Friday 20 October

8:40am
Continental Airlines Flight 28 arrives at Gatwick Airport, South Terminal. Welcome by London Arts Discovery Director, RODNEY WEST. Transfer by private coach to The Cavendish Hotel, 81 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6JF. Tel; (0)20 7930 2111, Fax; (0)20 7839 2125. Check in.

AFTERNOON FREE

5:00pm
Briefing on all aspects of the tour in the Itinerary and a more detailed look at all the Recommended Lists, from extra performances to exhibitions and restaurants. Please bring this itinerary and information pack with you. In the Stratus Meeting Room at the hotel. Ends at 6:30pm.

EVENING FREE or

7:30pm
OPTIONAL PERFORMANCE of BENT by Martin Sherman. First seen in London in 1979 at the Royal Court, Bent is set in Nazi Germany, where homosexual Max is sent to Dachau, but denies being gay, preferring instead to wear the yellow star of the Jews. Daniel Kramer, Associate Director of The Gate, directs Alan Cumming (Donmar and Broadway Cabaret). At the *Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall. Ends at 10pm.

* Note for the hard of hearing: asterisked theatres provide headphones or operate a loop induction system. A small returnable deposit may be required.

Saturday 21 October

FULL ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST WILL BE SERVED IN ASLAN RESTAURANT

from 6.30am to 10.30am Monday to Saturday and from 7.00am to 11.00am on Sundays

OR IN YOUR ROOM AT NO EXTRA CHARGE

MORNING FREE and AFTERNOON FREE or

3:00pm
OPTIONAL PERFORMANCE of SPAMALOT . Book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Eric Idle and John Du Prez and directed by Mike Nichols (Tony Best Director Award for Spamalot) based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). At the *Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Ends at 5.20pm.

6:45pm
Coach departs for the *National Theatre, South Bank.

7:30pm
THE LIFE OF GALILEO by Bertolt Brecht, in a new version by David Hare. Simon Russell Beale stars in this new production, directed by Howard Davies. Writing on the brink of WW2, Brecht offers one of the greatest plays ever written about social responsibility and the conflict between reason and faith. In the Olivier Theatre.

10:40pm Coach departs for the hotel.

Sunday 22 October

10:00am
Coach departs for our visit to Finchcocks at Goudhurst in Kent, a fine early Georgian manor house which belongs to the concert pianist RICHARD BURNETT and his wife the author KATRINA HENDRY. Richard demonstrates his remarkable collection of historic pianos, some of which were used in the recent major films and TV series of Jane Austen novels. We will have Lunch in this delightful setting.

4:00pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

EVENING FREE

Monday 23 October

9:30am
Coach departs for the Theatre Museum, Russell Street.

10:00am
Insight . CATRIONA CLANCY, Workshop Leader at The Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, puts The Seafarer and the traditions of Irish writers in British theatre into their historical, social and theatrical context as well as guiding us through the video recordings and archives of previous productions.

12:00pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

AFTERNOON FREE

6:45pm
Coach departs for the *National Theatre, South Bank.

7:30pm
THE SEAFARER. Written and Directed by Conor McPherson. It's Christmas Eve, and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after his irascible, ageing brother who has recently gone blind. Old drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky are holed up at the house too, hoping to play some cards. But with the arrival of a stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised ever higher. With Ron Cook, Conleth Hill, Karl Johnson and Jim Norton. In the Cottesloe Theatre.

9:45pm
Post-performance discussion with CONLETH HILL who plays Ivan Curry in the production. In the Ashcroft Room at the theatre.

10:45pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

Tuesday 24 October

MORNING FREE, or

10:00am
OPTIONAL VISIT to the CHURCHILL MUSEUM . This museum aims to show an intimate and multifaceted portrait of Churchill, and one that reveals the private as well as the public man. At the Cabinet War Rooms, Clive Steps, King Charles Street.

AFTERNOON FREE

6:45pm
Assemble in the foyer to depart on foot for the *Comedy Theatre, Panton Street.

7:30pm
DONKEYS' YEARS by Michael Frayn. Twenty-five years after graduation, six former students return to their Oxbridge college for a reunion dinner. Once locked in their old college for the night, the graduates begin to relive their youth, and old friendships and feuds come tumbling back into the present. With Janie Dee, David Haig and Edward Petherbridge.

10:00pmReturn to the hotel on foot.

Wednesday 25 October

10:00am
Coach departs for the Foundling Hospital Museum, Brunswick Square.

10:30am
A guided tour of the Foundling Hospital Museum, established in the Bloomsbury area by retired London sea-captain Thomas Coram in 1739 together with his friend the great artist William Hogarth and supported by the composer George Frideric Handel.

12:00pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

2:30pm
OPTIONAL MATINEE PERFORMANCE of ROCK 'N' ROLL by Tom Stoppard. Stoppard's first ever play for the Royal Court, where it premiered in June, spans the recent history of Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution. Trevor Nunn directs, with Rufus Sewell, Sinead Cusack and David Calder. At the *Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane. Ends at 5.30pm.

6:45pm
Coach departs for the *National Theatre, South Bank.

7:30pm
THE ALCHEMIST by Ben Jonson. Bursting with energy and invention, Jonson's masterpiece offers an irrestistible critique of human greed and gullibility. With Simon Russell Beale, Alex Jennings, Lesley Manville and Ian Richardson. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. In the Olivier Theatre.

10:20pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

Thursday 26 October

9:30am
Coach departs for the Garrick Club, Garrick Street.

10:00am
Private Visit to the Garrick Club . One of the most exclusive clubs in London (HRH The Prince of Wales is a member, his father, The Duke of Edinburgh is Patron), which has the finest collection in the world of paintings on theatre related subjects: famous actors, playwrights, scenes from plays, all in a nineteenth century building of great distinction, which has recently been superbly redecorated.

3:00pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

REST OF AFTERNOON FREE

Thursday 26 October

7:00pm
Coach departs for the *Savoy Theatre, Strand.

7:30pm
PORGY AND BESS libretto by DuBose Heyward, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, music by George Gershwin. Trevor Nunn has adapted and reworked this classic jazz opera as a musical, with a cast of 40 and orchestra of 20.

Coach departs for the hotel after the performance.

Friday 27 October

MORNING FREE

4:15pm
Coach departs for The Goring Hotel, Beeston Place.

4:30pm
Celebrity Tea with our guest JANIE DEE, who plays Lady Driver in Donkeys' Years. Sandwiches, cakes and pastries will be served at 5pm.

6:30pm
Coach departs for the *Old Vic Theatre, Waterloo Road.

7:30pm
A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN by Eugene O'Neill. This powerhouse of a play reunites actor Kevin Spacey with director Howard Davies, following their award-winning success with another O'Neill classic The Iceman Cometh.

10:30pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

Saturday 28 October

10:30am
Critical Round-Up . A chance to compare your views with one of London's leading critics, DAVID BENEDICT of Variety. In the Stratus Meeting Room at the hotel. Ends at 12.30pm.

CHALLENGE AFTERNOON . Your choice of the two shows below:

1:45pm
Assemble in the foyer to depart by taxi for the *Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street.

2:30pm
THE CRYPTOGRAM by David Mamet. Mamet's unsettling, elliptical play charts the breakdown of a family, pinpointing the moment when childhood suddenly vanishes. With Kim Cattrall (Samantha in TV Sex in the City), and Douglas Henshall ( Death of A Salesman). There is no interval.

3:40pm
Depart for the hotel by taxi.

1:45pm
Coach departs for the *Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road.

2:30pm
A VOYAGE ROUND MY FATHER by John Mortimer. This autobiographical play is the affectionate portrait of a son's relationship with his father. Starring Sir Derek Jacobi.

4:45pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

7:00pm
Coach departs for L'Escargot, 48 Greek Street.

7:30pm
Farewell Dinner in the Barrell Vault Room at Marco Pierre White's classic French restaurant L'Escargot, situated right in the heart of London's fashionable Soho.

10:30pm
Coach departs for the hotel.

Sunday 29 October

6:45am
Breakfast will be available in the Restaurant, Aslan.

7:00am
Latest time for labelled luggage to be outside rooms for the group departure.

8:00am
Check bags onto the coach and depart for Gatwick Airport, South Terminal.

12:30pm
Continental Airlines Flight 29 departs for the USA.