The Bush Theatre trustees have appointed Taio Lawson as the theatre’s new Artistic Director and Co-CEO. Taio joins the company in Summer 2025 and will oversee the final season of plays programmed by Lynette Linton, who leaves in March 2025.  Taio’s first season of work will launch in early 2026.  He will lead the Bush in partnership with Executive Director and Co-CEO Mimi Findlay.

Taio is currently the Genesis Fellow / Associate Director at the Young Vic. He was previously Associate Director of Kiln Theatre and has held Resident Director roles at Sheffield Theatres, the Almeida and on the West End run of Hamilton.

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Under the direction of Managing Director Andrew Flatt, Executive Producer Anne Quart, and Chief Creative Officer Thomas Schumacher – today announces that the new stage adaptation of The Greatest Showman, based on the 2017 smash-hit film, will première at ATG Entertainment’s Bristol Hippodrome in Spring 2026.

A casting search is underway across the UK and Ireland for this brand-new production, discovering the stage talent who will play the roles originated by the stars of the film. Open auditions will take place throughout March and April in Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Exeter, Newcastle and London. For more information visitwww.thegreatestshowman.co.uk.

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The UK Pantomime Association is delighted to announce the nominees for The Pantomime Awards 2025, which will take place on Sunday 13 April at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, staged in partnership with sponsors Trafalgar Entertainment and ATG Entertainment (ATGE).

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Today, seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette is thrilled to announce that she will be headlining London’s The O2 on Sunday 27 July as part of her 2025 World Tour. Alanis is set for a run of shows across the UK & Ireland this summer including Blackweir in Cardiff where she is set to become the first artist to play Live Nation’s brand-new venue. Alanis’s London headline show at The O2 will be the final date of the European leg of her 2025 World Tour.

Presales for Alanis’s London headline show will begin on Tuesday 4 March at 10am local time and will run throughout the week. General on sale will follow on Friday 7 March at 10am local time via livenation.co.uk.

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2017 witnessed theatre company Crying in the Wilderness perform their work Invisible Man at Certain Blacks’ Harlem Festival, a pertinent production about marginalisation initially performed at the Decibel Performing Arts Festival at the Manchester Royal National College of Music back in 2011. Eight years on, Certain Blacks’ and Crying in the Wilderness reunite as the latter present work-in-progress Best Friends – a work following two successful businessmen who check in to a retreat centre to celebrate their last 24hrs as friends, only to bring to the fore revelations about their pasts at this year’s Afro Futures Festival taking place at Rich Mix from 6th to 9th March. Ahead of the festival, Creative Director Paul Morris tells us more about how the company have approached creating the work-in-progress, what’s been learned from creating it and future plans for the show.

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The nominations for the Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard, British theatre’s most prestigious honours, have been announced. The annual awards will take place on Sunday 6 April at the iconic Royal Albert Hall, hosted by Beverley Knight and Billy Porter. A highlights package will air on ITV and Magic Radio that evening.

The competition for nominations has been intense in what has proven to be a transformative year for London theatre, marked by a rich blend of dynamic new works, innovative interpretations of classics, and a commitment to championing diverse voices and stories. A stunning array of stars have trod the boards, and nominees in the craft awards have showcased extraordinary innovation and artistry.

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Courtesy of Irven Lewis.

An SEND Advocate and Empowerment Coach – creative Oneness Sankara brings her years of knowledge supporting SEND families, as well as her own personal journey to highlight the story of a British African Caribbean mother supporting a child with Down Syndrome with work-in-progress T21 Alchemy. Playing as part of Certain Blacks’ Afro Futures Festival which takes places from 6th to 9th March, Oneness Sankara tells us more about exploring the show’s topic further, her roles as a creative/SEND Advocate/Empowerment Coach and what’s been learned from creating the work in progress.

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The biggest celebration of West End theatre – London Theatre Week – is extending with more shows, more tickets and more time, now running for one extra week from today until Sunday 9 March, offering tickets to the hottest musicals and plays in London from just £15.

10 more shows have been added, with thousands more tickets on sale to now over 80 shows, meaning this is the biggest London Theatre Week in its eight year history.
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Malta is set to host the very first edition of Breaking Borders Malta – a brand-new and the largest music festival in Europe celebrating South Asian heritage. Taking place between 4-7^thSeptember this year, the festival will bring together the very best of the UK’s South Asian music scene and community in the sun-soaked setting of the Mediterranean sea.

The island will transform into a sun-soaked, party paradise, packed with nonstop live music and performances from global headlining acts including Karan Aujla, Arjan Dhillon, Jazzy B, Navaan Sandhu, Sukha, Tegi Pannu, Talwiinder, Raf Saperra, Priya Ragu & JK & Tru Skool.

Festival goers can also expect curated takeovers from Dialled In, Desi Beatz & Jawani 4eva showcasing and celebrating the best South Asian DJs and voices on the scene.

UK’s South Asian-focused underground platform, Dialled In, will host an opening night club takeover with live sets from Ahadadream, Arthi, Zeemuffin, Pxssy Palace, Dhol Academy & Manj.

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(c) Alex Brenner. No use without credit.

Finally, after a year and a half of seeing Palestinians dying on our screens, a major theatre is taking on works that confront the most censored subject of our time.

As I sit in the cramped basement bar, eating my homemade dal and rice from a Tupperware container, I can’t help but compare this setting to the fundraiser nights held by the grassroots theatre company White Kite Collective. Their event series “Stand with Palestinians: Messages from Gaza” — welcomed at the Arcola, one of the few venues brave enough to publicly platform Palestinian voices—are different. There, the rooms are filled with more people of colour, more young people, more keffiyehs. The energy feels urgent. Oh well, I’ll take it still. Let me wait to see what unfurls on stage.

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