Roger Allam And Colin Morgan In The Tempest At Shakespeare’s Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe launches its 2013 theatre season on 23 April with Jeremy Herrin’s production of The Tempest. Olivier award-winner Roger Allam makes a welcome return to the Globe as Prospero, with Colin Morgan as Ariel and Jessie Buckley as Miranda. The Tempest is Shakespeare’s late great masterpiece, imbued with magical spirits and supernatural charm. This production marks the first of the Globe’s trio of enchanted Shakespeares this summer, running from Shakespeare’s birthday (23 April) until 18 August.

Director Jeremy Herrin returns to the Globe following his widely applauded production of Much Ado About Nothing in 2011. Herrin is associate director at the Royal Court and during his time there has presented No Quarter, The Heretic, The Vertical Hour, The Priory, That Face and Tusk Tusk, for which he was nominated for an Evening Standard Best Director Award. He directed Roger Allam in Uncle Vanya at Chichester in 2012. He also directed This House at the National Theatre.

Roger Allam won the Best Actor Olivier Award for his portrayal of Falstaff at the Globe in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. His many other stage credits include Boeing Boeing and The God of Carnage. He created the role of Peter Mannion in the BBC political satire The Thick Of It, and his film credits include Tamara Drewe and The Queen. Allam will reprise his role as Detective Inspector Fred Thursday in the Morse prequel Endeavour, due to air on ITV this spring.

Making his Globe debut will be Colin Morgan as Ariel, who created the role of Merlin in the popular BBC television series for which he recently won Best Actor in a Drama at the National Television Awards. Other theatre credits include Vernon God Little and All About My Mother at the Young and Old Vics.

In her graduating year at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Jessie Buckley will also make a Globe debut as Prospero’s daughter, Miranda. Jessie competed in the TV series I’d Do Anything, the search for a new Nancy in Oliver! and performed in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory and at the Garrick.

Completing the cast is Jason Baughan, Sam Cox, Pip Donaghy, Trevor Fox, James Garnon, Peter Hamilton-Dyer, Joshua James, William Mannering, Sarah Sweeney and Amanda Wilkin.

Shakespeare’s Globe’s 2013 ‘Season of Plenty’ features fifteen plays, including three world premières, an expansion of the Globe’s award-winning touring, and the return of three Globe to Globe productions from last year’s once-in-a-lifetime festival. The full lineup includes The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, the three plays about Henry VI, Samuel Adamson’s Gabriel, Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale, The Lightning Child from Ché Walker, two small-scale tours of King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew, three returning Globe to Globe shows – Venus and Adonis from South Africa, As You Like It from Georgia, King Lear from Belarus, and Footsbarn’s Indian Tempest.

Release issued by: Shakespeare’s Globe

LINKS

Shakespeare’s Globe website

Chichester Festival Theatre season announcement

• Theatre in the Park is unveiled with major new productions of Barnum and Neville’s Island
• Richard Eyre returns to Chichester to direct The Pajama Game
• The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui returns to the Minerva Theatre, then transfers to the West End – Henry Goodman reprises his award-winning role
• Festival 2012 achieved record-breaking audience figures of 220,000

Theatre in the Park, a temporary state-of-the-art auditorium, will stage two productions at the heart of Chichester’s Festival 2013. The brand new space will be erected in June while the £22 million RENEW redevelopment of the Festival Theatre continues.

Mirroring the Festival Theatre’s auditorium, the purpose-built temporary building will house 1,400 seats and a thrust stage. It will be just a few minutes’ stroll across Oaklands Park from the Festival Theatre site.

Theatre in the Park will be unveiled with a major revival of the musical Barnum presented in association with Cameron Mackintosh. Directed by Timothy Sheader, Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, this production will star the versatile and consummate Broadway entertainer Christopher Fitzgerald in the title role.

Angus Jackson directs Neville’s Island, the second production to be staged in the Theatre in the Park. Tim Firth’s comedy about a disastrous outward bound expedition promises to be a technically and visually ambitious staging.

Richard Eyre returns to Chichester to direct the musical The Pajama Game, which opens the Festival season in the Minerva Theatre. Love is in the air at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory but sparks fly when employees are refused a pay rise.

Other highlights of Festival 2013 include the return of the critically acclaimed production The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht, one of the undoubted hits of Festival 2012.  Directed by Chichester’s Artistic Director, Jonathan Church, the production will once again feature Henry Goodman reprising his award-winning performance in the title role. Set in Chicago in the 1930s during the Great Depression, the play is a powerful and sharp-witted parable of the rise of Hitler. Following the Chichester run, the play will transfer to the West End’s Duchess Theatre.

The second play to be directed by Angus Jackson during Festival 2013 will be the world premiere of political drama If Only by David Edgar, which takes a witty and astute look at the world of coalition government.

The season ends with Another Country, Julian Mitchell’s sensitive exploration of sexuality and politics, set against the backdrop of a public school. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, Another Country is co-produced with Theatre Royal Bath Productions in association with Fiery Angel.

Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, directed by Dale Rooks, will present Roald Dahl’s The Witches in the Minerva Theatre over the Christmas period.

Since their appointment in 2006, Jonathan Church and Alan Finch have explored ways of developing a younger audience. Chichester Festival Theatre was one of the most successful participants in the Arts Council’s A Night Less Ordinary scheme to give away tickets to young people in 2009 – 10. During 2012 the Theatre also attracted a significant proportion of younger audience members through its temporary pop-up auditorium, Theatre on the Fly, which staged three critically acclaimed productions, Blue Remembered Hills, Playhouse Creatures and Fred’s Diner.

Chichester Festival Theatre remains committed to encouraging independent theatregoing among younger people during Festival 2013 and this has led to the launch of a new scheme for 18 – 25 year olds. A special allocation of tickets priced at just £8.50 for all performances in both Theatres will be released one month before each production opens. Alongside this initiative, the Theatre is revising its approach to ticket pricing by introducing a ‘flexible’ system. This will fix ticket prices at an early-bird rate for a certain period. After this time, the Theatre will have the option to vary prices in response to demand for the most popular performances.

THE PAJAMA GAME
22 April – 8 June, Minerva Theatre

IF ONLY by DAVID EDGAR WORLD PREMIERE
14 June – 27 July, Minerva Theatre

CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE IN ASSOCIATION WITH CAMERON MACKINTOSH PRESENTS
BARNUM
15 July – 31 August, Theatre in the Park

THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI by BERTOLT BRECHT
In a translation by GEORGE TABORI revised by ALISTAIR BEATON
15 August – 14 September, Minerva Theatre

NEVILLE’S ISLAND by TIM FIRTH
11 – 28 September, Theatre in the Park

ANOTHER COUNTRY BY JULIAN MITCHELL
18 September – 19 October, Minerva Theatre

THE WITCHES by ROALD DAHL
Adapted by DAVID WOOD
7 December – 4 January, Minerva Theatre

Release issued by: Chichester Festival Theatre

CHICHESTER THEATRE IN THE WEST END

Book tickets to Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre

LINKS

Chichester Festival Theatre website

 

Death and the Maiden starring Thandie Newton – Round-up of Reviews

A round-up of reviews for Death and the Maiden at the Harold Pinter Theatre starring British film actress Thandie Newton (Crash), in a strictly limited run of Ariel Dorfman’s explosive drama, directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London

 

Almeida Theatre Spring 2012

BIJAN SHEIBANI TO DIRECT SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO IN FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA’S THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA

MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH TO DIRECT SAMANTHA SPIRO IN EDWARDO DE FILIPPO’S FILUMENA IN A NEW ENGLISH VERSION BY TANYA RONDER

JEREMY HERRIN TO DIRECT WORLD PREMIERE OF MATTHEW DUNSTER’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN

MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH TO DIRECT JONATHAN PRYCE AS KING LEAR

 

BIJAN SHEIBANI TO DIRECT FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA’S THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA

Bijan Sheibani will direct Shohreh Aghdashloo in Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba running at the Almeida Theatre from 19 January – 10 March 2012, with press night on 26 January at 7pm. In a new version by Emily Mann The House of Bernarda Alba has designs by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Dan Jones. Further casting is to be announced shortly.

Following her husband’s funeral in rural Iran, powerful matriarch Bernarda Alba decrees to her five daughters that the household will enter a period of eight years mourning. The only one it seems will escape this fate is the eldest daughter, Angustias, who is already betrothed to the village’s most eligible bachelor. In the strict confines of the house, jealousy and suppressed sexuality rise to the surface. As Bernada’s oppression of her daughters increases it is more than the girls’ liberty that is in danger.

Relocating one of Lorca’s best known works to rural Iran, Iranian stage and screen actor Shohreh Aghdashlo will be leading the cast as Bernarda Alba. This will mark her British stage debut; her television credits include Sajida in House of Saddam for the BBC/HBO, a role for which she won the 2009 Emmy® for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a mini-series or movie. She was named Best Supporting Actress by the Independent Spirit Awards, the New York Film Critics, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her role in House of Sand and Fog. Her other film credits include The Stoning of Soraya M, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The Nativity Story, The Lake House and X-Men: The Last Stand, as well as Persian language films Gozaresh and Sute-Delan. She has made regular guest appearances on 24, ER and Will & Grace. On stage her credits include Rainbow on tour in the USA and extensive work with the Drama Workshop of Tehran. Aghdashloo is the co-founder of LA based Theatre Company Workshop 79.

Bijan Sheibani is an Associate Director at the National Theatre where he has directed Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen as well as Greenland and Our Class. As Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company (2007 to 2010) his productions include Eurydice and The Brother’s Size at the Young Vic and Ghosts of Those Who Return at the Arcola. His Laurence Olivier award-winning production of Gone Too Far was produced by the Royal Court. Earlier this year he directed Harold Pinter’s Moonlight for the Donmar Warehouse. The House of Bernarda Alba is Sheibani’s second production for the Almeida, after The Fixer part of WRITE Playwriting Festival in 2006.

Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca’s first play Mariana Pineda was staged in 1927. As well as The House of Bernarda Alba his other plays include Blood Wedding, staged by the Almeida in 2005 directed by Rufus Norris and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, and Yerma. His first volume of poems, Gypsy Ballads, was published in 1928.

MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH TO DIRECT TANYA RONDER’S NEW VERSION OF DE FILIPPO’S FILUMENA

Michael Attenborough will direct Samantha Spiro in Eduardo de Filippo’s Filumena in a new English version by Tanya Ronder running at the Almeida from 15 March – 12 May 2012, with press night on 22 March at 7pm. Designs are by Rob Jones, with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by John Leonard. Casting will be announced shortly.

In the balmy heat of late ‘40s Naples, Filumena Marturano lies on her deathbed waiting to marry Domenico Soriano, the man who has kept her as his mistress for twenty-five years. But no sooner has the priest completed the ceremony, than Filumena makes a miraculous recovery. As he reels in shock, Domenico discovers that this brilliant, iron-willed woman has a few more surprises for him.

Olivier award-winning Samantha Spiro will make her Almeida debut in the title role. She has most recently been seen on stage at the Royal Court in Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup with Barley where she was also seen in The Family Play. Her previous theatre credits include Hello Dolly, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Lady Be Good, Macbeth and The Boys from Syracuse all for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Twelfth Night for the Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham’s Theatre, Funny Girl for Chichester Festival Theatre and Two Thousand Years and Cleo, Camping, Emanuelle and Dick for the National Theatre. Her television credits Rock and Chips, Grandma’s House, After You’ve Gone, Coupling and Cold Feet and her film credits include A Running Jump, Tomorrow La Scala, From Hell, Cor Blimey and Beyond Bedlam.

Tanya Ronder previously wrote a new version of Lorca’s Blood Wedding for the Almeida as well as Or Nearest Offer, a new play for the Almeida Youth Theatre and Chain Play II, a fundraising event for the Theatre. Her adaptation of Vernon God Little was produced by the Young Vic who also staged Ronda’s version of Peribanez. Her stage adaptation of Peter Pan was presented at Kensington Gardens. For the Royal Shakespeare Company she wrote a new version of Ionesco’s Macbett.

Michael Attenborough is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre where his productions have been The Mercy Seat, Five Gold Rings, Brighton Rock, The Late Henry Moss, Enemies, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Big White Fog, Awake and Sing!, The Homecoming, In a Dark Dark House, When the Rain Stops Falling, Measure for Measure, Through A Glass Darkly and, most recently, The Knot of the Heart. Previously, he was Associate Director at, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (1972-74), Leeds Playhouse (1974-79), Young Vic (1979-80) and Artistic Director at, Palace Theatre, Watford (1980-84), and Hampstead Theatre (1984-89), and was Principal Associate Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company (1990-2002). On leaving the Royal Shakespeare Company he became an Honorary Associate Artist. Attenborough‘s freelance work includes productions at the National Theatre, the Royal Court, in the West End and on Broadway. His production of Neil LaBute’s Reasons To Be Pretty will open at the Almeida in November this year.

Italian playwright, actor, screen writer, poet and author Eduardo De Filippo’s plays include Filumena, Napoli Milionaria, La Grande Magia, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and The Syndiacte.

JEREMY HERRIN TO DIRECT WORLD PREMIERE OF MATTHEW DUNSTER’S CHILDREN’S CHILDREN

Jeremy Herrin will direct the world premiere of Matthew Dunster’s Children’s Children running at the Almeida from 17 May – 30 June 2012, with press night on 24 May. Designs are by Robert Innes Hopkins with lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Ian Dickinson. Casting will be announced shortly.

Michael and Gordon have been best friends since acting college. Now, 20 years later, Michael is Mr Saturday Night TV but failing actor Gordon is struggling with enormous debts. Meanwhile Gordon’s daughter Effie couldn’t care less about her Dad’s problems – she is far more interested in the film that her cool boyfriend is making and setting up an ecologically sound clothing label. When Gordon asks Michael to lend him a large sum of money it sets in motion a series of events that reveal irreparable cracks in the characters’ relationships.

Playwright, director and actor Matthew Dunster’s writing credits include a new adaptation of Saturday Night Sunday Morning which opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre in February 2012. Previously his adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Most Incredible Thing was produced at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. His play You Can See The Hills received its world premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre before a transfer to the Young Vic. His production of Doctor Faustus ran at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre this summer and his production of Mogadishu opened at the Royal Exchange before transferring to the Lyric Hammersmith. For the National Theatre he has directed Love The Sinner.

Jeremy Herrin is Associate Director of the Royal Court where he directed the UK premiere of David Hare’s The Vertical Hour as well as Richard Bean’s The Heretic and Polly Stenham’s award-winning That Face which subsequently transferred to the West End. His production of Much Ado About Nothing opened at Shakespeare’s Globe earlier this year and next month his production of Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden will open at the Pinter Theatre. Herrin will direct Joe Penhall’s Haunted Child for the Royal Court opening in December. His production of David Hare’s South Downs is currently playing at Chichester Festival Theatre. Children’s Children marks Herrin’s directorial debut at the Almeida.

MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH TO DIRECT JONATHAN PRYCE IN TITLE ROLE AS KING LEAR

Michael Attenborough will direct Jonathan Pryce as William Shakespeare’s King Lear running at the Almeida Theatre from the 31 August – 3 November 2012, with press night 11 September. Designs are by Tom Scutt with lighting by Jon Clark and sound and music by Dan Jones. Further casting will be announced shortly.

When Lear asks each of his daughters to profess their love for him, he is flattered by the false hyperbole of Regan and Goneril. When his youngest daughter Cordelia confesses to love him simply as a daughter should, his pride is dented and he casts her out of his kingdom. Too late to realise his mistake, and forced from power by his offspring, an increasingly impotent and frail Lear descends into madness.
Tony and Olivier award-winning actor Jonathan Pryce made his Almeida debut playing Martin in Edward Albee’s The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? His extensive theatre credits includes The Caretaker for Liverpool Everyman and the Trafalgar Studios, Glengarry Glen Ross at the Apollo Theatre, A Reckoning for Soho Theatre and My Fair Lady at the National Theatre and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane as well as Oliver at the London Palladium, Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull in the West End, Hamlet for the Royal Court, Measure for Measure at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Comedians at the Old Vic. His film and television work includes Cranford, Hysteria, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomorrow Never Dies, What a Girl Wants, Victoria and Albert, Evita, Unconditional Love, Brazil and Carrington.

Michael Attenborough directs.

King Lear is sponsored by Coutts & Co.

King Lear is part of the World Shakespeare Festival. The festival, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012, will showcase the best of the UK and international creative talents, exploring the contemporary relevance of Shakespeare.

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

The Almeida Theatre is grateful to its Principal Partner Aspen whose new three year commitment started this summer, building on the existing long term relationship between the two companies. Aspen’s commitment to the Almeida Theatre will ensure continued bold programming, artistic endeavour and risk taking. Aspen, established in 2002, is a leading specialty insurance and reinsurance company with over 670 employees in eight countries. www.aspen.bm

The Almeida Theatre is supported by Arts Council England.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Almeida Theatre website

THANDIE NEWTON in Death and the Maiden

Hollywood star Thandie Newton will tread the boards in London this Autumn as she plays Paulina Salas in Ariel Dorfman’s Olivier award-winning thriller Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre from Thursday 13th October 2011.

In the drama Thandie plays a former political prisoner who suffered at the hands of a captor whose face she never saw, but whose voice and mannerisms she recalls with terrifying clarity.

Years later, she acts as judge and jury to a man she believes to have been her oppressor. She struggles to find a form of reconciliation for the experience that she and others, have endured.

Thandie Newton was awarded a BAFTA for her role in Crash, Paul Haggis’ Oscar-winning film about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. She also starred in the title role in Beloved opposite Oprah Winfrey and in Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise. She appeared in The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and played Simon Pegg’s ex-girlfriend in Run Fat Boy Run. She played Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone’s W and the US President’s daughter in 2012. She was most recently seen in Huge and is currently filming Good Deeds, written, directed by and starring Tyler Perry.

Death and the Maiden also stars Tom Goodman-Hill as Gerado and Anthony Calf as Doctor Roberto Miranda. The show is directed by Jeremy Herrin with design by Peter McKintosh.

LINKS

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre in London

Full Casting Announced: Anthony Calf And Tom Goodman-Hill Will Play Alongside Thandie Newton In Death And The Maiden At The Comedy Theatre

The role of Gerado, the husband of Paulina Salas (Thandie Newton), will be played by Tom Goodman-Hill, and Doctor Roberto Miranda will be played by Anthony Calf in Ariel Dorfman’s Olivier award-winning thriller Death and the Maiden. The play will open at the Comedy Theatre from Thursday 13th October 2011. Jeremy Herrin, Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court, will direct and the production will be designed by Peter McKintosh.

Olivier Award nominee Tom Goodman-Hill has performed in a number of West End productions including Enron, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical) and An Inspector Calls. Tom has also appeared in Earthquakes in London and Tartuffe (National Theatre), as well as Bartholomew Fair, Talk of the City and The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the RSC.

Anthony Calf has appeared in numerous Theatre productions for the Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre and The Royal Court. Recent credits include: Les Parents Terribles (Donmar Trafalgar Season), The Deep Blue Sea (Chichester Festival Theatre), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Royal Court Theatre), The White Guard and The Power of Yes (National Theatre). Anthony’s recent television credits include the 2010 remake of Upstairs, Downstairs and Holby City (BBC).

This will be the first West End production of Dorfman’s 1990 play since the world premiere at the Royal Court in 1991 which transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre in 1992 where it played for 12 months. Subsequently, the play was produced on Broadway and adapted into a film.

The play is an intense and thrilling account of confession and revenge set against the backdrop of a new democracy, emerging from a long period of dictatorship.

Years have passed since political prisoner, Paulina, suffered at the hands of her captor: A man whose face she never saw, but whose voice and mannerisms can still recall with terrifying clarity.

One evening, by chance, a stranger arrives at the secluded beach house she shares with her husband Gerardo, a human rights lawyer. A stranger Paulina is convinced was her tormentor and must now be held to account…

Thandie Newton was awarded a BAFTA for her role in Crash, Paul Haggis’ Oscar-winning film about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. She also starred in the title role in Beloved opposite Oprah Winfrey and in Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise. She appeared in The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and played Simon Pegg’s ex-girlfriend in Run Fat Boy Run. She played Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone’s W and the US President’s daughter in 2012. She was most recently seen in Huge and is currently filming Good Deeds, written and directed by Tyler Perry, whom also stars.

Jeremy Herrin is the Deputy Artistic Director at the Royal Court where he has directed Polly Stenham’s plays That Face and Tusk Tusk, David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, Michael Wynne’s The Priory, Richard Bean’s The Heretic and other new writing. This year he made his Shakespearean debut directing the acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre with Eve Best and Charles Edwards, and will direct South Downs at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester in September.

Release issued by: The Corner Shop PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre

Death and the Maiden tickets at the Comedy Theatre starring Thandie Newton

British film star Thandie Newton (Crash) stars in a strictly limited run of Ariel Dorfman’s explosive drama Death and the Maiden, directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Thandie Newton to star in Death And The Maiden at the Comedy Theatre

Hollywood actress Thandie Newton is to appear in the West End this autumn in Ariel Dorfman’s play Death And The Maiden at the Comedy Theatre.

Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court Jeremy Herrin will direct the play, which starts its run on 13 October 2011.

Thandie Newton will play former political prisoner Paulina Salas, who suffered at the hands of a captor whose face she never saw, but whose voice and mannerisms she recalls with terrifying clarity.

The role was originated by Juliet Stevenson in 1990 when the play premiered at the Royal Court before transferring into the West End. A 1994 movie was shot by Roman Polanski.

Thandie Newton won a BAFTA for Paul Haggis’ Oscar-winning movie Crash. Other films include 2012, Beloved, Mission Impossible II, The Pursuit of Happyness, Run Fat Boy Run, Oliver Stone’s W, Huge and forthcoming movie Good Deeds.

Newton, who is an ambassador for the Rambert Dance Company, has been looking for a West End project for some time.

Tickets for Death and the Maiden go on sale on Monday.

LINKS

Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre in London 

Death And The Maiden By Ariel Dorfman With Thandie Newton At The Comedy Theatre From October 13, 2011

DIRECTED BY JEREMY HERRIN

Thandie Newton will play Paulina Salas in Ariel Dorfman’s Olivier award-winning thriller Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre from Thursday 13th October 2011. Jeremy Herrin, Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court, will direct and the production will be designed by Peter McKintosh.

This will be the first London production of Dorfman’s 1990 play since the world premiere at the Royal Court in 1991 which transferred to the West End in 1992 where it played for 12 months. Subsequently, the play was produced on Broadway and adapted into a film.

The play is an intense and thrilling account of confession and revenge set against the backdrop of a new democracy, emerging from a long period of dictatorship.

Thandie Newton will play a former political prisoner who suffered at the hands of a captor whose face she never saw, but whose voice and mannerisms she recalls with terrifying clarity. Years later, and as if by fate, she acts as judge and jury to a man she believes to have been her oppressor. She struggles to find a form of reconciliation for the experience that she and others, have endured.

Casting of the two male roles will be announced soon.

Thandie Newton was awarded a BAFTA for her role in Crash, Paul Haggis’ Oscar-winning film about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. She also starred in the title role in Beloved opposite Oprah Winfrey and in Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise. She appeared in The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and played Simon Pegg’s ex-girlfriend in Run Fat Boy Run. She played Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone’s W and the US President’s daughter in 2012. She was most recently seen in Huge and is currently filming Good Deeds, written and directed by Tyler Perry, whom also stars.

Jeremy Herrin is the Deputy Artistic Director at the Royal Court where he has directed Polly Stenham’s plays That Face and Tusk Tusk, David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, Michael Wayne’s The Priory, Richard Beane’s The Heretic and other new writing. This year he made his Shakespearean debut directing the acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre with Eve Best and Charles Edwards, and will direct South Downs at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester in September.

Tickets are on sale from Monday 25 July 2011 at 9am.

www.deathandthemaidentheplay.com

Box Office: 0844 871 7622

Release issued by: The Corner Shop PR

Chichester Festival announces new season

The Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, including a major celebration of the work of Terence Rattigan and three new productions of classic musicals.

High-profile directors include Trevor Nunn, Max Stafford-Clark, Jonathan Church, Philip Franks and Sean Mathias.

Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to star in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Sir Ian McKellen returns to Chichester to star alongside Michael Pennington in The Syndicate.

Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, starting on 9 May. Artistic Director Jonathan Church has put together an impressive slate of new productions, attracting major directors and stellar acting talent to cover both drama and musicals.

Three big musicals will be revived this year, following Chichester’s 2010 stage version of famous film weepy Love Story, which is currently playing at the Duchess Theatre in London. The season kicks off with Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me (from 9 May), starring Joe McFadden and Dianne Pilkington, and directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear. The show was last seen in the West End in 1994 starring Ruthie Henshall, John Gordon Sinclair and Tracie Bennett.

From 27 June, MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain gets a brand new production by Jonathan Church, starring Adam Cooper, Daniel Crossley and Scarlett Strallen. The musical trio is completed at the end of the season by the much talked-about and anticipated new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (from 24 September), directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Michael Ball in the title role and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.

The festival will also celebrate the work of Terence Rattigan with a mini season of productions, timed to coincide with the playwright’s centenary year in 2011. Shows include The Deep Blue Sea (from 13 July) directed by Philip Franks; and The Browning Version (from 2 September) directed by Angus Jackson, alongside the world premiere of a new one-act play by David Hare, South Downs, directed by Jeremy Herrin and commissioned by the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version. Also Nicholas Wright’s new play Rattigan’s Nijinsky, based on a screenplay by Rattigan, will get a world premiere from 19 July  directed by Philip Franks; and from 31 July the festival will hold a series of rehearsed readings of some of Rattigan’s lesser-known plays, including First Episode,  Adventure Story, Variation On A Theme, Heart To Heart and Harlequinade, plus In Praise Of Rattigan, devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner and directed and featuring Penelope Keith.

Other new productions include Trevor Nunn following his spring production of Rattigan’s Flare Path in the West End, by directing Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (from 20 May); Max Stafford-Clark and his Out of Joint theatre company join forces with Chichester to revisit Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play Top Girls (from 23 June); and Sir Ian McKellen stars in a new version of Eduardo De Filippo’s The Syndicate (from 21 July), also starring Michael Pennington and directed by Sean Mathias.

LINKS

Chichester Festival Theatre website

Video: Sweeney Todd – Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton on The Michael Ball Show

Next Page »