St James Fringe Theatre announces new season

The St James Theatre, an Off West End venue based in Victoria, south London, have announced details of their upcoming season into 2016, including a new play, a revival and an original musical.

The first production in the season will be The Pianist of Willesden Lane which runs from 20 January to 27 February 2016, with an official opening on 22 January 2016. Adapted by Hershey Felder, who also directs, produces and designs the show, it is based on the book 'The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival' by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen. Mona Golabek will star in the production.

"Set in Vienna in 1938 and in London during the Blitz, The Pianist of Willesden Lane tells the true story of Lisa Jura, a young Jewish pianist who is dreaming about her concert debut at Vienna's storied Musikverein concert hall. But with the issuing of new ordinances under the Nazi regime, everything for Lisa changes, except for her love of music and the pursuit of her dream - as she is torn from her family and set onto the Kindertransport to London."

This will be followed by new musical Miss Atomic Bomb by Adam Long, Gabriel Vick and Alex Jackson-Long, produced by Tanya Link and directed by Bill Deamer and Adam Long, with choreography also by Deamer.

Inspired by the real life nuclear tests and beauty pageants of the era, the production runs from 7 March to 9 April 2016, with an official opening on 14 March 2016.

"Welcome to Las Vegas in 1952, where every mushroom cloud has a silver lining and fallout is your friend. Tourists are going nuts for nuclear, sipping cocktails by hotel pools while watching atomic blasts ignite the desert sky."

The final production in the season will be a revival of Charlotte Keatley's drama My Mother Said I Never Should which runs from 13 April to 21 May 2016, with an official opening on 18 April 2016.

Directed by Paul Robinson with designs by Signe Beckmann, lighting by Johanna Town and original music by Simon Slater the play has become a modern classic and is a staple on the GCSE syllabus.

"Doris, born illegitimate in 1900, exchanges her budding teaching career for marriage and motherhood. When the war is over her daughter Margaret marries an American and has Jackie, who becomes an archetypal 60s rebel. When Jackie can't face being a single mother, it is decided that baby Rosie will be brought up as Margaret's own. That's the plan anyway."

Tickets for all productions will go on general sale on 24 Oct at 10am.