Second, a note for any Shakespeare fans out there. Theatre company Antic Disposition is planning to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first performance of The Tempest in London this August. And they’re staging it at London’s Middle Temple Hall, an Elizabethan venue where Shakespeare’s own company once performed. What a treat.

The Royal Court has announced two extensions this week. Both current hit Chicken Soup With Barley, and forthcoming black comedy The Village Bike, have added dates to their runs.

Now to this week’s casting news:

• Robert Sheehan from E4′s Misfits will make his stage debut at the Old Vic in September, playing the lead in JM Synge’s The Playboy Of The Western World. He’ll be performing opposite Ruth Negga and Old Vic regular Niamh Cusack.
• Hustle star Marc Warren returns to the London stage at the Aldwych Theatre in October, playing iconic prisoner Cool Hand Luke in a stage adaptation of Donn Pearce’s classic novel.
• West End stars Oliver Tompsett (previously Fiyero in Wicked), Amy Pemberton (formerly in Footloose and Jersey Boys) and Simon Lipkin (best known as Nicky and Trekkie Monster in Avenue Q) are all signed up to play in new London rock musical, Rock of Ages at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
• Ellen Greene from Pushing Daisies is to play identical triplets (the Enchantress, the Princess and the Nymph Queen) in fantasy musical Betwixt! at the Trafalgar Studios in July.

See you at West End Live!