Theatr Gwaun is not doing well this days that it might be closing by the end of the year. Well, that is if most of the volunteers who have now come to its rescue can stop it.

This theater which is being subsidized by the Pembrokeshire council suffers from low attendance rates that it is not viable anymore to run it thus the idea of closing it. Volunteers are now campaigning to keep it open by creating a viable business plan with hopes that the theater ownership will be transferred to them.

Theatr Gwaun has a rich history which initially served as a Temperance hall and then as a cinema in the 1920‘s known as The Studio. Massive reconstruction was done in the 1990‘s and its name was now changed to what it is known today.

This theater can actually sit 180 people and has an adequate center stage. People are claiming that the theater is not being managed effectively since little or no promotion is being done on the performances that are scheduled on the theater. How can we watch the performances when we don’t know if there are any at all? this is just one of the questions people are asking

Right now the volunteers are proposing that theater management be split into two, one to take care of promotions and one to handle the programming and management of the building. They believe that with proper management the theater would be viable to operate.

The theater is now getting huge support from different sectors such as the public, local business sectors and even politicians. With lot of people now coming out to support Theatr Gwaun it is unlikely that it would close at the end of the year.

Do you want a fun and entertaining evening? If you love watching plays then you definitely would not want to miss Into the Woods. This musical play adapts the stories of the Brothers Grimm and provides it with a different twist.

The performance will be held at the Open Theater of Regent’s Park which provides a perfect ambiance for summer outings. Play dates are scheduled for August and runs until September with play times starting at 2:30 in the afternoon and 8:00 in the evening. This is an excellent performance to bring your date although if you bring your family along make sure the kids stay at home since the story has a dark and humorous twist.

If you haven’t heard of Into the Woods before its actually a combination of the stories of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel. It’s a story of a Baker and his wife wanting a child. If you are expecting a story with a happily ever after ending then be prepared to see a different storyline. The story explores the actions and consequences of each of these characters.

This performance is based on the book by James Lapine with music and lyrics made by Stephen Sondheim. It made its first theatrical appearance at the Old Globe theater of San Diego in 1986. Since it first appeared it has been produced many times already and viewed by lots of people.

If you live near the Regent’s Park area then this is your chance to see an excellent performance.

The most highly anticipated Shakespeare performance will now soon be seen in more than 300 theaters worldwide. This February Sir Derek Jacobi’s version of King Lear will be filmed by the Donmar Warehouse and be broadcast live.

It’s like bringing in millions of people to the Donmar Warehouse of London which can only seat 250 people. People from all over the world who wish to experience a performance at The Donmar Warehouse can now do so thanks to this undertaking.

The artistic director of Donmar, Michael Grandage, is aware that the space of the theater is very limited and was seeking ways to have a broader audience. This act of filming the performance is a great solution, thanks to the advances made in technology.

This is not the first performance to be filmed though since this concept started in New York at the Met opera. The result of Phèdre and Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art was actually very good that Grandage immediately agreed to have King Lear filmed.

The technical aspect of filming the performance would still have to be ironed out. Concerns such as cameras getting in the way of theater viewers would really have to be taken into consideration. Grandage on the other hand is confident that they would be able to pull this off flawlessly.

King Lear would start rehearsals on October and aims to open on December. With more or less 22 people on the cast this is going to be one of the best performance of Shakespeare’s play.

Religion is one of the most feverishly debated subjects. Some people feel that religion can give purpose to ones life, and can help you stay on an ethical, moral path.

Others feels that religion is the cause of arguments, disputes and wars. It has even be said by some that following a ‘pure’ and moral lifestyle for fear of eternal damnation does not, in itself make one a moral person, as it is an act, borne to benefit the self, and to avoid said eternal damnation – whereas living a moral lifestyle purely because you feel it is the right thing to do, is much more selfless and ethical.

Whatever your standpoint or belief, it is just that, a belief.

Problems, and violence tend to arise when one faith believes that it has the inherant right to ‘preach’ to those of other faith, or when they feel that their religion has a ‘higher ground’ than anothers.

Perhaps the world would be a better place if we could all just accept others rights to their beliefs.

Funnily, one webpage claims to be able to show proof that Jesus actually exists, we found THIS WEBPAGE, claiming just that… we will leave judgement to our readers, however!

The big question in London theatre today is: Will “Love Never Dies,” the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” revive the composer’s faltering career?

“Phantom” was in fact his last big hit and you have to wonder if a sequel will make the grade. “Love Never Dies” opened Tuesday after a brief two weeks of previews. The official opening is tonight.
Ten years have passed since the mysterious disappearance of The Phantom from the Paris Opera House. An offer is made to Christine Daaé to come to America and perform at New York’s new world famous Coney Island.

Christine, her husband and their son, Gustave arrive in New York and soon she discovers the identity of the anonymous impresario who has lured her from France to sing.

“Love Never Dies” is filled with obsession and intrigue and The Phantom sets out to prove that truly “Love Never Dies.”
Love Never Dies stars Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, as the Phantom and Christine, Joseph Millson as Raoul, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Summer Strallen as Meg Giry.

The roles of Fleck, Squelch and Gangle will be played respectively by Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce and Jami Reid-Quarrell.

The cast will also include Derek Andrews, Dean Chisnall, Helen Dixon, Lucie Downer, Paul Farrell, Charlene Ford, Chris Gage, Lucy van Gasse, Celia Graham, Simon Ray Harvey, Jack Horner, Erin Anna Jameson, Pip Jordan, Jessica Kirton, Louise Madison, Janet Mooney, Colette Morrow, Tam Mutu, Ashley Nottingham, Tom Oakley, Mark Skipper, Jonathan Stewart, Tim Walton and Annette Yeo.

Sister Act The Musical at the London Palladium is a show you don’t want to miss. Produced by Whoopi Goldberg, star of the blockbuster Sister Act movies, this divine musical will keep you rolling in your seat.

Sister Act features a score by eight-time Oscar winner, Alan Menken, eight-time Oscar winner. He is well-known for his many Disney movie songs, including The Little Mermaid, Alladin, Beauty and the Beast. The Sister Act musical lyrics are by Alan’s long-time collaborator, Glenn Slater.

Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, whose writing credits include the classic television comedy Cheers are the book writers. The production is directed by Peter Schneider.

Whoopi Goldberg is producing this musical version of Sister Act. She’s one of the few people has won an Academy Award, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Tony Award (as producer of the Broadway show, Thoroughly Modern Millie).

The stage is set when disco diva Deloris Van Cartier is witness to a murder and put in protective custody in a convent.

Joining the convent choir, she soon discovers they need help more than she does. Working at helping the choir and breathing new life into the neighborhood, she risks blowing her cover for good.

Kim Cattrall, well-known for her role in Sex and the City as Samantha Jones has returned to London to star with Matthew Macfadyen in Noel Coward’s comedy, Private Lives.

They play Amanda and Elyot, respectively, a divorced couple who meet again five years after divorcing and when both are on their honeymoons with new spouses. The spark is rekindled in the south of France, thanks to adjoining hotel balconies and immediately their feelings for one another are rekindled, without a care for their new partners or what drove them apart in the first place.

Cattrall was born in Liverpool and has expressed her love of London theatre and appared in Whose Life is it Anyway? And also started in David Mamet’s The Cryptogram at the Donmar in 2006.

Matthew Macfadyen is remember for his role as Tom Quinn in the BBC series Spooks. He also appeared on the London stage in The Pain and the Itch and Henry IV Part 1&2.

Directed by Richard Eyre, this Noel Coward comedy, opened last night at the Vaudeville Theatre.

Resolutely American The Little Dog Laughed deftly satirises Hollywood’s eternal hypocrisy about sex, even today, as the play reminds us there are still no openly gay leading men in Tinseltown.
Diane is a top Hollywood agent who wants to make a movie of a hit New York play about male lovers. She wants to help her fast-rising client, the discreetly gay Mitchell, and wants him to star in it. To accomplish her aims, this female Machiavel has to pull off two tricks: coerce the writer into turning his play into a hetero romance; and keep the sexual preferences of her client, who has fallen for a bisexual rent boy, under wraps. How Diane manages to complete her scheme and cash in, while preventing her client coming out, motors the plot.
Carter Beane’s play is both funny and perceptive about Hollywood’s contempt for wordsmiths and their sexual double standards.Mitchell’s argument that in America only “upper middle-class, straight, conservative men” can be what they want is, in the age of Oprah and Obama, open to all sorts of objections.
Rupert Friend as her smitten client, Harry Lloyd as his boyish lover, and Gemma Arterton as the latter’s disposable squeeze all offer good complementary support, and Jamie Lloyd’s production is smooth as butter.
The play may be too showbizzy for some tastes but, behind its Manhattan waspishness, lurks a general truth: while Hollywood may be the global dream-factory, it still lies about its operatives’ sex-lives.

The theatre sector is concerned, and rightly so, about what might happen to central government support for the arts after the forthcoming general election. If the Tories will, can they be trusted? Will the scale of the public deficit mean the Labours will have to start taking back the grants offered during 13 years in their charge?
We can’t say, of course, but it seems what people are assuming is that whatever happens will have an impact on the entire theatre sector. It will have a huge effect on a specific part of the sector, flagship venues, for one. However, for much of the theatre people enjoy in this country, it will have little or no impact at all.
We should be concerned that ACE might have its share of the funding cut, but we should also be concerned about the future of support at the grassroots, which, is where much of the country consumes its live entertainment. Most of the UKs civic theatres and arts festivals are council-funded and local authorities have been big players in the golden age of regional theatre. The new Curve in Leicester was mainly supported by the city council as is Manchester’s biennial International Festival.
Now, local authorities account for less than half of the roughly £450m in annual exchange funding, whereas they used to be an almost equal funder with the Arts Council.
If we don’t want that figure to slip even more, we need to pay attention to the danger. Because of its disparate nature, it is harder to monitor cuts to local council arts funding and how they affect the overall health of the sector. But that doesn’t mean that they are any less damaging to the industry. It’s vital they are prevented.

This is one of those theatre experiences that requires the audience to make an effort. Turning up for this site-specific show which is played out over two floor of an old motorcycle showroom could disappoint you if you don’t make the effort.

There are some traditional elements to this ¬promenade piece inspired by a true-life murder that took place in Bristol in 1836, leading to the closure of the 600-year-old St James’s Fair, drawing cleverly on the 19th-century love of melodrama to tell a tale of obsession, betrayal and murder. But it’s a clever mix, too, of signs, symbols and sideshows, and the audience has to put in some work to connect the webs of deceit as the ¬marriage of showman and actor Charles Bartlett and his pregnant wife, Emily, comes ¬under strain as Charles turns his ¬attentions to Rosie.

The marvelous thing about this show is that it feels embedded in its surroundings and draws on the work of local artists. There are shadow puppet sideshows, icy trees dangling tarot cards and foetuses, opportunities for the audience to audition to be Charles’s new leading lady, and wandering tricksters.

It may not be completely memorable, and it can feel undertextured and overcrowded, but this is ambitious and imaginative work that only requires more depth and consistency to make it soar. The best bits – including a wonderful, fragile sideshow scene in which a man voices a litany of regret as Rosie packs her case to leave – are genuinely thrilling.

Judi Dench is back as Shakespeare’s Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rose Theatre. She is no stranger to the role, having played it in school at York in the 1940s and also on stage and film for Peter Hall in the 1960s.

Dench’s performance is brilliant. She gives weight to every word spoken. In Titania’s speech on the disastrous consequences of climate change, you hear Dench’s voice perceptibly harden when she tells how “the childing autumn, angry winter change their wonted liveries. And, after a night spent with the ass, Dench skips and skitters around without any of the physical explicitness you sometimes find in modern productions, Dench simply conveys the ecstasy and ardour of a brief, if misplaced, passion.

Dench brings her special talents to a good classical production. Charles Edwards is a very fine Oberon and certainly reveals the sadistic delight with which he torments the fairy queen. But, in a play that is all about spiritual transfiguration, Edwards conveys a proper sense of guilt.

The lovers, meanwhile, are decently played, but Rachael Stirling stands out as the abused Helena. She is also excellent in the battle with Annabel Scholey’s Hermia.

Still it is Judi Dench who brings the necessary magic to the show.

Stomp is extended 6 months. Tickets are now on sale to 19 December 2010 at the Ambassadors Theatre.
The show opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End in September 2002 and ran for 5 years, ending its run at the Vaudeville Theatre 23 September 2007. Stomp was then transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre 27 September 2007, where it continues today.
New routines, new choreography and new music has recently been added to the production.
Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas originally created Stomp in Brighton in 1991. It is a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy. Since its start, the production has toured to 29 diverse countries from Russia to Brazil, Australia to Japan and Germany to Taiwan and has become an international stage phenomenon. Over 10 million people have seen this show throughout the world.
Stomp finds beauty and music in the mundane – from boots and bins to zippo lighters and plumber’s plungers – everything including the kitchen sink becomes part of this production as a cast of 8 performers make instruments out of brooms and turn hand-clapping into conversation. With energy and toe-tapping exuberance, STOMP takes the clutter and junk of everyday life and transforms it into a theatrical event.

Toby Anstis, Heart radio star presenter, makes his West End stage debut when he joins the cast Grease as ‘Teen Angel’ for a limited season from 25 January to 20 March 2010 at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Toby Anstis presents the weekday mid-morning show on Heart, the UK’s largest commercial radio network. Over 3.4 million people tune into Toby’s show each week, broadcast on 33 Heart stations across the UK. He also presents the Saturday morning show on Heart in London. He made his name on television presenting BBC1’s The Ozone, Electric Circus and Live and Kicking.
Toby says: “ I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted to join the cast of Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre this January. I feel so lucky to be part of London’s most feel-good musical and make my debut on the West End Stage! I’m probably one of the world’s biggest fans of Grease so it’s a dream come true.”
He will join Noel Sullivan, who currently plays Danny to 24 July. As previously mentioned, Siobhan Dillon also joins the cast on 25 Jan as ‘Sandy.’
Grease opened at the Piccadilly Theatre on 8 Aug 2007, following previews from 25 July 2007, and is currently taking bookings to 4 Sept 2010. It is now the longest running show at the Piccadilly Theatre, having reached this point on 20 June 2009.

The major openings in London – in the West End and further afield – this week are:
OPENING, Monday 11 January 2010, Linda Marlowe’s acclaimed one-woman show The World’s Wife, adapted from the poems of Carol Ann Duffy, opens at Trafalgar Studios 2, continuing until 6 February.
ALSO MONDAY (previews from 7 January), the Tricycle Theatre stages the world premiere of Frank McGuinness’ Greta Garbo Came to Donegal, with Nicolas Kent directing a cast featuring Broadway veteran Caroline Lagerfelt as Garbo.
OPENING WEDNESDAY, 13 January 2010, Ohmigod, you guys! Sheridan Smith stars as Elle Woods in the West End premiere of Broadway screen-to-stage musical Legally Blonde, alongside Duncan James, Peter Davison and Jill Halfpenny, at the Savoy Theatre.
The show, which premiered on Broadway in April 2007, is based on the 2001 Hollywood comedy in which Reese Witherspoon played California sorority girl Elle who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School in an attempt to win him back.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Tom Morris and Felix Barrett’s revival of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn’s 1977 “play for actors and orchestra”, returns to the National for 41 performances only in the Olivier.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (preview 12 January), Nic Green’s Edinburgh Fringe hit Trilogy which includes a euphoric naked dance performed by 50 female volunteers, opens at the BAC for a five-night run prior to its transfer to the Barbican.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY (preview 12 January), David Greig’s “play with songs” Midsummer, about an ill-advised love match, has its London premiere at Soho Theatre, where it continues to 6 February.
ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, the London International Mime Festival kicks off with 15 companies performing at venues including the Barbican, Southbank Centre, Royal Opera House and ICA.
OPENING THURSDAY, 14 January 2010 (previews from 12 January), Babou Ceesay plays the title role in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus at Stratford Circus.

OPENING FRIDAY, 15 January 2010 (previews from 12 January), Celia Imrie and Ella Smith star in a revival of Sheridan’s classic 18th-century comedy The Rivals at Southwark Playhouse. The play features one of English theatre’s most famous comic characters, Mrs Malaprop (Imrie), whose mangling of the dictionary prompted its own entry. Until 30 January.

Doris Day, Hollywood legend, provides the inspiration for A Sentimental Journey, a bio-musical. The title is from the singer’s first No. 1 chart hit. It will transfer for a four-week run, from 11 March to 4 April 2010.
Doris Day was a very prolific and bankable screen actress in the 1950s and 1960s. She had a wholesome image and she could sing and dance, play comedy or drama. But behind the screen was a story that rivalled any film script. At 13, a car accident threatened to end her dancing career. By 17, she was married to a psychopathic bully. And when her third husband died, she discovered he had left her with a debt of half a million dollars.
A Sentimental Journey tells Day’s story, with the help of many of the songs she helped make famous during her career, including “Move Over Darling”, “The Deadwood Stage”, “Secret Love”, “Little Girl Blue”, “Day By Day”, “Que Sera Sera”, “Young at Heart” and the 1945 title song.
Mill at Sonning artistic director Sally Hughes stars as Doris Day. Also in the cast are: Glyn Kerslake, Ian McLarnon, Elizabeth Elvin and Mark Halliday. A Sentimental Journey is directed by Alvin Rakoff, with choreography by Joseph Pitcher, musical direction by Stewart, design by Eileen Diss, costumes by Jane Kidd, and lighting by Filippo Capitani.

Dirty Dancing – West End Musical
The movie Dirty Dancing, which starred Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, was released in 1987 and was a big hit. All the hit songs from the film’s soundtrack, including Do You Love Me, She’s Like The Wind and Time of My Life, are featured in the stage show, with some new numbers.
The show is now at the Aldwych Theatre and booking until 23 October 2010. The director of the stage production is James Powell and the producer is Jacobsen Entertainment, in association with Lionsgate and Magic Hour Productions.
Re-written for the stage, the story still includes all of the movies most memorable moments and some added scenes as well. The Houseman’s take their vacation at a popular holiday camp where their youngest daughter ‘Baby’ meets ‘Johnny,’ the dance teacher from the wrong side of the tracks. Baby and Johnny fall in love and through their love we see that love can conquer all barriers and we learn that ‘nobody puts Baby in the corner.’

The stage production lasts 2 hours and 30 minutes. The musical supervisor is Conrad Helfrich.

The show does feature a limited amount of mild swearing and themes of a sexual nature.

Despite the treacherous weather conditions in London, TV presenter Graham Norton, actor David Tennant and X Factor runner up Stacey Solomon attended the gala opening of Legally Blonde The Musical.
Duncan James, who plays the lead in the stage show at the Savoy Theatre in London had his Blue bandmates, Anthony Costa and Simon Webbe there to support him.
The female lead Elle Woods, the part made famous by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 film on which the musical is based, is played by television star Sheridan Smith.
The musical tells the story of shopping-obsessed Elle who hits the books to become a lawyer after being dumped by her boyfriend Warner – played by James.
Before the show, Smith, who sings 16 of the show’s 18 songs and has 19 costume changes, used Twitter to say she was feeling nervous.
“Argh! Official opening night tonight! Nervous but really excited!” she wrote.
The musical opened on Broadway in 2007 and gleaned seven Tony Award nominations.
The cast was given a standing ovation at the end, including a special round of applause for the dog who played Elle’s Chihuahua Buster.
The show was praised by the celebrity guests in the audience. Sir Bob Geldof said: “It was great fun. Best lyrics in town.”
Jason Gardiner, Zoe Salmon and John Partridge also attended.

Legally Blonde star Sheridan Smith, who opened to rave reviews, will host the Whatsonstage.com Award Concert for the third year in a row. The winners in this year’s tenth annual “theatregoers’ choice” accolades will be announced at the ceremony. The concert is held in aid of this year’s adopted charity, Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass at 7pm on Sunday 14 February 2010 at the West End’s Prince of Wales Theatre.
Smith has previously been nominated in the Whatsonstage.com Awards, the only major annual theatre accolades wholly decided by the audience, for Best Actress in a Musical for Little Shop of Horrors and will most likely be a contender in the 2011 Awards for her great performance as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, which just had its UK premiere at the Savoy Theatre.
Other big names who will be present for the evening’s entertainment are the 2010 nominees Jodie Prenger, singing from Oliver!, Hannah Waddingham, singing from A Little Night Music and Spring Awakening’s Charlotte Wakefield. In celebration of the Awards’ milestone birthday, past winners Ryan Molloy (Jersey Boys), Leanne Jones (Hairspray) and Sally Anne Triplett (Anything Goes).
Other 2010 nominated productions performing will be Priscilla Queen of the Desert, a top contender for Best New Musical, and Les Miserables featuring Nancy Sullivan, which is shortlisted for the new tenth anniversary category of Best West End Show (open to all current productions, including long-runners) and this year celebrates its own big birthday of 25 years in the West End.

The next comedian to hit the West End is Marcus Brigstocke, when he brings his new stand-up show God Collar to the Vaudeville Theatre for one week, from 4 to 11 February 2010. This follows a national tour last year. “There’s probably no God. But I wish there was. I’ve got some things I need to ask him,” says Brigstocke in the show’s promotional material.
Brigstocke will be across the river this month at the Southbank Centre, where he’s taking part in the “climate-focused festival” Shift, by hosting a one-off evening of comedy, poetry and special guests against climate change on 29 January 2010. This is prior to his one week performance in God Collar.
Since winning the BBC new Comedian Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1996, Marcus Brigstocke has become one of the top names on the comedy and touring circuit. He also features regularly on BBC Radio 4 programmes, including The Now Show and Just a Minute, and has written and recorded three series and four specials of Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off. His TV credits include Argumental, The Late Edition, I’ve Never Seen Star Wars, QI, The 11 O’Clock Show and Have I Got News for You.
Amongst other comedians who’ve notched up West End successes recently, Ed Byrne had an extended run at the same address last autumn.

Tonight’s performance (7 January 2010) of A Christmas Carol playing at the Arts Theatre, has been cancelled due to the illness of cast members Gareth Hale and also Brian Herring.

Last night’s performance was also cancelled, though a representative of the show did reveal to Whatsonstage.com that people who had tickets for that show had already been contacted and they were offered refunds or exchanges for another performance. The run is due to finish on Sunday (10 January 2010).

Details of the illnesses weren’t immediately disclosed, though it is certainly hoped that both Hale and Herring will be much better and able to return for tomorrow’s performance. Hale gives an excellent performance in the role of Scrooge in the show, which opened on 25 November 2009 (previews from 11 November).

A Christmas Carol is adapted and directed by Susie McKenna, best known for her critically acclaimed pantomimes at the Hackney Empire. The cast also features Simon Lipkin, Rebecca Thornhill and Michael Matus, as well as the voices of Matthew White as Charlie the Theatre Mouse and Sharon D Clarke as Bentolina the Theatre Cat (See News, 12 Aug 2009).