LAMDA Presents Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky
Theatre
Pleasance London » Tuesday 24th April – Friday 26th April, 2pm & 7:30pm
At the turn of the 20th Century a group of Russian friends retreat for their annual summer holiday in the countryside. United by their place in history as an emergent Russian middle class, but disparate in their political views and private lives, their friendship will never be the same again come autumn.
Maxim Gorky’s naturalistic masterpiece depicts Russia as it teeters on the edge of social upheaval – exploring the dreams, fears and vanities of one group of friends as they question their value in a transient society.
Free
LAMDA Presents Earthquakes in London
Theatre
Pleasance London » Wednesday 25th April – Friday 26th April, 2pm & 7:30pm
How can you live in a state of constant impending catastrophe? Is hope possible, responsible even, when scientists and politicians are predicting an environmental apocalypse? Earthquakes in London tracks the tremors of hedonism, terror and activism through the lives of three sisters and their estranged, misanthropic father.
Written by award-winning Mike Bartlett (Love Love Love), the play premiered at the National Theatre in 2010.
Free
Robert Newman’s Theory Of Evolution: Work in Progress
Comedy
Pleasance London » Wednesday 24th April, 8pm
Join Rob as he tries out material in advance of a major new UK tour. Watch it evolve in front of your very eyes!
“I am completely in awe of Robert Newman. Of his talent, his passion, his intelligence, and the way he turns them to comedy with real firepower. If this world could be saved by a Superhero whose Superpower was Comedy, that hero would be Robert Newman.” Kate Copstick, The Scotsman
Tickets £10
Joe Lycett / Eleanor Thom: Work in Progress
Comedy
Pleasance London » Thursday 25th April, 8pm
Joe Lycett Celebrity Juice & 8 out of 10 Cats):
Join award-winning sparky stand up Joe Lycett as he workshops material for his second hour show. Expect it to be rough round the edges, interactive, potentially slightly awkward, but most of all bloody good fun. Last year’s show got nominated for Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer so it can’t be all bad.
Eleanor Thom (Lady Garden, Absolutely Fabulous & Live At The Electric)
“The BBC said to me, ‘Bev, you need a vehicle’, so I’ve got one. Inclusive of drinks trolley. Get onboard.”
‘Britain’s funniest woman’ Sunday Telegraph
Tickets £5
Comedy
Pleasance London » Friday 26th April – Sunday 19th May, 8pm
Alan Davies returns to the Stagespace where, in 2011, he spent several evenings developing his last stand-up show. Life Is Pain toured throughout the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and will be out on DVD in time for the PGP (Prime Gifting Period or Xmas).
It’s now time to see whether there is any new material coming along that may be worth taking out of the borough in 2014…
Tickets £5 – £6
Ben Miller – My Million To One
Comedy
Pleasance London » Friday, 3rd May
What is My Million To One? – Well, you know your ‘bucket list’ or ‘100 things to do before you die?’ My Million To One is about helping you to achieve those goals/dreams. So we’ve asked lots of industry leaders to help us and they have. In Ben’s case: he wants to offer confidence to the UK’s aspiring comedians.
Tickets Free
Theatre
Pleasance London » Wednesday 1st May – Sunday 12th May, 4pm & 7:45pm
Let Them Call It Mischief present
The London Cuckolds by Edward Ravenscroft
The London Cuckolds tells the story of three City boys, their bored housewives and two frisky young cads, all intertwined in a caper filled with sex and intrigue.
Calamitous and bawdy, this is a rarely performed gem from the restoration era transported to the sparkle and glamour of 1920s London.
Tickets £10 – £12.50
Comedy
Pleasance London » Friday 10th May, 7:30pm
Amateur Transplants frontman Adam Kay is delighted to bring his brand new monthly residency to The Pleasance. Alongside his uniquely depraved pop music re-imaginings, Adam is joined on stage by special guests he doesn’t particularly get on with, but are funnier than him. He’ll probably do the London Underground Song.
This month’s guests are comedy superstar Ardal O’Hanlon and the supremely talented Adam Hess.
“Bracingly intelligent… enormous fun.” * * * * Times
“This made me very, very happy” Stephen Fry
Tickets £12.50
Murray Lachlan Young – The Incomers
Theatre
Pleasance London » Monday 13th May – Saturday 18th May, 7:30pm
It’s Gordon and Celia’s wedding anniversary. They’ve asked their oldest and dearest friends Zach and Jane down from London. The only problem is that Zach and Jane aren’t Zach and Jane anymore. Jane has gone and Julia, the twenty five year old, French burlesque dancer, has taken her place.
Written entirely in his characteristic verse by BBC 6 Music poet in residence Murray Lachlan Young it will have you gasping and roaring with laughter in equal measures!
Tickets £10 -12
Theatre
Pleasance London » Tuesday 14th May, 7:45pm
At the heart of Finding Libby is one of the many heartbreaking stories of young women for whom the 1960s were less swinging than swingeing – a hidden pregnancy, a premature birth, the death of a tiny scrap never referred to again and a life stalled. Pauline is now in her early sixties and has been persuaded by her neighbour to take her first holiday, on a canal boat. We follow her from worrying whether anyone will meet her at the station, to the unexpected turn in the journey that forces her to face her past and to finding that it is never too late for a fresh start.
Tickets £8 – £10
Rehearsed Reading of Making News
Theatre
Pleasance London » Wednesday 15th May, 7:45pm
Rehearsed reading of Making News the new play by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky.
It’s the start of a 24-hour news cycle and Rachel Clarke has been promoted as the BBC’s newest Head of News. When a crisis erupts, she has to confront rivals from within and without, and decide how to report on a story that could bring down the Corporation itself.
A fast-moving satire about the BBC starring Suki Webster, Hal Cruttenden, Sara Pascoe, Liam Williams, Dan Starkey and Phill Jupitus as the Director-General.
Tickets £5
Tiny Tempest
Theatre
Pleasance London » Monday, 20th May – Sunday, 26th May, 4pm & 7.45pm
Shakespeare’s fantastical tale of magic, murder and monsters retold in an explosive new actor-musician adaptation. Tiny Tempest is a visual feast featuring thrilling physicality,slapstick storytelling and live music and songs. Mini Mall present their world premiere production that promises to be a Tempest like no other.
Tickets £7.50 – £9
Voices in Your Head: The Phill Jupitus Experiment
Comedy
Pleasance London » Sunday 26th May, 8pm
Deborah Frances-White’s fringe hit returns to London, but this time with only one special guest performer taking to the stage.
Phill Jupitus goes head to head with a disembodied Voice on a microphone who will interrogate, provoke and cajole him to create dark-hearted comedy mayhem. See the hidden depths of the human unconscious pushed to their illogical conclusions in this unforgettable, unmissable, electrifying and hilarious show. Voices in Your Head just got even freakier.
“Inventive, funny and wildly ambitious – you’ll never see anything quite like it.”’
* * * * * The Skinny
Tickets £12
The Trench
Theatre
Pleasance London » Tuesday 28th May – Thursday 30th May, 7:30pm
After a sell-out five star run at the Edinburgh Festival Les Enfants Terribles tour the UK with their new award-winning show, The Trench. From the team behind The Terrible Infants, Ernest and the Pale Moon and The Vaudevillains, comes a new play inspired by the true story of a miner who became entombed in a tunnel during World War One. As the horror threatens to engulf him, he finds that not everything in the darkness is what it seems as he starts to discover a new, strange world beneath the mud and death. Setting off on an epic journey of salvation, the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur as he questions what’s real, what’s not and whether it even matters?
‘The overall vision stays with you like a strange, significant dream.’ Times
Tickets £10 – £12
Voices In Your Head
Comedy
Pleasance London » Friday 31st May, 8pm
Deborah Frances-White’s fringe hit returns to London as a cast of comedic performers go head to head with a disembodied Voice who will interrogate, provoke and cajole them to create comedy mayhem. Previous guests have included Phill Jupitus, Hannibal Buress, Russell Tovey, Mike McShane, Sara Pascoe, Humphrey Ker among many others.
This time the line-up includes Miles Jupp (star of Rev, The Thick Of It & Have I Got News For You) and Thom Tuck (Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee & star of Radio 4’s The Penny Dreadfuls) plus special guests.
Tickets £10
Laugh Your Farce Off
Theatre
Pleasance London » Sunday, 2nd June, 7pm
After its second sell-out show ‘Laugh Your Farce Off’ is back in Pleasance Main House, with another smash lineup…
Little Bear has challenged 5 award winning writers each to write a short but perfectly formed farce.
The only brief: ‘3 doors…’ – imagine the trouser dropping, mistaken identity mishaps and general all round chaos that will ensue!
Curated by Ursula Early with sensational new work from: John Luke-Roberts, Andrew Doyle, Caitlin Shannon, Charlie Partridge and Hannah Rodger – this is a night of sheer lunacy you can’t afford to miss!
Tickets £9 – £10
Parade
Theatre
Pleasance London » Friday, 14th June – Sunday, 16th June, 2:30pm, 3pm & 7:30pm
The tragic, true story of the trial and lynching of a man wrongly accused of murder is brought to emotional and theatrical life by acclaimed playwright Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) and Jason Robert Brown (13, Songs for a New World). Daring, innovative and bold, PARADE won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score, as well as six Drama Desk Awards.
Tickets £12 – £15
The Fantasist
Theatre
Pleasance London » Tuesday, 25th June – Wednesday, 26th June, 7:30pm
In the mind of the fantasist, the real and the fanciful become dangerously blurred. As Louise gazes into the night her fancy takes form. Objects move, time changes … and a seductive stranger opens up a world of exhilaration and magic.
Tickets £10 – £12