre

Classic

2 September: Othello at Drayton Arms Theatre — A Clatterhouse Theatre presentation, in which the seedy underworld of London's casinos is brought to life in a new interpretation of a Shakespeare classic. £13/£11, until 27 September

2 September: Tess of the D’Urbervilles at New Wimbledon Studio Theatre — Set against the beautiful background of 19th century Wessex, Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece is brought to stage in a new musical adaptation by Alex Loveless. £15.40, until 27 September

10 September: The James Plays at National Theatre — This is very exciting. Rona Munro brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous 15th century. Each play stands alone, but you can view the trilogy for £45. £15-£35 each, until 29 October

16 September: Macbeth at Barbican — Refugee performers encounter a trunk containing sheet music and gramophone recordings of Verdi’s Macbeth. Inspired by the composer’s musical adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy, they tell the story of their own conflict-ravaged homeland. £16-£35, until 20 September

20 September: Electra at Old Vic — Kristin Scott Thomas and director Ian Rickson reunite to bring Sophocles's classic tragedy of power and revenge to The Old Vic. £10-£55, until 20 December

30 September: Rachel at Finborough Theatre — Rachel is the first play by an African American woman ever produced professionally and this is (apparently) the world's first production of it for nearly 100 years. £14-£18, until 25 October

Doctor Scroggy's War at Globe Theatre

Drama

2 September: Land of Our Fathers at Trafalgar Studios — 3 May 1979, South Wales. Thatcher is counting her votes, Sid Vicious is spinning in his grave and six Welsh Miners are trapped down a coal mine. Within two weeks, everything these men believe in and everything they know will have changed. £15, until 4 October

2 September: Mojo at White Bear Theatre — Mojo takes us back to a Soho club in the Rock and Roll 50s where a bunch of gangster wanna-bes must confront reality with the untimely cutting-in-half of their employer. £14/£10, until 21 September

2 September: Wingman at Soho Theatre — A new father-son comedy from Fringe First winner Richard Marsh. £15/£10, until 20 September

3 September: Breeders at St James Theatre — A new comedy taking on family, tradition and procreation, questioning not only why we have children, but how. £15-£49.50, until 4 October

3 September: My Perfect Mind at Young Vic — Acclaimed classical actor Edward Petherbridge rehearsed the role of King Lear, then a major stroke left him barely able to move. But as he struggled to recover, he discovered that the entire role of Lear still existed word for word in his mind. £19.50/£10, until 27 September

4 September: True West at Tricycle Theatre — Two brothers — one screenwriter, one drifter — find themselves working together to secure a big movie deal. Can they keep the mistrust and jealousy of one another at bay? £11-£29, until 4 October

4 September: The Royal Duchess Superstore at The Broadway and Half Moon Theatre Limehouse — A tale of old East End wide boys and new skool Bangla boy hustlers. £14/£12, until 21 September

11 September: Ghost From A Perfect Place at Arcola Theatre — Multi award-winning playwright Philip Ridley returns to the Arcola with  a dark comedy where a monster from the past meets the monsters of the present. £12-£19, until 11 October

12 September: Doctor Scroggy’s War at Globe Theatre — In Howard Brenton’s new play about the First World War, Jack Twigg, 19 years old, enlists in the London Regiment and goes on a journey he never imagined. £5-£42, until 10 October

19 September: My Name Is at Central Saint Martins — When Gaby disappeared from her Scottish home, it was assumed that her Pakistani father had kidnapped her. The spiralling headlines were only silenced when it emerged that Gaby may have fled of her own accord, choosing to spend her life with her father in Pakistan. £15/£8, until 20 September

22 September: Pitcairn at Shakespeare’s Globe — In the southern Pacific Ocean on the remote island of Pitcairn, British settlers begin to establish a new society alongside their Tahitian followers. It's not long before tensions begin to swell. £5-£42, until 11 October

23 September: Flowers of the Forest at Jerymn Street Theatre — 1934, Bedford Square, London. In their beautiful home Naomi and Lewis Jacklin live a contented life of luxury. But when her disapproving sister Mercia arrives unexpectedly one evening, she brings some of Naomi's memories back to life. £22/£18, until 18 October

24 September: Next Fall at Southwark Playhouse — Next Fall portrays the ups and downs of Adam and Luke’s long term relationship and how they make it work, despite their differences. £10-£18, until 25 October

24 September: An Enemy of the People at Barbican — When Dr Stockmann discovers that industrial pollution is contaminating his spa town, he knows the right thing to do. But the inconvenient truth is unwelcome in a community whose survival depends on selling toxic water to tourists. £16-£38, until 28 September

Lord of the Dance at London Palladium

Dance

1 September: Lord of the Dance at London Palladium — Michael Flatley returns (with Nadine Coyle...) to stomp and leap as Lord of the Dance alongside 40 young performers. £17.30-£97.80, until 25 October

What are you planning on seeing on stage in London this September? Seeing something not listed here? Tell us in the comments.

Peruse special offers on tickets at tickets.londonist.com/offers

Last Updated 22 August 2014