The theatre will be operated by Nimax which already runs five others in London, including the Apollo and Lyric. Nimax chief executive Nica Burns said, "Our new theatre won't compete with those already in London. It will be a different - very intimate - space, in a great location, where cutting edge shows can be performed." The London Astoria most recently occupied the site before it closed in 2009 when it was compulsorily purchased as part of the Crossrail project. The music venue was then demolished.
Strummer of Love - The Pogues and Badly Drawn Boy are some of the friends and fans of Joe Strummer confirmed to perform at Strummer of Love festival this summer. Joining the line-up will be folk-punk songsmith Frank Turner, dance music pioneers Basement Jaxx, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, UK urban music stalwart Roots Manuva and leading light of protest rock Billy Bragg.
Taking place on the weekend of 17-19 August, the one-off festival will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of iconic Clash frontman Joe Strummer and will be held "at a beautiful, secret location in the middle of the Somerset countryside".
Proceeds from the festival will benefit the work of the charity Strummerville: The Joe Strummer New Music Foundation, which was set up in the singer's memory by his friends and family following his untimely death.
Bard's Birthday - A festival that will see Shakespeare's 37 plays performed in 37 languages, from Swahili to sign language, has got under way in London. The World Shakespeare Festival was officially launched yesterday, the anniversary of the playwright's birth. It is the centrepiece to the Cultural Olympiad, the arts programme that ties in with the London 2012 Games.
It will feature King Lear performed in Belarusian, Hamlet in Lithuanian and Othello re-interpreted through hip-hop. The Iraqi Theatre Company, based in Baghdad, will perform Romeo and Juliet. The multi-lingual performances are taking place at the Globe Theatre, the replica of Shakespeare's original theatre, under the banner Globe To Globe.
Classical Music - Wallace and Gromit are to make an appearance at this year's BBC Proms, it has been announced. Animated sequences will accompany the commissioned work, My Concerto in Ee, Lad, which will be performed by the Aurora Orchestra on 29 July. The eight-week musical extravaganza starts on 13 July.
The BBC said that with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics, this year's Proms "promises to be unlike any other". Organisers said the Concerto in Ee, Lad - being shown as part of the London 2012 Festival - would capture the "warmth, grittiness and gumption" of the popular Wallace and Gromit characters. The work will be shown alongside their film A Matter Of Loaf And Death, which will be accompanied by a live orchestral soundtrack.
Farewell - Guitarist Bert Weedon, best known for creating the popular tutorial manual Play In A Day, has died aged 91. Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and Brian May are among the stars who learned to play guitar from his books. Queen guitarist Brian May said, "He will be so sadly missed by all his friends because he is one of the most generous and giving people I have ever met in my life. There's not a guitarist in Britain from my generation who doesn't owe him a great debt of gratitude."
(Jim Evans)
24 April 20121
