Hello, and welcome back to Week in Review, our roundup of industry-wide news. From stage to screens big and small, we’ve got you covered. It’s everything you need to know and all you can’t afford to miss.
Yesterday’s Himesh Patel leads Screen Stars of Tomorrow 2019
Against a backdrop of the boom in UK film and TV (and Netflix moving in), Screen International have announced their annual Stars of Tomorrow list, featuring young British actors and creative talent set to make their mark on the industry. With past editions predicting the rise of stars like Emily Blunt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Comer, and Taron Egerton, the list has become a trusted indicator of who’s set to become Britain’s most sought talent. This year’s edition sees Yesterday star Himesh Patel lead a list of actors that includes Emma Mackey (Sex Education), Chance Perdomo (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Nabhaan Rizwan (Informer).
Stars of Tomorrow editor Fionnuala Halligan said: “Every year it seems impossible that I’ll encounter as much raw talent as the last but each time I look I find even more fresh faces with so much to say. If these are the Stars of Tomorrow, then the future is looking good.” Elsewhere on the list are Jordanne Jones, Sam Adewunmi, and James McArdle, who’s been praised for his leading role in the National Theatre’s Peter Gynt, opening last week. Read the full list here.
READ: 10 Film Schools in the UK You Need to Know
Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act role reworked for older performer
The lead role in Sister Act has been reworked for an older performer, with the character aged-up. Despite not being cast in the original UK run, performer Brenda Edwards will now star in a new production of the musical where the part of Deloris, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film, has been reworked for an older actor. Opening at the Leicester Curve in April 2020, the production will tour and come to London later that year.
Whoopi Goldberg, who is co-producing, said: “Previous versions have had Deloris as a 23-year-old – but there are different stakes when you’re older. You can be much more irreverent when you’re older than you can be when you’re in your twenties and thirties.” She added: “Time makes you funnier”.
The move is a precedent for how producers might address the so-called “invisibility” of older female performers. Last year, actor Nicola Clark launched the Acting Your Age campaign to highlight the lack of roles for older female actors, saying that “women over 40, if featured at all, are seemingly cast as supportive ex-wives, bitter ex-wives, or therapists.”
Tree authorship row writers see growing support
A pair of writers embroiled in an authorship row over Idris Elba’s musical Tree have received more than £14,000 in donations towards the founding of a new theatre company. Called Burn Bright, the company was formed to drive positive change for female writers in theatre after founders Sarah Henley and Tori Allen-Martin were allegedly forced off the production by Young Vic artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah and the producers. Tree is currently running as part of the Manchester International Festival, where it opened last week to mixed reviews.
Henley and Allen-Martin said: “We didn’t want to complain about what happened to us without doing something to drive positive change for female writers that come after us. So, we decided to create Burn Bright – an organisation to facilitate just that.” Alongside beating their target of £12,000, the pair have the backing of playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, whose smash hit play Emilia tells the story of a woman whose artistic ability is restricted by the patriarchal Elizabethan world. Henley and Allen-Martin said Lloyd Malcolm’s play has “inspired a generation of women to ‘burn bright.’”
Theatres and industry leaders declare climate emergency
Leading figures and companies from across the performing arts have declared a climate emergency, pledging a sector-wide approach to battle climate change. Theatres including the Royal Court, the Gate and Bristol’s Tobacco Factory are part of the 400 organisations and individuals who have signed up to Culture Declares Emergency, launched earlier this year in response to Extinction Rebellion’s climate protests in London.
In time for the first-ever London Climate Action Week, the Roundhouse and theatre company Complicité facilitated a conversation exploring how the performing arts industry could tackle climate change. The Roundhouse’s artistic director Marcus Davey said the venue was “proud to house this event and stand alongside Culture Declares” and praised the many organisations “in our sector who are trying to make a change.” In recent weeks pressure has mounted on arts organisations who receive funding from fossil fuel companies, with a “die-in” protest held outside the Royal Opera House and the resignation of Oscar-winner Mark Rylance from his role at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Read more here.
A new fund for LGBTQ+ projects
The British Council and BFI are partnering to fund three teams of filmmakers to create projects focusing on LGBTQ+ subjects. Mentored by Loran Dunn (A Deal With the Universe), the programme is open to pitches from producers for projects with international outlook that explore LGBTQ+ topics like intersectionality, global human rights, and diaspora identity. Films are planned to be screened at the BFI’s Flare festival of Queer cinema in March 2020. Read more here.
READ: Why LGBT+ Representation In Theatre, Film & TV Is Still so Important
Phantom of the Opera looks for diversity in its cast
Renowned musical The Phantom of the Opera is looking to hire a diverse new cast ahead of its UK and Ireland tour next year, with auditions in London soon. Celebrating its 33rd year in the West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s award-winning musical is looking to keep up with the times and honour the promise of more opportunities for non-white performers in musical theatre. In 2016, Lloyd Webber called British theatre “hideously white” and said he feared for the survival of the industry if it did not reflect the diversity of modern Britain. Now his touring production of The Phantom of the Opera has announced open auditions with a focus on BAME talent. Held at Mountview Academy in South London, the touring production is seeking performers of all ethnicities to play lead and ensemble roles, with applications from BAME performers particularly encouraged.
READ: Get Cast In ‘Phantom of the Opera’ + More Greenlit Projects
For more from Backstage UK, check out the magazine.
