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

Chicken Soup With Barley And The Village Bike Extends At Royal Court Theatre

Dominic Cooke’s revival of Arnold Wesker’s play Chicken Soup with Barley will extend for an extra week until Saturday 16 July at the Royal Court Theatre in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike, which begin previews on 24 June (press night 1 July) has also been an extended for an extra week until Saturday 30 July in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.

Chicken Soup with Barley opened to four and five stars across the board last week, matching the record-breaking Clybourne Park’s biggest sales day last year.

The cast includes Samantha Spiro as Sarah Kahn with Jenna Augen, Steve Furst, Rebecca Gethings, Joel Gillman, Ilan Goodman, Harry Peacock, Tom Rosenthal, Danny Webb and Alexis Zegerman. It is directed by Dominic Cooke, designed by Ultz, with lighting by Charles Balfour, sound by Gareth Fry and music by Gary Yershon.

The kettle boils in 1936 as the fascists are marching. Tea is brewed in 1946, with disillusion in the air at the end of the war. Twenty years on, in 1956, as rumours spread of Hungarian revolution, the cup is empty.

Sarah Kahn, an East End Jewish mother, is a feisty political fighter and a staunch communist. Battling against the State and her shirking husband she desperately tries to keep her family together.

A moving and important state-of-the-nation play capturing the collapse of an ideology alongside the disintegration of a family.

The Village Bike is the Royal Court debut from Penelope Skinner. The cast includes Nicholas Burns, Phil Cornwell, Romola Garai, Alexandra Gilbreath, Dominic Rowan and Sasha Waddell. It is directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins, designed by Helen Goddard with lighting by James Farncombe, sound by David McSeveney and video by Christophe Toumazou

‘Isn’t she gorgeous? Hardly been ridden. She’s been in the garage just gathering dust’

Becky’s pregnant and frustrated. But her husband is more interested in the baby manual than her new underwear so she turns to the porn stash under the bed. As the summer heats up, a brief encounter sends her speeding downhill towards reckless abandon.

A provocative and darkly comic look at fantasy and romance.

Age 18+. Contains scenes of a sexual nature.

The Village Bike is part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation

Tickets available online at www.royalcourttheatre.com or from the Box Office on 020 7565 5000.

Release issued by: Royal Court press office

LINKS

Royal Court Theatre website

Cast Announced For Chicken Soup With Barley At Royal Court Theatre

The cast has been announced for Dominic Cooke’s revival of Arnold Wesker’s seminal play Chicken Soup with Barley, which returns to the Royal Court Theatre in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 2 June (press night 7 June).

Samantha Spiro, as previously announced will play the pivotal role of the matriarch Sarah Kahn and will be joined by Jenna Augen, Steve Furst, Joel Gillman, Ilan Goodman, Harry Peacock, Tom Rosenthal, Danny Webb and Alexis Zegerman.

Chicken Soup with Barley, the first in a trilogy that includes Roots and I’m Talking about Jerusalem was first performed at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 1958 and transferred to the Royal Court in the same year. The full trilogy was performed at the Royal Court in 1960.

The kettle boils in 1936 as the fascists are marching. Tea is brewed in 1946, with disillusion in the air at the end of the war. Twenty years on, in 1956, as rumours spread of Hungarian revolution, the cup is empty.

Sarah Kahn, an East End Jewish mother, is a feisty political fighter and a staunch communist. Battling against the State and her shirking husband she desperately tries to keep her family together.

A moving and important state-of-the-nation play capturing the collapse of an ideology alongside the disintegration of a family.

Jenna Augen will make her stage debut after graduating from Rada to play Ada Kahn. Steve Furst will play Hymie Kossof. His credits include Wet Weather Cover at the King’s Head Theatre, on television, he is well-known for his comic roles in Little Britain, CBBC’s Dick and Dom and appeared in the BBC1 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. On film, his credits include St Trinian’s.

Joel Gillman plays Dave Simmonds, making his stage debut after graduating from the Drama Centre. His TV credits include Being Human, Casualty and Garrow’s Law. Ilan Goodman plays Prince Silver. His previous credits include Miss Nightingale at the Lowry, Danton’s Death at the National Theatre and Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic.

Harry Peacock plays Monty Blatt. His credits include As You Like It at the Sheffield Crucible, Henry IV Parts I and II, His Dark Materials and Cyrano de Bergerac at the National Theatre. Tom Rosenthal plays Ronnie Kahn. An award winning stand-up comedian, he is currently starring in Friday Night Dinner on Channel 4.

Samantha Spiro plays Sarah Kahn. She last appeared at the Royal Court in The Family Plays and most recently appeared in Hello Dolly! at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. On television, she recently won a 2011 Comedy Award in the Best Female Comedy Breakthrough category for her part in the TV sitcom Grandma’s House on BBC 1. Her other credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Regent’s Park, Twelfth Night at the Donmar Warehouse, and Funny Girl at Chichester Festival Theatre and she played Barbara Windsor in Terry Johnson’s TV play Cor, Blimey!

Danny Webb plays Harry Kahn. He previously appeared at the Royal Court in Serious Money , Piano Forte and Trade. His other credits include Blasted at the Lyric Hammersmith, The Philanthropist at the Donmar Warehouse, The Green Man at the Bush Theatre, Richard III at Sheffield Crucible and Art in the West End. On screen, he appeared in the BBC drama Land Girls.

Alexis Zegerman plays Cissie. Her credits include Two Thousand Years at the National Theatre and on screen she played the lead role of Zoe in Mike Leigh’s film Happy Go Lucky for which she won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the British Independent Film Awards. She is also a writer and her first full length play for the stage was Lucky Seven at Hampstead Theatre in 2008.

Arnold Wesker’s plays at the Royal Court have included The Wesker Trilogy (Chicken Soup with Barley, Roots and I’m Talking About Jerusalem), The Kitchen, Chips with Everything, Their Very Own and Golden City and The Old Ones. More recently his plays have included Longitude at Greenwich Theatre, Denial at Bristol Old Vic and Break My Heart at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff. His recent books include Wesker on Theatre, Wesker’s Monologues, Wesker’s Love Plays, Wesker’s Political Plays, Wesker’s Social Plays (all published by Oberon books).

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Dominic Cooke directs. He is currently directing the award-winning production of Clybourne Park, which opened at the Royal Court in September 2010 to critical acclaim and which continues in the West End at the Wyndhams Theatre until 7 May.

Other credits at the Royal Court include Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever, Seven Jewish Children, Wig Out!, Now or Later, Rhinoceros and two plays in Mark Ravenhill’s epic play cycle Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat. His credits elsewhere include Arabian Nights and Noughts and Crosses, both for the RSC, as adapter and director. He won the Olivier award for Best Director and Best Revival for The Crucible.

The production will be designed by Ultz, whose previous designs at the Royal Court have included Off the Endz, Jerusalem and Wig Out! Lighting is by Charles Balfour, sound by Gareth Fry and composition by Gary Yershon.

Chicken Soup with Barley will be the first production in the year-long sponsorship of the Royal Court by Coutts & Co, which begins in May 2011.

This is the first time that the Coutts & Co has been the Principal Sponsor of the Royal Court, although the relationship has been ongoing since 2004, with the private bank sponsoring the Royal Court’s 50th anniversary year and most recently its first ever family Christmas show Get Santa!

Chicken Soup with Barley opens in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 2 June. Tickets are available online at www.royalcourttheatre.com or from the Box Office on 020 7565 5000.

Release issued by: Royal Court

LINKS

Royal Court website

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actress Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – BEST ACTRESS WINNERS

Best Actress

2012 Ruth Wilson for Anna Christie
2011 Nancy Carroll for After the Dance
2010 Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire
2009 Margaret Tyzack for The Chalk Garden
2008 Kristin Scott Thomas for Chekhov’s The Seagull
2007 Tamsin Greig for Much Ado About Nothing
2006 Eve Best for Hedda Gabler
2005 Clare Higgins for Hecuba
2004 Eileen Atkins for Honour
2003 Clare Higgins for Vincent In Brixton
2002 Lindsay Duncan for Private Lives
2001 Julie Walters for All My Sons
2000 Janie Dee for Comic Potential
1999 Eileen Atkins for The Unexpected Man
1998 Zoë Wanamaker for Electra
1997 Janet McTeer for A Doll’s House
1996 Judi Dench for Absolute Hell
1995 Clare Higgins for Sweet Bird Of Youth
1994 Fiona Shaw for Machinal
1993 Alison Steadman for The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice
1992 Juliet Stevenson for Death And The Maiden
1991 Kathryn Hunter for The Visit
1989/90 Fiona Shaw for Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person Of Sichuan
1987 Judi Dench for Antony and Cleopatra
1986 Lindsay Duncan for Les Liaisons Dangereuses
1985 Yvonne Bryceland for The Road To Mecca

Actress of the Year in a New Play

1988 Pauline Collins for Shirley Valentine
1984 Thuli Dumakude for Poppie Nongena
1983 Judi Dench for Pack Of Lies
1982 Rosemary Leach for 84 Charing Cross Road
1981 Elizabeth Quinn for Children Of A Lesser God
1980 Frances de la Tour for Duet For One
1979 Jane Lapotaire for Piaf
1978 Joan Plowright for Filumena
1977 Alison Fiske for Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi
1976 Peggy Ashcroft for Old World

Actress of the Year in a Revival

1988 Harriet Walter for Twelfth Night and The Three Sisters
1984 Vanessa Redgrave for The Aspern Papers
1983 Frances de la Tour for A Moon For The Misbegotten
1982 Cheryl Campbell for A Doll’s House
1981 Margaret Tyzack for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
1980 Judi Dench for Juno And The Paycock
1979 Zoë Wanamaker for Once In A Lifetime
1978 Dorothy Tutin for The Double Dealer
1977 Judi Dench for Macbeth
1976 Dorothy Tutin for A Month In The Country

Best Actress in a Musical

2012 The Matildas for Matilda The Musical (Sophia Kiely, Kerry Ingram, Cleo Demetriou and Eleanor Worthington Cox)
2011 Sheridan Smith for Legally Blonde – The Musical
2010 Samantha Spiro for Hello Dolly!
2009 Elena Roger for Piaf
2008 Leanne Jones for Hairspray
2007 Jenna Russell for Sunday In The Park With George
2006 Jane Krakowski for Guys And Dolls
2005 Laura Michelle Kelly for Mary Poppins
2004 Maria Friedman for Ragtime at the Piccadilly
2003 Joanna Riding for My Fair Lady
2002 Martine McCutcheon for My Fair Lady
2001 Samantha Spiro for Merrily We Roll Along
2000 Barbara Dickson for Spend Spend Spend
1999 Sophie Thompson for Into The Woods
1998 Ute Lemper for Chicago
1997 Maria Friedman for Passion
1996 Judi Dench for A Little Night Music
1995 Ruthie Henshall for She Loves Me
1994 Julia McKenzie for Sweeney Todd
1993 Joanna Riding for Carousel
1992 Wilhelmenia Fernandez for Carmen Jones
1991 Imelda Staunton for Into The Woods
1989/90 Lea Salonga for Miss Saigon
1988 Patricia Routledge for Candide
1987 Nichola McAuliffe for Kiss Me Kate
1986 Lesley Mackie for Judy
1985 Patti LuPone for Les Misérables and The Cradle Will Rock
1984 Natalia Makarova for On Your Toes
1983 Barbara Dickson for Blood Brothers
1982 Julia McKenzie for Guys And Dolls
1981 Carlin Glynn for The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas
1980 Gemma Craven for They’re Playing Our Song
1979 Virginia McKenna for The King And I