Double Act - TV duo Ant and Dec are to host the 2015 Brit awards, 14 years since the last time they presented the ceremony. The hosts of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Britain's Got Talent take over from actor James Corden, who hosted the event from 2011 to 2014. "We're really excited to be hosting the Brits again next year," the duo said. "It is undoubtedly the biggest night in the British music calendar." Brits chairman Max Lousada said it was "a real honour" to have them back.
Drama School - The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama is to spend £13m expanding and improving facilities at its campus in Swiss Cottage, London, in a bid to turn it into "one of the major Off-West End sites". A new theatre will be built on the north London campus as part of the development, with student and occasional professional productions open to the public. The current Studio 1 theatre, which a school spokesman described as "outdated", will also be demolished and replaced. Principal Gavin Henderson said, "We are living on a very restricted site. We already do a great deal of work off-site, so this will hopefully bring most of that work back in on-site. Enhancing the facilities is important in terms of staying ahead of the game."
One Direction - More than 700 directors have so far signed up to a newly formed trade organisation launched to improve their working conditions. Stage Directors UK was launched a month ago to work for its members on a number of issues such as royalties, contracts, digital rights and copyright. Its first task will be to investigate directors' pay levels, with the body conducting a survey about fees to paint a clearer picture of who earns what.
Weather Report - The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon has extended its booking until May next year. The show has music and lyrics by Ray Davies and a book by Joe Penhall. Directed by Edward Hall, it had been booking until the end of January but will now run at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 23 May. An official cast recording of the production has also been released, featuring songs including Waterloo Sunset and You Really Got Me.
No Future - The Theatres Trust has warned that Scarborough's Futurist Theatre will face demolition after the proposed bidder for the site was named as theme park Flamingo Land. If successful, Flamingo Land Coast will include a glass-roofed botanical garden, a rollercoaster, and bar, restaurant and function spaces. Mark Price, theatres at risk adviser for the Theatres Trust, said the trust had had the Futurist on its theatre buildings at risk register since 2006, adding that the venue currently provided the only indoor venue in Scarborough capable of hosting large scale touring theatre and musical productions needing a flytower. The 2,150-seat venue was built in 1921 and was used as a theatre and cinema up until its closure in early 2014, which followed years of uncertainty.
Thanks for the Memories - On the website www.jackbruce.com the great and the good pay tribute to the much missed bass player. "Having worked with Jack for a very long time he will be dearly missed by the music community. A genius that never really received enough credit for his work." - Harvey Goldsmith CBE; "He was a
