At a ceremony tonight at The London Palladium hosted by Bonnie Langford and Melanie La Barrie, the winners of the 24^th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards were announced – the only major theatre awards decided entirely by the theatregoers themselves.

WhatsOnStage’s Darius Thompson and Alex Wood said today, “What a year for UK theatre this has been. Looking at the winners, voted for by WhatsOnStage readers, it is striking just how audiences are keen to lend their support to bold, experimental takes on classic tales – from solo versions of Chekhov to immersive takes on classic musicals, or radical re-imaginings of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows. Long may this continue – theatre would not be able to thrive without challenging and forward-thinking creativity.

“We’ve had a complete blast at The London Palladium – and the team at LW Theatres have been incredible in accommodating everything we’ve thrown at them, including the installation of an auditorium ramp in order to facilitate step-free access to the stage.”

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Returning after its acclaimed debut 30 years ago, fan favourite Alegria tells a tale of the old and new order at war – as the future generations battle for dominance and a world more reflective of their needs. Where spectacle meets a call to action, the Royal Albert Hall once again grips the auditorium with a compelling snippet of escapism brimming with hope.

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Courtesy of India Mae Aly

Kwame Kwei-Armah invites you to his final season at the Young Vic Theatre as he today announces he will step down from the role of Artistic Director in Autumn 2024. 

Kwame Kwei-Armah joined the Young Vic as Artistic Director in February 2018, becoming the first African Caribbean director to lead a major British theatre.  During his tenure he has produced 40 productions across the theatre’s spaces, including 30 in the Main House where more than half of all writers and directors were women. Black and Global Majority artists have directed over half and written 48% of all Main House shows. Off stage, the Young Vic has gone from 11% to 44% Black and Global Majority staff across the organisation and 40% in senior management.

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London/New York (6 February 2024) The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize today announces ten finalists for the prestigious playwriting award – the largest and oldest playwriting award recognizing women+ writers for plays of outstanding quality written for the English-speaking theatre.

The ten finalists, chosen from over 200 submitted plays, are:

Roxy Cook (UK-Russia) A Woman Walks into a Bank

April De Angelis (UK) The Divine Mrs S

Justice Hehir (US) The Dowagers

Rhianna Ilube (UK) Samuel Takes a Break…,In Male Dungeon No.5 After a Long But Generally Successful Day of Tours

Jasmine Naziha Jones (UK) Baghdaddy

Alex Lin (US) Chinese Republicans

Lenelle Moïse (US) K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Hannah Moscovitch (CAN) Red Like Fruit

a.k. payne (US) Love I Awethu Further

Ava Pickett (UK) 1536

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Hot on the heels of a sold-out North American tour, get ready for the return of the music force that is Akon to venues across the UK and Europe for the first time in 10 years, as the superstar announces The Superfan Tour for 2024.

Produced by Live Nation, this 17-city tour promises to be an intimate performance from Akon that dives into fan favourites from the iconic catalogue over the past two decades, including chart-toppers like Beautiful, Locked Up, Right Now (Na Na Na), and Smack That, to name a few.

Having sold more than 35 million albums worldwide and penned an astonishing forty-five Billboard Hot 100 songs. Akon’s global sound has earned him countless American Music, Billboard Music, World Music, BET Hip Hop, Teen Choice, and ASCAP Awards. In a statement, Akon said: “I hope my UK and European fans are ready for a show filled with good music and energy! It’s been 10 years since I’ve done shows out here, so I cannot wait!”

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In our fast paced, non stop concrete world, it can often feel impossible to take a few moments to just stop what you’re doing, and live in the present moment – taking in the beauty of the natural world around us – of which we ourselves are apart of but far removed from. Inviting us to take a much needed pause, Luxmuralis’ video projected exhibition LIFE takes over the medieval confines of St-Martin-in-the-Field – an ASMR experience I’m hoping returns to the venue soon!

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School forms a significant part of our childhoods/teenagehood – educational structures that are vital for setting us up towards the future and our potentially lifelong friendships. But what happens when this structure doesn’t necessarily address the mental health and emotional realities of the day? Emma Anderson’s pertinent production The Lesson opens up the conversation on how the system could better respond to increasing mental health demand, hopefully starting the necessary steps to address this.

Placed in an underfunded, London based secondary school, The Lesson sways between drama teacher Clara (Geebs Marie Williams) solitarily in her drama studio doing what she can to best plan ahead for a successful teaching week, burnt out, pondering, continually attempting to problem solve how she can better support the future generation.

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To satisfy the phenomenal demand, four additional Adele in Munich shows have been added to the previously announced summer run at Munich Messe.  In addition to previously announced dates, Adele has added shows on the 14^th, 16^th, 23^rd and 24^th of August 2024 (see below for full list of dates).  Earlier this week, fans were delighted when the global superstar announced the initial Adele in Munich dates, her first mainland Europe shows since 2016.  As previously reported, a bespoke open-air arena will be created especially for this residency with capacity for 80,000 people per night (see below for venue rendering).

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‘Her Story’ is becoming prominent in our current era – a vital step towards fleshing out a more nuanced perspective of history from the many women that have shaped and continue to shape our world. This is an exciting time historically for expanding the history books – Tudor England a significant part of British history characterised by King Henry VIII’s reign (1509-1547) and the formation of the Church of England. As well as the reign of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I over a decade after his passing (1558-1603). Renowned for the fact that he married six times, which was unconventional for the time, this part of history is framed from the perspective of a victorious King Henry, however – seldom do we hear about the lives of those around him. Cue Toby Marlow’s and Lucy Moss’ much loved musical Six, placing the voices of his six wives at the fore – something that would have tapped into the zeitgeist in 2018, peaking interest – and with that, starting a chain reaction of looking at more women-led stories in this way!

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UK fans rejoice as Bryson Tiller adds a second London date to ‘The Bryson Tiller Tour’due to incredible demand. The Grammy-nominated multi-platinum selling recording artist is set to return to the UK later this Spring as he plays venues including London’s OVO Arena Wembley, Glasgow’s O₂ Academy and Manchester’s O₂ Victoria Warehouse

Tickets for ‘The Bryson Tiller Tour’ go on general sale 10am Friday 2^nd February at metropolismusic.com.

‘The Bryson Tiller Tour’ – UK Dates:

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