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Wine time: The Frogs - Southwark Playhouse

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For a show called The Frogs, there isn’t much amphibian activity in the piece. But being a show with music by Stephen Sondheim, you could be mistaken for thinking it’s a critical theatrical piece. But like Sondheim’s final musical playing at the National Theatre, while it may not be a musical that fills you with provocative thoughts, it’s a fast-paced romp through hell and back to save the world for the sake of arts. With rousing choruses, thrilling choreography and plenty of cheap laughs, what more can you want from the theatre? It’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) . There isn’t much to the plot, except that Dionysus (Dan Buckley), disillusioned by the state of a divided world, and his sidekick and slave, Xanthias (Kevin McHale), cross the river Styx to the underworld to find a great writer who they can return to the world to teach the world about life. He has his mind set on bringing back George Bernard Shaw until he hears the poetry of Shakespeare.  This v...

New cast photos: Shakespeare in Love


New cast photos from the production of Shakespeare in Love are out. The new cast took over at London’s Noel Coward Theatre on 12 January 2015.



The production’s second company stars Orlando James as Will Shakespeare opposite Eve Ponsonby as Viola De Lesseps.


Joining them in the cast, Nicholas Asbury plays Wessex, Neal Barry plays Henslowe, Richard Bremmer plays Tilney and Sir Robert De Lesseps.

Paul Brennen plays Fennyman, Suzanne Burden plays Queen Elizabeth, Ryan Donaldson plays Ned Alleyn, Edward Franklin plays Marlowe, Ncuti Gatwa plays Wabash, Gregg Lowe plays Sam, Andy McKeane plays Ralph, Peter Moreton plays Burbage, Joy Richardson plays Nurse, Charlie Tighe plays Nol and Stuart Wilde plays Webster.

The cast also includes Aaron Anthony, Jonno Davies, Peter Hannah, Nick Hart, Joshua Higgott, Sioned Jones, Sandy Murray, Ellie Nunn, Thomas Padden, Stevie Raine, Elliot Rennie and Florence Roberts.


The limited season ends 18 April 2015.

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