On Broadway - The Last Ship, Sting's musical about shipbuilding in north-east England, has opened on Broadway. Sting described watching Sunday's opening night as "an out-of-body experience". "You relinquish a lot of control," the 63-year-old told the Playbill website. "But all of these people bring something to the process I can't."
Building in Battersea - Battersea Arts Centre has revealed plans for the final stage of its redevelopment that includes a theatre space in a lift and an outdoor performance space. Work on the south London venue began in 2006, and is being undertaken in collaboration with architects Haworth Tompkins, who last week were awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for their work on Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. The £13m redevelopment will see the creation of an outdoor performance space in the centre's courtyard, and a new lift able to fit 30 people, that can also be used for performances. A large performance space, made up of 12 linking rooms that can be used independently or as one open space, will cover the first floor, while a creative learning hub will house workshops, courses and start-up companies.
Bread and Roses - A new 54-seat theatre is to open above a pub in Clapham, south London. The Bread and Roses Theatre, located above the pub of the same name in Clapham, will officially open on November 1 and will host a mixture of in-house and visiting productions. The venue will not charge a hire fee, and will instead offer a 50% split of box office takings between the theatre and visiting companies. The pub's landlady, Rebecca Pryle, said, "Pubs are just dying on their arses. They really are. Especially pubs that are off the beaten track a bit like we are, we're just off the high street. So we just need entertainment really - to have stuff going on all the time."
Faking It - Belfast's Grand Opera House is to review an access scheme for disabled customers, following evidence that it is being abused by people pretending to have disabilities. Launched in September last year, the free-to-join Access for All scheme provides a complimentary ticket to carers accompanying paying disabled audience members. The venue says it has issued more than 3,000 free tickets to its 1,200 registered members during its first year of operation "ensuring that many disabled people have been able to access the arts who otherwise may not have been able to." However, theatre bosses have now written to the scheme's members announcing a review following the discovery that it is "being misused and seen as an opportunity to avail of free tickets".
On The Coast - Brighton Dome is set to undergo a major refurbishment, after being granted £5.8m of funding from Arts Council England. Planned improvements include a new viewing gallery in the Corn Exchange venue, a ground floor bar/cafe in the Studio Theatre and a dedicated 'creation space' - as well as improvements to backstage facilities. Andrew Comben, the chief executive of Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, said: "The improvements to our venue will not only enable us to build on our work with artists...but also ensure we are abl
