As British theatregoers gear up for Edinburgh, Europe’s other major performing arts festival has already been and gone. The 65th Festival d’Avignon drew to a close this week, boasting a programme that included a contribution from UK director Katie Mitchell, as well as a new version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie starring Juliette Binoche and Guy Cassiers (Sang et Roses – Blood and Roses). Meanwhile, like Edinburgh, Avignon also hosts a concurrent fringe (Le Festival Off) which spreads into converted churches, tents and public squares across the city. Unlike Edinburgh in August, it also has sunshine Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP / Getty Images
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first ever performance in the UK, the Mariinsky Ballet – known for many years as the Kirov – began a three-week residency at London's Royal Opera House this week. Its grand opening was Swan Lake, led by Uliana Lopatkina as the Swan Queen. Their interpretation, according to the Guardian’s Judith Mackrell 'remains definitive', if 'strangely drained of life'. Then again, Konstantin Sergeyev's production does date back to 1950. The company will also perform the Pepita/Gorsky Don Quixote, and works by Balanchine and Robbins Photograph: Robbie Jack / Corbis
From swans to budgies ... Norman Barrett – longtime ringmaster for Zippo's Circus – was recognised with one of the circus world’s highest honours this week when he was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame. The performer, who is best known for his budgerigar act (it’s more impressive than it sounds), has enjoyed a career in the ring lasting more than 60 years, having started out as a clown. He received the accolade in Peru, Indiana Photograph: David Levene for The Guardian
More reason to celebrate on the other side of the Atlantic, as three same-sex couples took the opportunity of recent changes in New York law to get married in a Broadway theatre. Donna Barnett and Terri White, Ryan Dietz and Josh Levine, and John Raymond Barker and Jared Pike all tied the knot on the stage of the St James Theatre following a performance of rock musical Hair in a ceremony that was officiated by actor Colman Domingo Photograph: Taylor Hill / WireImage
Back in London, Thandie Newton – best known for screen appearances in Crash, Mission Impossible II and ER – is to make her stage debut in the West End this autumn. She’ll be starring in Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman’s hard-hitting play about confession and revenge in a former Latin American dictatorship. The play won the 1992 Olivier for Best Play, with Juliet Stevenson in the lead: stiff competition for Newton. This revival will be directed by Jeremy Herrin and will arrive at London’s Comedy Theatre in October Photograph: PR
But Alan Ayckbourn might not be best pleased. The playwright and director has been pining for the days when West End shows weren’t all star-led vehicles and new productions would regularly transfer into town from regional playhouses. '[West End producers] used to look for their sources from Scarborough and from Willy Russell in Liverpool and so on and so on, and West End producers would zoom up the motorway and have a look at a new play in Sheffield or Leeds or Manchester or wherever ... [but] that ready source of plays has dried up,' he warned Photograph: Martin Argles for The Guardian
There are always exceptions, though. And, as if willing to prove Ayckbourn wrong, it was this week announced that Swallows and Amazons, which premiered to wide acclaim at Bristol Old Vic last December, will be punting up the M4 to the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre for a Christmas season. The stage version of Arthur Ransome’s much-loved book features new music from The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and is directed by Tom Morris – best known for his work on War Horse, another family-friendly West End hit
Photograph: Simon Annand
