
Dominic Cooke appointed as the Almeida theatre's artistic director
Cooke ran the Royal Court for several years and is an in-demand director with recent hits in the West End and at the National Theatre. 'Twelve years after leaving the Royal Court, I couldn't be more excited to be returning as an artistic director and to be taking the reins of this unique theatre,' he said. He described Goold's Almeida as 'a beacon of quality and innovation' and added: 'I'm hugely grateful to him and his team to be handed an organisation in such good health. I look forward to building on this legacy and to future adventures in this magical space.'
A specialist in musicals, Cooke staged a celebrated revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies at the National in 2017 and reunited with one of its stars, Imelda Staunton, on an admired revival of Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium last summer. His production of George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession, starring Staunton and her daughter Bessie Carter, opened at the Palladium last month. Other West End productions directed by Cooke include Medea with Sophie Okonedo and Good with David Tennant. During his time at the Royal Court he directed plays by Caryl Churchill, Tarell Alvin McCraney and Bruce Norris. He has also directed two feature films, The Courier (starring Benedict Cumberbatch) and On Chesil Beach (adapted from Ian McEwan's novel), as well as three episodes of The Hollow Crown for television.
The chair of the Almeida board Tamara Ingram said Cooke is 'celebrated around the world and brings a wealth of experience both of running a theatre and as a consistently acclaimed, award-winning artist. We are greatly looking forward to what lies ahead and to seeing how his leadership defines the next chapter of the Almeida.'
Goold called it a 'wonderful appointment' and said that Cooke's tenure at the Royal Court brimmed 'with confidence and new voices'. He added that Cooke 'will bring his many talents to bear on continuing the rich story of our great theatre'.
It was announced last year that Goold will leave the Almeida to run the Old Vic, replacing Matthew Warchus. The Almeida's executive director Denise Wood is also standing down to pursue freelance projects. Recruitment for Wood's successor will begin shortly.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Oasis dedicate song to Ozzy Osbourne as they begin series of gigs in London
Oasis dedicated one of their hits to the late rocker Ozzy Osbourne as they made a triumphant return to London for a series of gigs as part of their world tour. Liam Gallagher told tens of thousands of fans of his pride as the band graced the stage at Wembley Stadium for the first time in more than a decade. Just three songs into their much-anticipated appearance, he declared the crowd was 'f****** beautiful', having bowed to the sea of raised arms before him. Liam and brother Noel played with their band for the first of seven nights at the stadium on Friday – with five shows over the next week and two more scheduled in September. It was the first time they had appeared together onstage at the London venue since July 12 2009, when they performed during their Dig Out Your Soul tour. Towards the end of the gig, they paid tribute to Osbourne. Lead singer Liam said: 'I wanna dedicate this one to Ozzy Osbourne, rock 'n' roll star.' The Black Sabbath star's death at the age of 76 was announced earlier this week. Oasis superfans in bucket hats and branded T-shirts had packed the Tube en route to the gig from earlier in the day, with international accents denoting the band's worldwide popularity. As with previous gigs Liam and Noel walked onstage hand in hand, opened with Hello and proceeded to belt out many of their classics including Some Might Say and Morning Glory. The packed-out stadium was in full voice throughout and at one point Liam threw a tambourine into the jubilant crowd, while later positioning one on top of his head. Despite pledging to concentrate on his vocals rather than talking – telling those gathered 'every time I open my mouth at these gigs I seem to get myself into a lot of trouble so I'm just going to do the singing' – Liam later engaged in some light football banter. The well-known Manchester City fan appeared to poke fun at Arsenal fans in the crowd, joking about their position in the Premier league. Phone camera torches lit up the stadium as darkness fell. Friday's show – the eighth of the tour – followed a five-night run of homecoming gigs in Manchester's Heaton Park and the two opening shows in Cardiff earlier this month. Following the first part of their Wembley stint, the band will head up north to Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium followed by Dublin's Croke Park. The group will head to Japan, South Korea, South America, Australia and North America later in the year. Oasis announced their reunion tour in August of last year – 16 years after their dramatic split in 2009 which saw Noel quit following a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. While fans were excited at the Britpop band's reunion, many were left outraged after some standard tickets in the UK and Ireland jumped from £148 to £355. The controversy prompted the Government and the UK's competition watchdog to pledge to look at the use of dynamic pricing.


The Sun
5 minutes ago
- The Sun
Alexander Isak offered whopping £32M-A-YEAR deal from Saudi but star has heart set on record-breaking Liverpool transfer
ALEXANDER ISAK has been offered a £32million-a-year deal from Saudi Arabia — but his heart is set on Liverpool. The Swedish striker, 25, told Newcastle he wants to leave after they knocked back the Reds' initial approach over a potential British-record £120m move last week. SunSport understands he could now submit a transfer request to push for a switch to the Premier League champions. And he wants to head to Anfield despite the extraordinary offer from Al-Hilal, which would also see him land a £14m signing-on bonus and a host of other incentives. Isak would pocket £3.6m for winning the Saudi Pro League, £3.8m for lifting the Asian Champions League and a further £1.75m for finishing as the division's top scorer. Also on offer is £120,000 a month in personal expenses to cover travel for him and his family, a club house with four full-time staff and a full-time chauffeur. Isak would be provided with a private jet for him and his family whenever he is called up for Sweden duty. It would make him the fifth-highest earner behind only Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Isak only has eyes for Liverpool. The Toon are refusing to sell last season's 27-goal top scorer despite him not going on their pre-season tour to Asia. They have been unable to persuade him to sign a £300,000-a-week deal making him Newcastle's highest-ever earner. And they fear he could force a move by handing in a written transfer request. Newcastle are exploring a move for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko as a potential replacement. Newcastle plotting Benjamin Sesko bid to replace Alexander Isak And they are planning a £35m bid for Brentford's Yoane Wissa after a £25m offer was rejected. New Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike, who snubbed Tyneside for the Reds, has dropped a big hint that Isak could be joining him at Anfield. The Frenchman cost £69m from Frankfurt and boss Arne Slot wants Isak to join him, Mo Salah and Florian Wirtz in a new-look attack. And Ekitike, 23, revealed how much he likes a strike partner. He said: 'I can play alone and also with another striker and that's what makes me versatile. "You know now in football you need to adapt." 2


BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
US president Donald Trump arrives in Scotland for four-day visit
US president Donald Trump said "it's great to be in Scotland" as he landed for a four-day private Air Force One touched down at Prestwick Airport, just before 20:30, the US president was met by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Warren Stephens, US Ambassador to the spoke to journalists before the presidential motorcade left for his Turnberry resort, in South Ayrshire, where he is expected to play golf on about Sir Keir Starmer, who he is due to meet on Monday, he said: "I like your prime minister. He's slightly more liberal than I am - as you probably heard - but he's a good man. He got a trade deal done." Trump added: "You know, they've been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done - that's a good deal, it's a good deal for the UK."The president earlier also described Scotland's First Minister John Swinney as "a good man" and said he was looking forward to meeting has pledged to "essentially speak out for Scotland". The motorcade - which contained more than two dozen vehicles - entered Trump's Turnberry golf resort at about 21:30, flanked by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance he arrived at the resort, the president's vehicle - known as The Beast - passed a small group of will stay at Turnberry over the weekend before heading to his second property in Aberdeenshire, where he will open a new 18-hole course at Menie."Sean Connery helped get me the permits - if it weren't for Sean Connery we wouldn't have those great courses," he said, referring to the Scottish actor he said helped him get planning permission for the courses. Trump is expected to meet Starmer and Swinney on Monday while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on X that she will meet the president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade will travel back to the US on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in September.A number of protests are expected to be held to coincide with the visit, including demonstrations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen on Saturday. A major security operation has been under way in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire this week, ahead of the president's of officers have also been drafted in to support Police Scotland, under mutual aid arrangements, from other UK closures and diversions have been put in place in Turnberry, while a security checkpoint outside the resort and a large fence has been erected around the course.A number of police vans have also been seen at the Menie site. Speaking to journalists at Prestwick, Trump said European countries need to "get your act together" on migration, and "stop the windmills", referring to wind said: "I say two things to Europe: Stop the windmills. You're ruining your countries. I really mean it, it's so sad."You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they're stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans."Stop the windmills, and also, I mean, there's a couple of things I could say, but on immigration, you'd better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore."In 2019, his company Trump International lost a long-running court battle to stop a major wind power development being built in the North Sea off Aberdeen. Trump argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at Menie. Trump also claimed that illegal migration was an "invasion" which was "killing Europe".He said: "Last month, we (the United States) had nobody entering our country. Nobody. Shut it down. And we took out a lot of bad people that got there with (former US president Joe) Biden."Biden was a total stiff, and what he allowed to happen.... but you're allowing it to happen to your countries, and you've got to stop this horrible invasion that's happening to Europe; many countries in Europe."Some people, some leaders, have not let it happen, and they're not getting the proper credit they should."I could name them to you right now, but I'm not going to embarrass the other ones."But stop: this immigration is killing Europe." Quizzed on the latest developments with the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell's interview with the Department of Justice, Trump said he had "really nothing to say about it"."A lot of people are asking me about pardons obviously - this is no time to be talking about pardons."He said the media was "making a very big thing out of something that's not a big thing".Earlier, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters the US president's visit to Scotland was in the "national interest".Speaking during a visit to the Rolls-Royce factory, near Glasgow Airport, she said: "The work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal."Reeves added that it had a "tangible benefit" for people in Scotland, from the Scotch whisky industry to the defence sector."Swinney said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to "essentially speak out for Scotland" on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in first minister said he would also raise "significant international issues" including "the awfulness of the situation in Gaza".And he urged those set to protest against the president's visit to do so "peacefully and to do so within the law". Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in 1957. George W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by Biden. Trump does have a genuine link to Gaelic-speaking mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 on the island of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides and left during the Great Depression for New York where she married property developer Fred son's return to Scotland for four days this summer comes ahead of an official state visit from 17-19 September when the president and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in Berkshire.