In other news this week, The Railway Children has announced an extension, and is now booking until 8 January 2012. The production, which won an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment earlier in the year, currently stars Marcus Brigstocke as station master Mr Perks.

Did you enjoy spotting some of London theatre’s regulars in BBC2’s The Hour on Tuesday? I certainly did. Abi Morgan, who wrote the series, is also in London’s theatrical news this week. She’s one of the many writers tackling an exciting Headlong theatre project about the legacy of 9/11, directed by Rupert Goold. The show, called Decade, will be staged in an atmospheric disused building in St Katherine Docks from 1 September. Other writers on the project include:

• Christopher Shinn (best-known for Now Or Later at the Royal Court in 2008)
• Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ruined, which was staged last year at the Almeida Theatre
• Samuel Adamson, who wrote Southwark Fair at the National Theatre
• Mike Bartlett, behind Earthquakes In London for Headlong, and Cock at the Royal Court
• Alecky Blythe, author of hit documentary-musical London Road at the National Theatre
• Columbia University historian Simon Schama, whose historical work Rough Crossings was adapted by Headlong for the stage in 2007

Three shows have released news of their casts this week. They are:

• The Lion in Winter by James Goldman will star Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in November
• Cool Hand Luke: Lee Boardman from Corrie and Lisa Eichhorn join Marc Warren in this stage adaptation of the well-known film, coming the Aldwych theatre in September
• Nicholas Lyndhurst joins Ralph Fiennes in Trevor Nunn’s production of The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 27 August

Actress Joanna Lumley joined the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, this morning to launch a new “repair and reuse” scheme for London. The pair posed in front of a sculpture made from old cupboards and chairs.

The London Reuse Network has been set up to address the 65,000 tonnes of household products thrown out by Londoners each year. The charity will collect, refurbish and sell on everything from furniture, books and carpets to bikes, cookers and fridges.

“There’s no shame in recycling things,” said Lumley, who last year donated her sofa to the Big Womble charity auction. ”It’s the most sensible and most rewarding thing you can do.”

I was invited to the launch of the much anticipated The British Military Tournament 2010 at London’s Wellington Barracks this morning, and as you would expect it was all performed with military precision!

In a country famed for its pomp and circumstance, it’s surprising there hasn’t been a large-scale military tattoo since the much-loved Royal Tournament was scrapped in 1999.

After being serenaded by the resident military band, I was told this new tournament will bridge that gap.

But it will also go further, taking some of the best acts from the Royal Tournament and incorporating them in an entertaining and insightful story of the British Army’s history. During the two-hour performances at Earls Court, 500 soldiers will perform in the original military uniform of each period including the English Civil War and the Boer War.

There’ll be a live cavalry charge guaranteed to thrill kids and their parents. The show also includes a revival of the most famous act in the Royal Tournament, the field gun run, using exact copies of the original guns.

Celebrities Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry and Dame Judi Dench will also make a contribution to the two performances each day during the weekend of 4 and 5 December 2010.

All funds will go to the ABF Soldier’s Charity (formerly The Army Benevolent Fund).

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, so… Attention… Quick… March…!

It’s a busy week for theatre news. Firstly, Enron’s extended its run at the Noel Coward Theatre, which is great news, particularly because I want to see it again – it’s *that* good! It’s now running until 14 August.

Also, two of my favourite south-of-the-river theatres have sent really exciting announcements my way.

Firstly, the Menier Chocolate Factory is bringing revivals of Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Aspects of Love to London in the coming months. (It really couldn’t be a better line-up if my Liverpudlian Lloyd-Webber loving Mum had chosen the shows for the pair of us herself.) Larry Lamb, who you’ll either know from EastEnders or Gavin & Stacey will be playing Frank in Educating Rita. And all-round ace (she writes, she acts, she directs, and sings, and produces) Meera Syal will be playing Shirley. No news as yet for the cast of Aspects of Love. (We’ve got our fingers crossed that Michael Ball will come back, but we know it’s probably never going to happen. Sniff.)

Second: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has sent some tasty casting news through too this week, which includes two actors I’ve really enjoyed watching at The Globe before: Dominic Rowan and Jamie Parker. The former’s going to be playing Henry VIII; the latter (who you might recognise from The History Boys) will play Hal in Henry IV Parts I and II.  And it’ll be interesting to see sexy Elliot Cowan play Macbeth: surely one of Shakespeare’s best plays? All in all, it’s shaping up to be a great summer at The Globe.

Finally, while memories of the wonderful Jerusalem are still strong in my mind, I’m pleased to tell you about the amazing Mark Rylance’s next project. He’ll be playing a street clown in David Hirson’s 1991 comedy, La Bête. Other cast members include Joanna Lumley OBE and David Hyde Pierce (or Fraiser’s brother Niles, to you and me). It turns out Niles, sorry, David Hyde Pierce has won a Tony for his work on Broadway, which includes Curtains, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Accent On Youth. This will be his West End debut. Can’t wait to see this show at the Comedy Theatre in June: it sounds really interesting.