Matilda The Musical scoops 7 Olivier Awards
April 15, 2012
Matilda The Musical dominated the 2012 Olivier Awards this evening at the Royal Opera House, winning seven awards.
The 2012 Olivier Awards were presented at the Royal Opera House today in a star-studded ceremony organised by The Society of London Theatre.
Matilda creators Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin
The awards were dominated by the RSC’s production of Matilda The Musical which scooped seven awards including Best New Musical, Best Director for Matthew Warchus, Best Actress in a Musical for the four young Matilda leads, Sophia Kiely, Kerry Ingram, Cleo Demetriou and Eleanor Worthington Cox, and Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel. The show also won Best Sound Design for Simon Baker, Best Theatre Choreography for Peter Darling and Best Set Design for Rob Howell. Based on Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s book and written by Dennis Kelly with music and lyrics by comedian Tim Minchin, the show continues to play to packed audiences at the Cambridge Theatre in London.
Other big winners tonight included the Donmar’s production of Anna Christie which scooped Best Revival for Rob Ashford’s production and Best Actress for Ruth Wilson.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller were jointly awarded the prize for Best Actor for their alternating roles in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein at the National theatre, plus Bruno Poet won Best Lighting Design for the show. The National Theatre also took home Best New Play for Collaborators by John Hodge, although missed out on any awards for its blockbuster comedy One Man, Two Guvnors now playing on Broadway and at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
The Open Air Theatre’s production of Crazy For You won both Best Musical Revival and Best Costume Design for Peter McKintosh. Other musical nods included the Radio Two Audience Award which went to Les Miserables and Nigel Harman winning Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
Sheridan Smith, who won Best Actress in a Musical last year for her role in Legally Blonde, kept the momentum by taking home a Best Performance in a Supporting Role award for her role in Trevor Nunn’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre went to the Theatre Royal Stratford East in association with the Barbican and Traverse Theatre for Roadkill.
Tim Rice was honoured with a Special Award
In dance, the Outstanding Achievement in Dance went to Edward Watson for his acclaimed performance in The Metamorphosis at the Royal Opera House, and the Royal Opera House’s Dame Monica Mason was presented with a Special Award by Zoe Wanamaker for her extraordinary contribution to British dance. The Best New Dance Production went to DESH by Akram Khan Company at Sadler’s Wells.
In the Opera categories, English National Opera triumphed by winning both awards: Best New Opera Production for Castor And Pollux and the Outstanding Achievement in Opera award for the breadth and diversity of its artistic programme.
Best Entertainment and Family show was won by Derren Brown for Svengali, taking home his second Entertainment Olivier Award.
The evening ended with a Special Award tribute to lyricist Sir Tim Rice, with Siobhan McCarthy and Maria Friedman singing I know Him So Well from Chess, Elaine Paige performing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from Evita and the cast of The Lion Ling.
Hosted for a second year by Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, who are currently starring in Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre, the awards celebrate the best of London’s West End Theatre.
LINKS
See the full list of Olivier Awards 2012 winners here
WATCH the Olivier Awards on BBC iPlayer
Anna Christie starring Jude Law at the Donmar Warehouse – Round-up of Reviews
August 11, 2011
As Michael Grandage ends his 10 year stewardship as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, he’s certainly going out with a bang.
Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse. Photo: Johan Persson
In a final season that includes some big names, including Jude Law, Ruth Wilson, Douglas Hodge, Karen Gillan and Eddie Redmayne, it’s Law and Wilson up first in a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie (until 8 October 2011).
Eugene O’Neill’s epic, Pulitzer prize winning play is directed by Donmar associate Rob Ashford, fresh from directing Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and with design is by Paul Wills, whose Donmar productions include The Man Who Had All The Luck and Novecento.
Both Jude Law and Ruth Wilson are returning to the Donmar after performances in 2009: Law in Hamlet for the Donmar West End season and Ruth Wilson in A Streetcar Named Desire.
So what did the critics think? See our round-up of reviews, below.
Olivier Awards: National, Legally Blonde
March 14, 2011
In a star-studded awards ceremony last night, Sunday 13 March, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, the Society of London Theatre held their 35th annual theatre awards ceremony.
Best actress in a musical winner Sheridan Smith
Hosted by musicals star Michael Ball and actress Imelda Staunton, the awards celebrate the best of the year’s London theatre.
Big winners last night included the National Theatre, which swept up seven awards for two of its productions: Thea Sharrock’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance, which won awards including best revival, best actress for Nancy Carroll and best actor in a supporting role for Adrian Scarborough; and its production of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard, including best director for Howard Davies and best set design for Bunny Christie.
In other subsidised venues the Royal Court picked up three awards, including best new play for Bruce Norris’s comedy Clybourne Park, which is now playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End, and two awards for the Donmar Warehouse, including David Thaxton picking up best actor in a musical for Passion.
Roger Allam won best actor for his performance as Falstaff in Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, beating stiff competition from Rory Kinnear, Derek Jacobi, David Suchet and Mark Rylance.
The Olivier Awards were held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
The most successful musical of the night was Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, which picked up three major awards: best new musical, best actress in a musical for Sheridan Smith and best performance in a supporting role in a Musical for Jill Halfpenny.
Other musicals rewarded at the event included We Will Rock You, which won the Olivier Audience Award voted for by members of the theatregoing public, and the Open Air Theatre’s summer production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
Stephen Sondheim was presented with an Olivier Special Award for his enormous contribution to theatre, with the award presented by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and legendary actress Angela Lansbury.
Big shows to miss out on awards this year included Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, which failed to pick up any awards despite seven nominations, and End of the Rainbow at the Trafalgar Studios, which was nominated for four awards including best actress for Tracie Bennett in her performance as Judy Garland.
Thea Sharrock picks up the Best Revival award for her production of After the Dance at the National Theatre
Notable performances during the ceremony included a star turn by legendary American singer Barry Manilow, who also sang a duet with Wicked and Oliver! star Kerry Ellis; current and former stars of The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies – Ramin Karimloo, John Owen-Jones and Sierra Boggess; Emma Williams and Michael Xavier singing Everything We Know from Love Story; Alfie Boe, who is soon to star in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre, singing Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific; Susan McFadden and the current cast of Legally Blonde; and Adrian Lester paying tribute to Stephen Sondheim by singing Being Alive from Company, along with Angela Lansbury singing a moving rendition of Liaisons from A Little Night Music and 400 students from national drama schools singing Our Time from Merrily We Roll Along.
LISTEN & WATCH AGAIN
BBC iPlayer – Radio 2 coverage
LINKS
Olivier Awards – list of winners
Olivier Awards – Binkie Blog’s Picks and Pans
Donmar Warehouse names new head
March 12, 2011
The Donmar Warehouse in London has named Josie Rourke as the new artistic director of the successful Covent Garden venue. She will take over from Michael Grandage at the beginning of 2012.
Josie Rourke
It has been rumoured for some time that Rourke, 34, who is currently artistic director of the Bush Theatre, would take over at the Donmar. Her stewardship of the Bush since 2007 has seen a number of high profile productions, successful funding drives and the relocation of the venue to a new home, which will open in September this year. She has also worked in Sheffield, at the Royal Court, the Old Vic and London’s National Theatre.
Rourke is also directing the forthcoming high-profile production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham’s Theatre (from 16 May) starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Grandage has proved a hugely successful artistic director at the Donmar over the past 10 years through a succession of hit shows including his Olivier and Tony Award winning production of Red starring Alfred Molina . He in turn inherited the venue from Sam Mendes, who cemented the Donmar’s reputation as a world-class theatre.
Rourke said that she was “thrilled and honoured” to be taking up the post and that, “ten years ago, I started my career as the Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar. Nothing could make me more proud than to return to the place where I began. Both Michael Grandage and Sam Mendes have always been great friends and invaluable mentors and when I take over as the Donmar’s Artistic Director I will inherit their legacy of twenty years of wonderful productions, extraordinary performances and great nights out at the theatre.”
Michael Grandage commented that the Donmar’s board of directors had made “an inspired appointment” and that “the Donmar will now benefit from that energy and leadership.”
Grandage’s last season at the Donmar will include Jude Law and Ruth Wilson starring in Eugene O’Neill’s play Anna Christie, Douglas Hodge in John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence and Eddie Redmayne in Richard II.
LINKS
Book tickets to Josie Rourke’s new production of Much Ado About Nothing
Sunday clash: Chalk Garden vs Oliviers
March 12, 2011
A great big sigh of irritation that the BBC has scheduled Michael Grandage’s radio version of his acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production of The Chalk Garden at the same time as the Oliviers. Yes I know that those with computers can also listen later on BBC iPlayer, but both deserve exciting live listening me thinks.
Penelope Wilton and Margaret Tyzack in The Chalk Garden at the Donmar
Enid Bagnold’s play The Chalk Garden starts at 8pm on Sunday 13 March on BBC Radio 3, starring Grandage’s fabulous cast from his 2008 production, including Margaret Tyzack, Penelope Wilton and Felicity Jones.
The Oliviers will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 from 5.30pm on Sunday 13 March, presented by Paul Gambaccini, and with some Red Carpet action hosted by Jodie Prenger.
Digital satellite and cable TV viewers in the UK can also see coverage via the BBC’s red button service. We can but dream of the day that they might also pop it on the proper telly.
LINKS
BBC Radio 3 – The Chalk Garden
BBC Radio 2 – Olivier Awards
Olivier Awards microsite
In the West End This Week: Wicked, Oliviers
February 7, 2011
What’s coming up in the West End this week, including The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Shoes, the Olivier Awards and The Children’s Hour.
Monday 7 February 2011
Mark Evans in Wicked
A new cast joins Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Lee Mead said farewell to the company on Saturday night, and a number of new cast members join the show tonight including Mark Evans as Fiyero, Zoë Rainey as Nessarose and Ben Stott as Boq, alongside current stars Rachel Tucker as Elphaba and Louise Dearman as Glinda.
The Olivier Award nominations will be announced today at 11am at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This year’s awards – which will be presented on 13 March at Drury Lane – promise to have upped the star and glamour quotient and will be televised by the BBC.
The Wizard of Oz starts previews tonight. This mega new production at the London Palladium, rebooted by Jeremy Sams and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright, sees Over The Rainbow star Danielle Hope join Michael Crawford and Hannah Waddingham.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
A big theatre day! Shoes – the hugely successful Sadler’s Wells show – opens tonight at the Peacock Theatre to give the show a much deserved West End airing.
Million Dollar Quartet, the musical that recreates the historic day when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis all made music together, starts previews at the Noel Coward Theatre on Tuesday.
Also much deserving is Clybourne Park, which gets its official opening at the Wyndhams Theatre starring Sophie Thompson and Stephen Campbell Moore. Bruce Norris’ satirical comedy, directed by Dominic Cooke for the Royal Court, has been sweeping the boards at various awards including the recent South Bank Sky Arts Awards and the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
Also on Tuesday, Showstopper the Improvised Musical begins at the Ambassadors Theatre in London with the the all-singing, all-dancing cast creating a brand new musical from scratch every night in this award-winning production. Plus, the Southwark Playhouse opens its new production of Sondheim’s Company directed by Joe Fredericks.
Wednesday 9 February 2011
Elisabeth Moss in The Children's Hour
The Children’s Hour gets its official opening night at the Comedy Theatre tonight, starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Keira Knightley and Ellen Burstyn in Lillian Hellman’s controversial play.
Friday 11 February 2011
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee starts previews as the Donmar Warehouse.
And coming up
Next week sees The Woman in Black celebrate its 23rd birthday, having opened in the West End on 15 February 1989. 2011 promises to be a big year for the show, with a brand new movie version of Susan Hill’s classic horror story opening in cinemas starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Clybourne Park scoops awards
January 25, 2011
Bruce Norris’s new play Clybourne Park, produced by the Royal Court last year and transferring to the Wyndham’s Theatre from 28 January, has scooped two major best new play awards.
Sophie Thompson in Clybourne Park
In ceremonies held today in central London, the South Bank Sky Arts Awards and the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards both presented Clybourne Park with Best New Play gongs.
The Royal Court also picked up two more awards from the Critics’ Circle, both mirroring their wins at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards last year: the Most Promising Playwright Award for Anya Reiss’s Spur of the Moment and Daniel Kaluuya for most promising newcomer for Sucker Punch.
The National, RSC and Donmar Warehouse also did well from the Critics’ Circle awards with Michael Grandage and Thea Sharrock jointly awarded best director for King Lear at the Donmar and After the Dance at the National respectively.
Other winners included theatre veterans David Suchet receiving a best actor award for All My Sons at the Apollo and Derek Jacobi a best Shakespearean performance award for King Lear at the Donmar. Best musical went to the RSC’s Matilda The Musical based on Roald Dahl’s popular children’s book and best actress was awarded to Jenny Jules for her performance in Ruined at the Almeida.
The South Bank Sky Arts Awards led by Melvyn Bragg, the first to be presented by the Sky Arts channel following ITV’s axing of Bragg’s South Bank Show last year, saw Dame Judi Dench awarded the Outstanding Achievement award. Alongside Clybourne Park’s win, best opera production was awarded to Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg from Welsh National Opera and best dance was Akram Khan’s Gnosis at Sadler’s Wells.
LINKS
Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards 2010 – full list of winners
South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2011 – full list of winners
BOOK
Book tickets to Clybourne Park at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London
Jude Law in new Donmar season
January 15, 2011
Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Grandage has announced his final season, starring Jude Law, Ruth Wilson, Douglas Hodge and Eddie Redmayne.
Michael Grandage will end his 10 year stewardship of the Donmar Warehouse in London’s Covent Garden this year with an impressive season of big-hitting plays.
Jude Law in Hamlet at the Donmar in 2009
Stepping down from the role in December 2011, Grandage has maintained critical and audience success at the Donmar, and ensured that the small venue continues to punch far above its weight.
His final season kicks off with a new production of Eugene O’Neill’s epic, Pulitzer prize winning play Anna Christie (from 8 August 2011) starring Ruth Wilson and Jude Law, and directed by Donmar associate Rob Ashford. Design is by Paul Wills, whose Donmar productions include The Man Who Had All The Luck and Novecento.
Both Jude Law and Ruth Wilson are returning to the Donmar after performances in 2009: Law in Hamlet for the Donmar West End season and Ruth Wilson in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Also in the season is a revival of Inadmissible Evidence (from 13 October 2011) by John Osborne, which will see Douglas Hodge star in Jamie Lloyd’s new production, designed by Soutra Gilmour.
Douglas Hodge, who returns to the Donmar after the venue’s West End production of Guys and Dolls and The Collection/The Lover, will play Bill Maitland, a middle aged lawyer struggling to avoid the harsh truths of his life and keep a hold on reality. He is currently starring in La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway.
Finally, Eddie Redmayne returns to the theatre following his Olivier and Tony Award-winning performance in Red, to play the title role in Shakespeare’s Richard II (from 1 December 2011). Michael Grandage will direct, making this his final production at the Donmar whilst as artistic director, with design by Richard Kent.
Other highlights for the Donmar in 2011 include:
- A US tour of Michael Grandage’s current Donmar production of King Lear, playing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (from 28 April 2011) and starring Derek Jacobi and Gina McKee.
- Securing the lease of the main Earlham Street venue and also purchasing a new rehearsal, education and office space in Covent Garden to help grow and secure the organisation.
- Michael Grandage’s acclaimed 2008 production of Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden to be produced for BBC Radio 3 (broadcast 13 March 2011 at 8pm), reuniting the original cast including Margaret Tyzack and Penelope Wilton.
Shows coming up at the theatre ahead of Grandage’s final season include musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Harold Pinter’s Moonlight starring David Bradley, Deborah Findlay and Daniel Mays; and Michael Grandage directing Felicity Jones in Schiller’s Luise Miller.
No announcement has yet been made as to Grandage’s successor at the Donmar Warehouse.
MORE ON MICHAEL GRANDAGE
Michael Grandage accepting his 2010 Tony Award for Red
Michael Grandage’s previous work at the Donmar includes King Lear, Red (also Broadway – Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play), The Chalk Garden (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director), Othello (Evening Standard Award for Best Director), John Gabriel Borkman, Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also West End and Broadway), The Cut, The Wild Duck (Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director), Guys and Dolls (Donmar in the West End – Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Grand Hotel (Evening Standard Award for Best Director, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Henry IV, After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award for Best Director) and The Vortex. As part of the Donmar in the West End season Grandage directed Ivanov – Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director, Twelfth Night, Madame de Sade and Hamlet (also Kronborg Castle and Broadway). Other West End work includes Evita. He was the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres 1999 – 2005, where his many productions included Don Carlos (Evening Standard Award for Best Director).
Grandage took over as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in November 2002. Between 2002 and 2012 Grandage will have presented seventy productions. Under his leadership, the company have garnered over eighty major awards including Oliviers, Tonys, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards. For Grandage personally this includes, Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play for Red, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director for Ivanov, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director for The Chalk Garden, Evening Standard Award for Best Director for Othello, Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director for The Wild Duck, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production for Guys and Dolls, Evening Standard Award for Best Director and Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production for Grand Hotel, and Olivier Award for Best Director for Caligula.
From 2000 to 2005 he served as Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres where he produced over 40 plays with predominantly young directors and designers. His own work there included Richard III with Kenneth Branagh, Edward II with Joseph Fiennes, The Tempest with Derek Jacobi and an award- winning production of Don Carlos which transferred to the West End.
LINKS
Donmar Warehouse: Artistic Director Michael Grandage Announces His Farewell Season At Donmar Warehouse: Ruth Wilson, Jude Law, Douglas Hodge And Eddie Redmayne Return To The Donmar For Grandage’s Final Productions
January 14, 2011
KING LEAR TO TRANSFER TO BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC FOLLOWING UK TOUR
DONMAR TO PURCHASE NEW REHEARSAL AND OFFICE SPACE
THE CHALK GARDEN COMPANY REUNITES FOR BBC RADIO 3 BROADCAST
With his critically acclaimed production of King Lear soon to embark on a national tour, Michael Grandage today announces his farewell season as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, stepping down from the role in December 2011.
Following the run of the musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; David Bradley, Deborah Findlay and Daniel Mays lead the company of Pinter’s Moonlight before Michael Grandage directs Felicity Jones in Schiller’s Luise Miller in a new version by Mike Poulton. His final season, announced today, sees the return of many Donmar alumni in new productions of Anna Christie by Eugene O’Neill, Inadmissible Evidence by John Osborne and Richard II by William Shakespeare. He is joined in his final season by his two outgoing Associate Directors Jamie Lloyd and Rob Ashford.
On becoming Artistic Director in 2002, Grandage took over a company that owned neither theatre nor rehearsal space. Under his tenure the company have purchased the lease of the theatre (taking ownership in 2016), and today he also announces their intention to purchase an office, education and rehearsal space for the company before he departs. This legacy will help secure the long term future of the Donmar in uncertain financial times.
Michael Grandage said today “After nearly ten years running the Donmar, it is a very exciting and emotional moment to announce my farewell season. From next month to February 2012 we will be presenting six new productions and I am delighted this final year celebrates so much of the repertoire we have presented over the last decade. It is particularly wonderful to be joined by so many friends and colleagues in this last season of work – it is these collaborations and creative partnerships both on stage and with the staff at the Donmar, that have made the achievements of the past ten years possible, and I hope the range and diversity of our programme continues to reach out to many more people in the year ahead”.
Grandage took over as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in November 2002 and his final production of Richard II will close in February 2012. During a decade of leading the organisation he has created an international theatre with a commitment to connecting with as many people as possible through touring, education and affordable ticket prices, as well as continuing to produce work of the highest quality at the company’s home base in Covent Garden.
Between 2002 and 2012 Grandage will have presented seventy productions. Under his leadership, the company have garnered over eighty major awards including Oliviers, Tonys, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards. For Grandage personally this includes, Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play for Red, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director for Ivanov, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director for The Chalk Garden, Evening Standard Award for Best Director for Othello, Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director for The Wild Duck, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production for Guys and Dolls, Evening Standard Award for Best Director and Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production for Grand Hotel, and Olivier Award for Best Director for Caligula.
Grandage’s inaugural production in 2002 was The Vortex with Chiwetel Ejiofor, a relationship he was to renew five years later with his multi-award-winning production of Othello. He has put the European repertoire at the heart of his programming, engaging with leading writers to offer new adaptations of foreign classics including David Greig (Caligula and Creditors), Tom Stoppard (Pirandello’s Henry IV and Ivanov) and David Eldridge (The Wild Duck and John Gabriel Borkman). The Donmar’s award-winning production of Schiller’s Mary Stuart, in a new version by Peter Oswald, transferred to the West End and Broadway.
He has also continued to present musicals re-imagined in the intimate Donmar surroundings, including Grand Hotel, Parade, and most recently Passion; as well as work from the contemporary American repertoire such as A Streetcar Named Desire, and twentieth century British plays including The Chalk Garden, Old Times, Betrayal and a festival of work devoted to T.S. Eliot, with a revival of The Family Reunion as its centrepiece. New writing has provided the company with two of its biggest successes in recent years – Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon which enjoyed a West End transfer and a run on Broadway, and John Logan’s Red which saw the company return to Broadway and win six Tonys at the 2010 awards.
During his tenure, Grandage put accessibility at the forefront of the company’s ethos – he introduced a national touring programme and an extensive education programme which has grown annually over the last nine years. In 2009 he led the company into the West End for a year long season of work at the Wyndham’s Theatre – Donmar West End – at Donmar prices, a top price of £32.50 and with over 130 tickets for each performance at just £10. The season – Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh, Twelfth Night with Derek Jacobi, Madame de Sade with Judi Dench and Hamlet with Jude Law – played to 98% capacity.
In addition to a national touring programme, Grandage has also overseen the expansion of the company internationally – in 2009 the Donmar’s work played across 4 continents. Recent US work includes Red, Creditors, Hamlet, Frost/Nixon and Mary Stuart; in Australia, the Donmar’s award-winning Guys and Dolls; in Argentina, Piaf and in Europe, Piaf (Spain) and Hamlet (Denmark).
Grandage is a keen supporter of new talent, both on stage and behind the scenes. The company’s most recent venture, Donmar Trafalgar, is a three year initiative to promote the work of recent graduates of the Donmar’s Resident Assistant Director scheme. The second season of work will begin at the end of this year with work directed by Hamish Pirie, Abbey Wright and Paul Hart.
From 2000 to 2005 he served as Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres where he produced over 40 plays with predominantly young directors and designers. His own work there included Richard III with Kenneth Branagh, Edward II with Joseph Fiennes, The Tempest with Derek Jacobi and an award- winning production of Don Carlos which transferred to the West End.
ANNA CHRISTIE
by Eugene O’Neill
Cast includes: Jude Law, Ruth Wilson
Director: Rob Ashford; Designer: Paul Wills
Composer and Sound Designer: Adam Cork
4 August – 8 October
Press night: 9 August
‘We’re all poor nuts, and things happen, and we just get mixed in wrong’
Exiled from her home by the Old Devil Sea to the inland plains, Anna Christie’s life changed forever at just five years of age. Fifteen years later, she is reunited with the father who sent her away and sets sail in search of a new beginning.
Eugene O’Neill’s epic Pulitzer Award-winning play about love and forgiveness charts one woman’s longing to forget the dark secrets of her past and hope for salvation.
Jude Law returns to the Donmar to plat Mat Burke. He previously played the title role in Michael Grandage’s production of Hamlet for the Donmar West End season for which he won the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance. Law’s other theatre work includes Dr Faustus and ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Young Vic), Les Parents Terribles (National Theatre and Broadway) and Death of a Salesman (West Yorkshire Playhouse). His film work includes Hugo Cabret, Contagion, Repo Men, Sherlock Holmes, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, The Repossession Mambo, Sleuth, My Blueberry Nights, The Holiday, Closer, Alfie, The Aviator, Cold Mountain, Road to Perdition, The Talented Mr Ripley and Wilde.
Ruth Wilson returns to the Donmar to play Anna Christie reuniting her with director Rob Ashford. He directed her as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire for which she won the Olivier for Best Supporting Actress. Her other theatre work includes Through a Glass Darkly (Almeida Theatre), Philistines (National Theatre) and Good (Sound Theatre). Her television credits include Luther, The Prisoner, Freezing, Mad, A Real Summer, Capturing Mary, Jane Eyre and Suburban Shootout; and for film, Get Off My Land.
Eugene O’Neill (1888 – 1936) was one of the greatest American playwrights. His many works for the stage include Beyond the Horizon, The Emperor Jones, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day’s Journey into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.
Rob Ashford returns to the Donmar to direct. His previous work for the company includes the critically acclaimed productions of A Streetcar Named Desire (South Bank Theatre Award) and Parade – which marked his directorial debut. As a director his work includes Promises, Promises (Broadway Theater) and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (opening March 2011 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre). He was the choreographer on Michael Grandage’s Guys and Dolls for the Donmar at the Piccadilly Theatre. His other credits include Candide (ENO, La Scala and La Chatelet Theatre), Michael Grandage’s production of Evita (Adelphi Theatre); Thoroughly Modern Millie (both UK and US – Tony Award for Best Choreography) and the films Love Walked In and Beyond the Sea. Ashford serves on the Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE
by John Osborne
Cast includes: Douglas Hodge
Director: Jamie Lloyd; Designer: Soutra Gilmour; Lighting Designer: James Farncombe
Composer and Sound Designers: Ben and Max Ringham
13 October – 26 November
Press night: 18 October
‘I can’t escape it. I can’t forget it. And I begin again.’
Bill Maitland, a middle aged lawyer, struggles to avoid the harsh truths of his life and keep a hold on reality. As those closest to him begin to draw away, he puts himself on trial to fight for his sanity.
John Osborne’s poignant, witty and intensely compelling portrait of loss, betrayal and defeat releases the author’s characteristic display of soaring rhetorical venom to powerful effect.
Douglas Hodge returns to the company to play Bill Maitland. His previous work for the Donmar includes Michael Grandage’s production of Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre) and The Collection/The Lover; and as an Associate Director for the Donmar, he directed Dimetos, Murder in the Cathedral (part of the Donmar’s TS Eliot Festival) and Absurdia. His other theatre work includes his celebrated performance as Albin in Les Cages Aux Folles for which he won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical (Menier, Playhouse Theatre and Longacre Theatre on Broadway). His other theatre work includes A Matter of Life and Death, Betrayal and Burned by the Sun (National Theatre), The Caretaker (Comedy Theatre) and Dumb Show (Royal Court). For television, his credits include Outnumbered, Skins, Whistleblowers, Lift, Mansfield Park, Spooks, The Way We Live Now and The Russian Bride; and for film, Robin Hood, Scenes of a Sexual Nature and Vanity Fair.
John Osborne (1929 – 1994) was a playwright, screenwriter and actor. His principal works for the stage include Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, Epitaph for George Dillon, Luther, A Patriot for Me and The Hotel in Amsterdam (revived by the Donmar under Michael Grandage in 2003).
Jamie Lloyd directs. As Associate Director of the Donmar, Lloyd’s work for the company includes The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – currently in rehearsals, Passion – centrepiece of the company’s Sondheim at 80 Season and winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical, Polar Bears, Piaf (Donmar Warehouse, Vaudeville Theatre, Buenos Aires – ADEET Award for Best Production and Clarin Award for Best Musical Production – and Spain) and readings as part of the TS Eliot Festival and the Tennessee Williams’ season. His other credits include Salome (Headlong), The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick Theatre) Three Days of Rain (Apollo Theatre), Eric’s (Liverpool Playhouse), The Pride (Royal Court – Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement), The Lover and The Collection (Comedy Theatre) and The Caretaker (Sheffield Crucible and Tricycle).
RICHARD II
by William Shakespeare
Cast includes: Eddie Redmayne
Director: Michael Grandage; Designer: Richard Kent; Lighting Designer: David Plater
1 December 2011 – 4 February 2012
Press night: 6 December
‘O call back yesterday, bid time return’
King Richard banishes his noblemen and seizes their land to fuel his own wars. As anger mounts, a battle for the soul of England begins and one man’s divine right to rule is called into question.
Shakespeare’s poetic masterpiece is an epic tale of destruction, ruin and decay that casts light on the decline of a kingdom and the solitude of power.
Richard II reunites Grandage and Redmayne who recently worked together on the multi-award-winning production of John Logan’s Red. Following performances at the Donmar, the production transferred to Broadway winning 6 Tony Awards, including Best Director for Grandage and Best Performance by a Featured Actor for Redmayne.
Eddie Redmayne returns to the Donmar to play Richard II. He previously appeared in Red (Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Supporting Actor) and Hecuba. His other theatre work includes Now or Later (Royal Court) and The Goat (Almeida Theatre and Apollo Theatre). His television credits include Miraculous Year, The Pillars of the Earth, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Elizabeth I and In Search of Shakespeare; and for film, My Week with Marilyn, Black Death, Glorious 1939, Powder Blue, Yellow Handkerchief, The Other Boleyn Girl, Savage Grace, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Good Shepherd.
Donmar Artistic Director Michael Grandage directs his final production for the company. Previous work for the Donmar includes King Lear, Red (also Broadway – Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play), The Chalk Garden (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director), Othello (Evening Standard Award for Best Director), John Gabriel Borkman, Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also West End and Broadway), The Cut, The Wild Duck (Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director), Guys and Dolls (Donmar in the West End – Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Grand Hotel (Evening Standard Award for Best Director, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Henry IV, After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award for Best Director) and The Vortex. As part of the Donmar in the West End season Grandage directed Ivanov – Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director, Twelfth Night, Madame de Sade and Hamlet (also Kronborg Castle and Broadway). Other West End work includes Evita. He was the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres 1999 – 2005, where his many productions included Don Carlos (Evening Standard Award for Best Director).
DONMAR – U.S.A.
KING LEAR
by William Shakespeare
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music
28 April – 5 June
Cast includes: Harry Atwell, Tom Beard, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Stefano Braschi, Ron Cook, Michael Hadley, Derek Hutchinson, Derek Jacobi, Paul Jesson, Gwilym Lee, Gina McKee, Justine Mitchell, Alec Newman, Amit Shah, Gideon Turner, Ashley Zhangazha
Director: Michael Grandage; Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Composer and Sound Designer: Adam Cork
The Donmar Warehouse returns to BAM following last year’s critically acclaimed production of Strindberg’s Creditors directed by Alan Rickman. The company made their BAM debut in 2003 with Sam Mendes’ productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya.
Prior to performances at BAM, King Lear will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide on 3 February as part of NT Live, and embark on an 8 week national tour to Venue Cymru, Llandudno (21 – 26 February), Belfast Opera House (28 February – 5 March), Glasgow Theatre Royal (7 – 12 March), Milton Keynes Theatre (14 – 19 March), The Lowry, Salford (21 – 26 March), Richmond Theatre (28 March – 2 April), Bath Theatre Royal (4 – 9 April) and Hall for Cornwall, Truro (11 – 16 April).
“Who is it that can tell me who I am?”
An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child’s love rejected. As Lear’s world descends into chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question.
One of the greatest works in western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.
Derek Jacobi and Michael Grandage renew their collaboration, having previously worked together on The Tempest, Don Carlos and Twelfth Night. Grandage’s creative team – Christopher Oram, Neil Austin and Adam Cork are the Tony Award-winning team behind the company’s recent Broadway smash hit Red.
SECURING THE DONMAR’S LONG TERM FUTURE
Under Michael Grandage’s tenure, the Donmar Warehouse has secured two major capital assets in purchasing both a property in Covent Garden for rehearsal, education and office space on a 112 year lease, and the theatre site on Earlham Street on a 125 year lease. This marks a significant step for the charity and for the independent future of the Donmar as a producing theatre.
The Donmar, which, until now, hasn’t owned its own offices, rehearsal rooms or theatre site, has set aside reserves over the last few years to make these capital purchases a priority. The revenue has been generated from many of Grandage’s productions staged outside the Donmar from Guys and Dolls to last year’s Red, and has enabled the company to build a designated capital fund under his tenure. This reserve will now form the springboard for a fundraising campaign to complete these plans.
The Donmar Warehouse currently has to rent a variety of different spaces across London for its rehearsal, auditions, office staff and education work. The Donmar Board recently committed to the purchase of a building in Covent Garden to become its creative home. This will enable the company to continue to achieve all its artistic ambitions to the highest standards and also overcome many practical and financial constraints imposed by the present situation.
The purchase of the theatre site in Earlham Street went ahead in 2008 and the Donmar charity will continue to work closely with its current landlord, ATG, for the remaining five years of ATG’s lease on the theatre before taking sole possession.
DONMAR ON BBC RADIO
THE CHALK GARDEN
by Enid Bagnold
Cast: Steph Bramwell, Suzanne Burden, Jamie Glover, Felicity Jones, Clifford Rose, Una Stubbs, Margaret Tyzack, Penelope Wilton
Director: Michael Grandage
Michael Grandage’s production of The Chalk Garden is being recorded for BBC Radio 3 with the company reuniting for this special event – it will be broadcast on Sunday 13 March at 8pm. Previously BBC Radio 3 broadcast Michael Grandage’s production of Othello with Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The Chalk Garden opened at the Donmar in 2008 to great critical acclaim winning many awards, including the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress for Margaret Tyzack, the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for Penelope Wilton, and the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director for Michael Grandage.
The child’s a flower. She grows in liberty.
Raised in a manor house beside the sea, where the flowers struggle to grow, sixteen-year-old Laurel runs wild. As her eccentric grandmother tends to the garden, Laurel’s need for love forces her into a world of fantasy. But things begin to change with the sudden appointment of a governess who brings a mysterious new presence to an already dysfunctional household.
The Chalk Garden was first staged in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1956 – John Gielgud directed Edith Evans and Peggy Ashcroft. The garden of the play was inspired by Bagnold’s own garden at North End House in Rottingdean.
DONMAR EDUCATION
To complement the Donmar’s productions the company continues to undertake a programme of education and outreach work led by their team of Education practitioners, including Education specialists and former Resident Assistant Directors.
Around the forthcoming season, the Donmar will deliver its playwriting project Write Up around the production of Moonlight. The project aims to inspire participants to write a short play, which is developed with the help of professional writing practitioners and performed on the Donmar stage by a cast of professional actors. For this project, participants will be encouraged to use the Donmar’s production of Pinter’s Moonlight as their inspiration and stimulus.
Also, in keeping with its commitment to access, the Donmar is providing a programme of work to compliment King Lear on its nationwide tour. The project, Reuniting the Kingdom will see the Donmar recreate their Schools Matinee programme with schools in each of the eight venues. Donmar Education practitioners will deliver workshops inspired by the rehearsal process, focusing on text, voice, character and the themes of the Donmar’s production. Students who would not necessarily be able to afford to attend the production will be offered a discounted ticket price and will receive a complimentary resource and edited version of the text.
As part of the core Education programme there is a Schools Matinee for each production. This programme allows over 200 young people to attend a production, participate in a post-show discussion with the cast which is led by the Resident Assistant Director, and also undertake a preparatory workshop in their school led by one of the Education Associates. To support the teachers through this programme a Teachers Preview Performance and a Resource Pack are provided.
Release issued by: Donmar Warehouse press office
LINKS
Opening this week: Love Story, Potted Panto
December 6, 2010
This week’s West End openings include romantic new show Love Story, Christmas treats with Potted Panto, The Night Before Christmas and The Nutcracker, plus Derek Jacobi in King Lear.
Emma Williams and Michael Xavier in Love Story
Love Story
Love Story gets its official opening night at the Duchess starring Emma Williams and Michael Xavier on 6 December. Erich Segal’s best-selling novel Love Story, which was famously turned into a film starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, has been given the musicals treatment by Howard Goodall and Stephen Clark.
The show had its premiere earlier this year at the Chichester Festival Theatre and was well received by critics, with The Stage calling it a “gorgeous new chamber musical”. The producers of the show include West End star Michael Ball, Adam Spiegel and Stephen Waley-Cohen and it is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with design by Peter McKintosh and musical direction by Stephen Ridley. Read our interview with Michael Ball. Book tickets to Love Story at the Duchess Theatre.
King Lear at the Donmar
Derek Jacobi gives his King Lear at the Donmar Warehouse, opening on 7 December in a new production by Michael Grandage. Also starring Gina McKee. Book tickets.
The Night Before Christmas
Magical family show The Night Before Christmas opens at the Ambassadors Theatre on 8 December. Meet Father Christmas and see a wonderful story come to life in this brand new show, full of songs, poems and stories. Book tickets.
Potted Panto
Those CBBC rascals Dan and Jeff bring Pantomime mayhem to the Vaudeville with Edinburgh family hit Potted Panto on 10 December. CBBC’s Dan and Jeff, the masterminds behind Potted Potter and Potted Pirates, turn their attentions to that much loved British institution, the pantomime. Potted Panto crams seven much-loved pantomimes into one show. Dan and Jeff career through Cinderella in 3D, dazzle with a Dick Whittington featuring Jeff as the Mayor of London and struggle to work out how two people can play seven dwarves and which of them will make the prettiest princess. From conventions and costume to heroes and villains, the dastardly double act explores all the elements of the art form we both love and loathe as a nation. Book tickets to Potted Panto at the Vaudeville Theatre.
English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker
On the same night English National Ballet open their seasonal production of The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum in a sumptuous new production by Artistic Director Wayne Eagling to celebrate the Company’s 60th birthday. Book tickets.
COMING SOON
And next week… A Flear in her Ear opens on 14 December at the Old Vic starring Tom Hollander, Lisa Dillon and Jonathan Cake.
