Published: 15 April 2010
by JOSH LOEB

• IT'S official – Buddy: The Holly Story is the biggest-ever hit at Highgate’s Upstairs at the Gatehouse, having broken all box office records there. Demand for tickets has been higher than for any other show in the theatre’s history. With the run set to end this weekend, actors are hoping the show will transfer elsewhere so the fun can continue.

• I was in the local studies archives this week, delving into the history of the New Diorama Theatre. The first play to show at the venue opened last week and is reviewed on these pages, but the theatre has its origins in the Diorama “Palace of Light” – a Georgian forerunner to the cinema, brought to Regent’s Park from Paris in the 1830s. In the 1970s, the building that once housed this wonderful picture show was squatted by a ragtag band of artists. In the 1990s they were evicted and given a new home by the council, but when British Land knocked this down to build offices, the multi-billion pound company was duty bound to replace it – which they did by building the New Diorama. So now you know. 

• Ancient Greek theatre can be deliciously bloody, and a new show set to open at London’s home of Greek theatre looks set to deliver. Fate, desperation and fratricide combine in Seven Against Thebes, which asks us to consider whether our lives are determined by the choices we make or by destiny. Catch the play from April 21-23 at 7.30pm and on April 24 at 3pm and 7.30pm at the Theatro Technis at 26 Crowndale Road, NW11. Tickets are £10 (£8 concs). Call 020 7387 6617.

•Another show to keep your eyes peeled for is The Killing of Sister George at Camden Town’s tiny Etcetera Theatre. The play tells a story of female passion, sexual jealousy and betrayal and it’s on until April 25. For tickets call 020 7482 4857.