Deathtrap – Save £13 on tickets
November 18, 2010
Save £13 on tickets to see DEATHTRAP at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
Jonathan Groff and Simon Russell Beale in Deathtrap
Deathtrap is the wickedly funny thriller that has enjoyed rave reviews at the Noel Coward Theatre in London for its stellar cast and ingeniously clever and hilariously twisted plot.
Ira Levin’s comic thriller stars acclaimed actor Simon Russell Beale as best-selling author Sidney Bruhl, alongside Jonathan Groff (Glee) as Clifford and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as his wife Myra. The cast also includes legendary American actress Estelle Parsons (Bonnie & Clyde) as Helga.
The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and has recently directed La Bete at the Comedy Theatre and now on Broadway.
The 1978 thriller, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, sees good-looking young author Clifford turn up at Bruhl’s Connecticut home with a brilliant new stage thriller, at a time with Bruhl’s career has hit the skids. Much hilarious twisting and turning ensues.
Its author Ira Levin has written a number of celebrated screenplays and plays including The Stepford Wives, Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys from Brazil and A Kiss Before Dying.
Deathtrap is produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, producers of Brief Encounter, Equus and recent success Calendar Girls.
“Its brand of unapologetically giddy entertainment makes it sure to be a hit.” (Evening Standard)
Enjoy our special offer on stalls and dress circle tickets, and grand circle tickets for Monday to Friday evening performances and Wednesday and Saturday matinees.
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VIDEO: Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre
November 2, 2010
Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff star in London revival of Deathtrap.
Book tickets to Deathtrap
More information about the show
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VIDEO
Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre
LINKS
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Deathtrap and Free Dinner
October 20, 2010
Jonathan Groff and Simon Russell Beale in Deathtrap
Deathtrap is the wickedly funny thriller that has enjoyed rave reviews at the Noel Coward Theatre in London for its stellar cast and ingeniously clever and hilariously twisted plot.
Ira Levin’s comic thriller stars acclaimed actor Simon Russell Beale as best-selling author Sidney Bruhl, alongside Jonathan Groff (Glee) as Clifford and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as his wife Myra. The cast also includes legendary American actress Estelle Parsons (Bonnie & Clyde) as Helga.
The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and has recently directed La Bete at the Comedy Theatre and now on Broadway.
This is our first special offer on the show and provides a top price stalls or dress circle ticket to Deathtrap and a FREE, delicious two course Italian meal from the pre or post-theatre menu at Spaghetti House St. Martin’s Lane (just a 2 minute walk from the theatre).
BOOK THIS OFFER NOW
Deathtrap – Round-up of Reviews
September 8, 2010
Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London – Round-up of Reviews
Deathtrap marks the first big show to arrive in town at the start of this autumn’s West End openings. And it’s a biggie, with much anticipation around the pairing of acting giant Simon Russell-Beale and Glee heart-throb Jonathan Groff, along with director Matthew Warchus turning his intelligent eye to another genre ripe for reinvention – in this case, the thriller.
Simon Russell-Beale in Deathtrap
But much of Warchus’s work in the reinvention stakes seems to have been done for him in Ira Levin’s 1978 comedy thriller, which neatly deconstructs and exposes the inner workings of the well-made thriller, with plenty of shocks and laughs along the way.
And it’s this self-awareness that seemed to grate on the critics a bit: they had a good time, but didn’t seem to love it more than they had expected to.
The critical response certainly didn’t rival that generated by Warchus’s reinvention of the farce genre in Boeing, Boeing. However, the largely positive reviews gave the thumbs up to a very stylish and well turned-out revival of a crowd-pleaser.
Most critical praise was reserved for the slick direction, the creative team’s efforts and the performances – namely Russell-Beale and Groff. The ladies, Claire Skinner and Estelle Parsons, fared less well.
Finally, everyone struggled to not spoil the plot: as Charles Spencer says in the Telegraph, “I love thrillers but they are the devil to review because of the entirely justified convention that one mustn’t give too much away.”
Read extracts from Deathtrap reviews from the Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Stage and Evening Standard below.
Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
CLAIRE SKINNER in Deathtrap
August 13, 2010
Outnumbered actress to star in Deathtrap
There is something very un-actressy about Claire Skinner, and we love her for that. Born in 1965 in Hemel Hempstead she clearly loves to work – and often works with very inspiring and challenging directors.
Her extensive TV, film, radio and stage credits include:
Film: Mike Leigh’s Life is Sweet; Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.
TV: Claire in Life Begins, Sue in Outnumbered, Alice in Lark rise to Candleford and Fanny in Sense and Sensibility.
Stage: Mrs Affleck, A Winter’s Tale and Othello at the National Sam Mendes’ The Glass Menagerie (London Critic’s Circle and Time Out Best Actress winner).
From August she will star in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre alongside Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Groff and Estelle Parsons.
Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
ESTELLE PARSONS in Deathtrap
August 13, 2010
Legendary Oscar-winning American actress to appear in Deathtrap
It’s never too late to try new things, as Estelle Parsons, 82, proves this August in making her West End stage debut in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre.
In the thriller Estelle plays Helga Ten Dorp, a nosy celebrity psychic literally smelling out murder around the home of playwright Sidney Bruhl (played by Simon Russell Beale). The part requires a delicious balance between comedy and authenticity, something that Ms Parsons has made a career out of.
Born in 1927, she studied law before starting as a TV production assistant and political news reporter. She didn’t make her professional stage debut until 1956, but from then on has worked consistently across TV, film and stage.
Theatre achievements include Tony Award nominations for The Seven Descents of Myrtle in 1968, Miss Reardon Drinks a Little in 1971, Miss Margarida’s Way in 1978 and Mornings at Seven in 2002. She recently appeared in August: Osage County on Broadway and tour, a role that Charles Isherwood in The New York Times said was, “one that may prove to be a crowning moment in an illustrious career.”
Film roles include an Oscar for Bonnie & Clyde and a nomination for Rachel, Rachel.
TV work has ranged from playing the mother of Roseanne on the hit US sitcom to HBO’s recent Empire Falls.
In addition to teaching acting at Columbia and Yale, Estelle Parsons served as the Artistic Director of the Actors’ Studio between 1996 and 2001.
Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
This chubby, gay son of an army doctor…
August 11, 2010
We LOVE Simon Russell Beale and devoured every word of Nick Curtis’s interview with SRB in the Evening Standard yesterday.
Mr Russell Beale is starring in the forthcoming Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre, with Matthew Warchus hoping to reinvent the hoary old thriller using the same magic he brought to Boeing Boeing. And we think he’ll succeed.
But Nick Curtis calling him a “chubby, gay son of an army doctor” didn’t feel quite right – even if Simon is delightfully self-deprecating. We are also not sure that a “polymathic national treasure” is much better, and when he throws in “he doesn’t have a partner and lives alone in a small flat in Pimlico” I’m all set to abandon my light stalking of SRB’s Deathtrap co-star Jonathan Groff (mainly because Baz is always one step ahead of me), and turn my attentions to Simon.
We also love that SRB is doing Deathtrap as a “guilty pleasure” and a “bit of fun” before he gives us his King Lear with Sam Mendes at the National.
In the interview he also talks about the forthcoming, inevitable arts subsidy cuts – and speaks more sense that most about the interdependence of theatre and creative people: “the subsidised sector and the West End are part of a continuous food chain that reaches into regional theatres and young companies like Punchdrunk. We must stick to our guns and say that the last 10 years in theatre have been spectacular but that won’t continue if it is not fed.”
Which makes you realise how much Jonathan Miller’s recent snarling about commercial theatre missed the point.
LINKS
Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre
Simon Russell Beale interview in the Evening Standard
Stephen Sondheim tribute at BBC Proms
August 2, 2010
A major tribute to musicals composer Stephen Sondheim was held on Saturday, 31 July, in London to celebrate his 80th year.
Judi Dench celebrates Sondheim
The tribute was led by actress Judi Dench as part of a special Sondheim at 80 BBC Proms event at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Judi Dench reprised Send In the Clowns from A Little Night Music, which she famously performed in Sean Mathias’s 1995 production at the National Theatre, winning an Olivier award for the role.
Dench said before the event: “Singing at the Proms is not something I ever imagined I would do and it’s a hugely exciting – if slightly daunting – prospect. I believe that Stephen Sondheim is a true genius. His impact on musical theatre can never be over-stated and I’m delighted to be part of his 80th birthday celebrations at the BBC Proms.”
The concert also saw a host of Sondheim aficionados perform, including Daniel Evans and Julian Ovenden, who will resurrect their original parts in the Donmar Warehouse’s 2000 production of Merrily We Roll Along in a special concert at the Queen’s Theatre on 31 October 2010; Simon Russell Beale sang a fabulously camp Everybody Ought to Have a Maid from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and who is about to appear in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre; and Bryan Terfel and Maria Friedman sang as Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett. Other performers included Caroline O’Connor, who will bring her one-woman show, The Showgirl Within, to the Garrick Theatre from 3 October, and Jenna Russell who will play the Baker’s wife in Sondheim’s Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park from this Thursday, 5 August.
Sondheim shows featured in the concert included Follies, Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, The Frogs and Company.
The performers were joined by a chorus of singers from the BBC Performing Arts Fund, the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor and architect of the Prom, David Charles Abell.
Stephen Sondheim was present at the concert and gave a pre-concert talk that was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
LINKS
An audio recording of the Sondheim at 80 BBC Proms concert
BBC Radio 3 – Composer of the week: Stephen Sondheim
REVIEW: Andrew Clements in the Guardian, Sondheim at 80 BBC Prom
Deathtrap
July 29, 2010
Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff star in London revival of Deathtrap
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Jonathan Groff, star of Deathtrap
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David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, producers of Brief Encounter, Equus and recent success Calendar Girls, present DEATHTRAP.
Deathtrap, the 1978 thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, is making a West End reappearance at the Noel Coward Theatre this summer, from 21 August.
Acclaimed actor Simon Russell-Beale, currently starring in London Assurance at the National Theatre, will lead the new production directed by Matthew Warchus.
Russell-Beale will play best-selling author Sidney Bruhl in Ira Levin’s comic murder thriller, and will be joined by an all-star cast that includes Anna Massey as nosey psychic neighbour Helga Ten Dorpe (Estelle Parsons), Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as his wife, and star of Glee, Jonathan Groff, as Clifford, a talented young writer who befriends Sidney.
The thriller sees good-looking young author Clifford turn up at Bruhl’s Connecticut home with a brilliant new stage thriller, at a time with Bruhl’s career has hit the skids. Much twisting and turning ensues.
Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, is set for a busy year with his next project, La Bete at the Comedy Theatre, starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley. It will opens on 28 June before transferring to Broadway.
Heartthrob Groff will appear in the new series of Glee in the UK from Monday 19 April on E4 . He made his US debut in Glee on Tuesday and in the series plays Jesse St John, a student from a rival school who dates Glee diva Rachel. He has appeared in a number of Broadway shows including Spring Awakening and an early version of Hair, now playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London.
Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
CASTING
Simon Russell Beale – Sydney
Claire Skinner – Myra
Terry Beaver – Porter
Estelle Parsons – Helga
THEATRE
Noel Coward Theatre
St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4AA
Noel Coward Theatre Seating Plan
Transport:
Underground: Piccadilly or Northern lines to Leicester Square
Trains: Charing Cross
Buses: 24, 29, 176
Parking: MasterPark at China Town and Trafalgar Square. NCP at Upper St Martin’s Lane.
Summer Theatre in the West End
June 28, 2010
New shows opening in London this summer
Spring and autumn may be the busiest times for new shows in London, but this summer will still pack quite a punch with some big names, high-profile directors and a few surprises in store.
A range of musicals and plays will open in the capital over the next few months, including classic musicals from Stephen Sondheim (Into the Woods) and Rogers & Hammerstein (State Fair); starry comedy, including David Hyde Pearce and Joanna Lumley in La Bete, Jeff Goldblum in The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Simon Russell Beal and Jonathan Groff in Deathtrap); dance spectaculars (Burn the Floor), new musicals (Wolfboy), ambitious children’s drama (The Railway Children) and a terrifying new play (Ghost Stories).
