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

Chichester Festival Theatre Announces Festival 2011

At the heart of the sixth season from Artistic Director Jonathan Church and Executive Director Alan Finch will be ‘a Festival within a Festival’ celebrating the achievements of playwright Terence Rattigan in the centenary year of his birth. There will be productions of two of his finest plays, The Deep Blue Sea and The Browning Version, both of which will play in conjunction with the world premiere of a connected piece, Rattigan’s Nijinsky by Nicholas Wright and South Downs by David Hare. There will also be a series of Rattigan-themed rehearsed readings, discussions and talks. For the first time, the season also features three musicals, She Loves Me, Singin’ in the Rain and Sweeney Todd, which will form the beginning, middle and end of the Festival. Vastly different in style and content, these three productions reflect the diversity and range of musical theatre itself.

SHE LOVES ME
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
9 May – 18 June, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Monday 16 May 7.00pm)

Director & Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Designer: Anthony Ward
Lighting Designer: Chris Davey
Musical Director: Phil Bateman
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie
Orchestrator: Steven Edis

A witty and warm-hearted musical gem – later reworked for the big screen as The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail – this is the delightful story of Georg and Amalia, two lovelorn assistants in a 1930s parfumerie. They squabble by day but at night write anonymous love letters, both unaware that they are each other’s secret correspondent.

The cast features Joe McFadden. Last at Chichester in Festival 05’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, his other credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Rent on stage and Heartbeat, Casualty and Cranford on television.

Dianne Pilkington plays Amalia. Her stage credits include The 39 Steps, Wicked, The Wolf Man, Taboo, Tonight’s The Night, The Beautiful Game and Les Misérables.

The musical will be directed and choreographed by Chichester Festival Theatre Associate Stephen Mear.

His productions for Chichester include The Music Man and Funny Girl. Other credits include the forthcoming West End production of Betty Blue Eyes, Shoes, Mary Poppins, for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Choreography, together with Matthew Bourne, and Hello, Dolly! for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.

TOM STOPPARD’S ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
20 May – 11 June, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 31 May 7.00pm)

Director: Trevor Nunn
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell

This richly inventive play retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who inhabit a world completely beyond their grasp and control.

Tom Stoppard’s plays include The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, while his screenplays include Shakespeare in Love for which he was awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay, together with co-writer Marc Norman.

Trevor Nunn directed Cyrano de Bergerac for Festival 09. He has been Artistic Director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and his credits include the forthcoming West End production of Flare Path, as well as Birdsong, A Little Night Music, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hamlet, King Lear, The Seagull and Porgy and Bess.

TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill
23 June – 16 July, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 30 June 7.00pm)

Director: Max Stafford-Clark
Designer: Tim Shortall
Lighting Designer: Jason Taylor

One of the boldest and most original plays of the 1980s, Top Girls remains equally relevant today. A provocative study of powerful women in Thatcher’s Britain, the play examines the compromises made by women in the quest for success, and what happens to those left behind.

Caryl Churchill’s plays include Cloud Nine, Serious Money, for which she received the Evening Standard Award for Best New Comedy and the Olivier Award for Best New Play, Far Away and A Number.

Max Stafford-Clark returns to Top Girls, having directed its premiere at the Royal Court in 1982. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1979 – 1993 and of the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh from 1968 – 1970. He co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 and Out of Joint in 1993. Among his directing credits are regular collaborations with writer Caryl Churchill, including Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud Nine and Serious Money.

Top Girls is a co-production with Out of Joint.

Contains adult themes and strong language.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Based on the MGM film
Screenplay and adaptation by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed
27 June – 10 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 5 July 7.00pm)

Director: Jonathan Church
Designer: Simon Higlett
Choreographer: Andrew Wright
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
Musical Director: Robert Scott
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie

This classic musical evokes the era when the silver screen was changed forever by the emergence of talking pictures. The glorious score features Make ‘em Laugh, Good Morning, Moses Supposes and Singin’ in the Rain.

Adam Cooper, whose credits include On Your Toes and Guys and Dolls, plays silent movies star Don Lockwood. The cast also features Daniel Crossley, whose credits include Hello Dolly!, Chicago, Fosse and Mary Poppins, and Scarlett Strallen, who has appeared in The Music Man (Festival 08), Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Jonathan Church is Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director. His credits for Chichester include The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound, The Grapes of Wrath, Pravda, Hobson’s Choice, The Circle and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. His credits also include Master Class and the Olivier Award-nominated Of Mice and Men.

THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Rattigan
13 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July 2.15pm)

Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott

With his trademark empathy and sensitivity, Rattigan explores the driving force of desire and its devastating consequences through his depiction of Hester Collyer, torn between her love for a callow younger man, and the security of a lifeless marriage.

Terence Rattigan’s plays include Separate Tables, In Praise of Love, The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version which will also be staged during Festival 2011. The Deep Blue Sea will be partnered by the world premiere of Rattigan’s Nijinsky (see below) which will be performed by the same company of actors. Both productions form part of the ‘festival within a Festival’ taking place to mark the centenary of Rattigan’s birth.

RATTIGAN’S NIJINSKY by Nicholas Wright WORLD PREMIERE
Based on a screenplay by Terence Rattigan
19 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July, 7.00pm)

Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott

This production marks the staging of two world premieres in one. In 1974 Terence Rattigan wrote a television script for the BBC about Diaghilev, the impresario behind the Ballet Russes and Nijinsky, the most renowned dancer of all time. The screenplay was later withdrawn in mysterious circumstances by Rattigan himself and neither produced nor published.

Now, in his new play, Nicholas Wright imagines why. The dying Rattigan meets Nijinsky’s elderly widow, Romola, to fight over his play. Meanwhile, in the same room, Diaghilev and the young Romola fight over the tormented Nijinsky.

Nicholas Wright’s work includes Mrs Klein, Vincent in Brixton, the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and The Reporter.

Philip Franks directs both The Deep Blue Sea and Rattigan’s Nijinsky. His productions for Chichester include The Master Builder, Separate Tables, Twelfth Night and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

THE SYNDICATE (Il Sindaco Del Rione Sanità) by Eduardo De Filippo
In a new version by Mike Poulton
WORLD PREMIERE
21 July – 20 August, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 2 August 7.00pm)

Director: Sean Mathias

Ian McKellen returns to Chichester for the first time in several decades to play Don Antonio, the Godfather making someone an offer they can’t refuse in this witty dark comedy set in 1960s Naples. McKellen’s distinguished career includes theatre credits for Macbeth, Waiting for Godot and King Lear. His film credits include The Lord of the Rings, Gods and Monsters, Richard III, Dance of Death and X Men.

The cast also features Michael Pennington as Dr Fabio. His credits include The Master Builder (Festival 2010), Collaboration and Taking Sides (Festivals 08 and 09), The Iron Lady and Love is My Sin, as well as extensive work with the RSC and his English Shakespeare Company.

Eduardo De Filippo’s plays include Napoli Milionaria, Filumena and Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Mike Poulton’s adaptations include Wallenstein (Festival 09), The Cherry Orchard, The Father, Fortune’s Fool and Uncle Vanya.

Sean Mathias’ stage credits include Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Little Night Music and the award-winning film Bent.

SOUTH DOWNS by David Hare WORLD PREMIERE
THE BROWNING VERSION by Terence Rattigan
2 September – 8 October, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Wednesday 14 September 7pm)

South Downs
Director: Jeremy Herrin

David Hare’s new one-act play, written at the invitation of the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version, concerns a lonely boy at a public school on the South Downs. It is a meditation on learning, faith and teenage friendship set against the backdrop of a Britain still striving to maintain the established order.

David Hare’s plays include The Power of Yes, Stuff Happens, Gethsemane, The Vertical Hour, Amy’s View, Racing Demons, which received an Olivier Award for Best New Play, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, Pravda (with Howard Brenton) which received an Evening Standard Award for Best Play and Skylight; his screenplays include The Reader and The Hours.

Jeremy Herrin is Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court where he has directed David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, That Face and The Heretic. He has also directed The Family Reunion at the Donmar and Statement of Regret at the National Theatre.

The Browning Version
Director: Angus Jackson

Classics master Andrew Crocker-Harris, brilliant scholar turned unpopular teacher is retiring from a public school to teach in a crammer. His years of self-loathing, buttoned-up disappointment and humiliation are released by a small gesture of unexpected kindness from one of his pupils in this poignant one-act play.

Associate Director Angus Jackson’s credits for Chichester include Goodnight Mister Tom (currently touring), Bingo, Wallenstein, Funny Girl, The Waltz of the Toreadors and Carousel. His other stage credits include Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Rocket to the Moon and David Hare’s The Power of Yes, all for the National Theatre.

SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
24 September – 5 November, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 6 October 7pm)

Director: Jonathan Kent
Designer: Anthony Ward
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
Musical Director: Nicholas Skilbeck
Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis

Acclaimed musical theatre actor Michael Ball takes the title role in this dark and witty portrayal of corruption and revenge, generally acknowledged as Sondheim’s masterpiece. Combining elements of horror with English music hall, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s return to nineteenth century London following years of false imprisonment.

Stephen Sondheim’s musicals include Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.

Michael Ball’s stage credits include originating the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, for which he won Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. He will be reprising the role on tour this Spring. Other stage credits include Les Misérables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Phantom of the Opera, Passion and The Woman in White. Last year he co-produced the West End production of Love Story following its Chichester premiere during Festival 2010.

Award-winning actress Imelda Staunton plays Sweeney Todd’s accomplice, the pie-shop owner Mrs Lovett. Staunton’s film credits include Vera Drake for which she received the BAFTA Best Actress Award and an Oscar nomination, Another Year, the Harry Potter series and Shakespeare in Love. Her stage credits include Entertaining Mr Sloane, Guys and Dolls and Into The Woods. On television she has featured in Cranford and Psychoville.

Jonathan Kent directed A Month in the Country for Chichester’s Festival 2010. Other recent work includes the National Theatre production of Oepidus starring Ralph Fiennes and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne. He was Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre for 12 years where his work included When We Dead Awaken, All For Love, Medea, The School For Wives and Gangster No.1.

Age guideline: 12+

TERENCE RATTIGAN – A CELEBRATION
As part of this year’s celebration of the life and work of Terence Rattigan, there will be a series of rehearsed readings of some of his lesser-known plays with members of the Festival Company and special guests.

FIRST EPISODE (1933)
Sunday 31 July, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
Written with Philip Heimann while Rattigan was still at Oxford, this play depicts the devastating impact of a visiting actress upon a group of undergraduates.

IN PRAISE OF RATTIGAN
Sunday 7 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by and featuring Penelope Keith
An entertainment devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner.

ADVENTURE STORY (1949)
Sunday 14 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Tim Hoare
One of Rattigan’s own favourite plays – never been produced since its premiere – this sweeping historical drama is the story of Alexander the Great, who conquers the world and loses his soul.

VARIATION ON A THEME (1958)
Sunday 21 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Michael Oakley
Rattigan’s retelling of the story of Camille, in which Marguerite Gaultier falls hopelessly in love with a bisexual dancer much younger than herself.

HEART TO HEART (1962)
Sunday 4 September, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
During the course of a live interview, an eminent politician is forced to reveal the truth about his political and personal life. This prophetic play is based on the infamous television interview programme Face to Face hosted by John Freeman from 1959 – 1962.

HARLEQUINADE (1949)
Sunday 25 September, Minerva Theatre 6.00pm
Directed by Angus Jackson
This humourous caricature of post-war theatre life was originally performed in a double bill with The Browning Version, which plays this season in the Minerva Theatre.

There will also be various other events, pre- and post-show talks, Saturday shorts and workshops related to Festival 2011 productions. Full details are in the Festival brochure, pages 25 – 27, or online at www.cft.org.uk/takingpart

Priority Booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens on Thursday 17 February at 10.00am. To become a Friend of the Theatre and benefit from priority booking and discounted tickets, call 01243 781312 or join online at www.cft.org.uk/friends.

Online public booking opens for everyone on Monday 28 February at 10.00am. Telephone and counter booking opens for everyone on Thursday 3 March. Tickets £10 – £38 available online at www.cft.org.uk or contact the Box Office on 01243 781312.

Chichester Festival Theatre is working in partnership with The University of Chichester to offer reduced price tickets for the first three performances of all productions in the Festival Theatre. To book for The University of Chichester Festival Theatre Previews, visit www.cft.org.uk or call the Box Office on 01243 781312.

Release issued by: Chichester Festival Theatre press office

LINKS

Chichester Festival Theatre website

Sienna Miller in Flare Path – Preview Offer

Save £14 on preview tickets to Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Offer valid until 17 March 2011

This spring Trevor Nunn revives Terence Rattigan’s wartime romance Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, timed to celebrate the centenary of the acclaimed playwright.

An all-star cast leads this compelling new production, including Sienna Miller (The Edge of Love) as Patricia, James Purefoy (HBO’s Rome) as Peter, Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde) as Doris, Joe Armstrong as Dusty, Sarah Crowden as Mrs Oakes and Clive Woods as Swanson.

Set near an airfield in Lincolnshire in 1942, the year the play was written and first performed, Rattigan’s drama involves love and heartache between an actress, a young bomber pilot and a famous movie heartthrob.

The revival runs at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 4 March 2011 and WestEndTheatre.com theatregoers can now enjoy up to £14 off tickets to see a preview of the play.

Save £14 on preview tickets to Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Offer valid until 17 March 2011

Flare Path tickets at the Theatre Royal Haymarket starring Sienna Miller and Sheridan Smith

Terence Rattigan’s wartime romance Flare Path is given the all-star treatment by Trevor Nunn at the Theatre Royal Haymarket starring Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Olivier Award winner Sheridan Smith.

Sheridan Smith to return to West End

Legally Blonde’s Sheridan Smith and Rome’s James Purefoy will join Sienna Miller in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket this March.

The revival of Terence Rattigan’s wartime romance will be Trevor Nunn’s opening production as new artistic director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and is timed to celebrate the centenary year of the playwright.

Sheridan Smith, who starred as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre for its opening year, will join the cast as Doris alongside HBO’s Rome star James Purefoy as Peter. Sienna Miller will star in the play as Patricia.

Set near an airfield in Lincolnshire in 1942, the year the play was written and first performed, Rattigan’s drama involves love and heartache between an actress, a young bomber pilot and a famous movie heartthrob.

The revival runs at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 4 March 2011 and casting also includes Joe Armstrong as Dusty, Sarah Crowden as Mrs Oakes and Clive Woods as Swanson.

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

CAST BIOGS

James Purefoy is best known on television for his role as Marc Antony in HBO’s epic award-winning TV series Rome. His other television credits include NBC’s The Philanthropist in which he played the leading character, Teddy Rist, and the forthcoming Injustice for ITV1. His most prominent film credits include Resident Evil, Vanity Fair, the Black Prince in A Knight’s Tale and the title role in Solomon Kane. He has recently completed filming the forthcoming Ironclad and John Carter of Mars. His theatre credits include Macbeth, The Tempest, The Man Who Came to Dinner and King Lear all for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hamlet for the Bristol Old Vic, Present Laughter at the Globe Theatre, Simon Callow’s stage adaptation of Les Enfants du Paradis at the Barbican, and The Relapse, directed by Trevor Nunn, at the National Theatre.

Sheridan Smith has recently completed a critically acclaimed run as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde The Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Her other theatre credits include Into the Woods at the Donmar Warehouse, Ancient Lights for Hampstead Theatre, The People are Friendly for the Royal Court, Tinderbox at The Bush Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory and in the West End as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park. Her extensive television credits include BBC comedies Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps, The Royle Family, Grown Ups, Love Soup and the ITV1 comedy Benidorm. She recently worked with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jonathan Pryce on her first feature film, Hysteria, to be released later this year.

Sienna Miller trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. She was last on stage at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre playing the title role in After Miss Julie. Her other New York theatre credits include Independence, The School for Scandal and Cigarettes and Chocolate. She was last on stage in the West End playing Celia in Shakespeare’s As You Like It opposite Helen McCrory and Dominic West. Her many film credits include Layer Cake, Alfie, Casanova, Factory Girl, The Interview, Stardust, Camille, The Edge of Love, Hippie Hippie Shake, G.I. Joe and Yellow. On television her credits include Bedtime and Keen Eddie.

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

James Purefoy And Sheridan Smith Join Sienna Miller In Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path Directed By Trevor Nunn

James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith will join Sienna Miller in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, directed by Trevor Nunn at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Opening on 10 March 2011 with previews from 4 March 2011 Flare Path is booking until 4 June 2011. Set and costumes are by Stephen Brimson Lewis. Flare Path is produced by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Tom McKitterick and the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in association with Act Productions Ltd.

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

The cast includes Joe Armstrong (Dusty), Sarah Crowden (Mrs.Oakes), Sienna Miller (Patricia), James Purefoy (Peter), Sheridan Smith (Doris) and Clive Woods (Swanson). Final casting details will be announced shortly.

Flare Path was first performed in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1942. It is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War. He later reworked Flare Path into a screenplay and in 1945 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was successfully released.

James Purefoy is best known on television for his role as Marc Antony in HBO’s epic award-winning TV series Rome. His other television credits include NBC’s The Philanthropist in which he played the leading character, Teddy Rist, and the forthcoming Injustice for ITV1. His most prominent film credits include Resident Evil, Vanity Fair, the Black Prince in A Knight’s Tale and the title role in Solomon Kane. He has recently completed filming the forthcoming Ironclad and John Carter of Mars. His theatre credits include Macbeth, The Tempest, The Man Who Came to Dinner and King Lear all for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hamlet for the Bristol Old Vic, Present Laughter at the Globe Theatre, Simon Callow’s stage adaptation of Les Enfants du Paradis at the Barbican, and The Relapse, directed by Trevor Nunn, at the National Theatre.

Sheridan Smith has recently completed a critically acclaimed run as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde The Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Her other theatre credits include Into the Woods at the Donmar Warehouse, Ancient Lights for Hampstead Theatre, The People are Friendly for the Royal Court, Tinderbox at The Bush Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory and in the West End as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park. Her extensive television credits include BBC comedies Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps, The Royle Family, Grown Ups, Love Soup and the ITV1 comedy Benidorm. She recently worked with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jonathan Pryce on her first feature film, Hysteria, to be released later this year.

Sienna Miller trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. She was last on stage at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre playing the title role in After Miss Julie. Her other New York theatre credits include Independence, The School for Scandal and Cigarettes and Chocolate. She was last on stage in the West End playing Celia in Shakespeare’s As You Like It opposite Helen McCrory and Dominic West. Her many film credits include Layer Cake, Alfie, Casanova, Factory Girl, The Interview, Stardust, Camille, The Edge of Love, Hippie Hippie Shake, G.I. Joe and Yellow. On television her credits include Bedtime and Keen Eddie.

Trevor Nunn was the longest-serving Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1968 to 1986). During that time he directed most of the Shakespeare canon, as well as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables. He returned to the RSC to direct King Lear and The Seagull. From 1997 to 2003 he was Director of the National Theatre where his 21 productions included award-winning revivals of Troilus and Cressida, The Merchant of Venice, Summerfolk and The Cherry Orchard, as well as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, and Anything Goes. He has directed the world premieres of Tom Stoppard’s
Arcadia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Coast of Utopia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and of Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard and The Woman in White by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His more recent theatre work includes Hamlet and Richard II at The Old Vic, Timon of Athens and Skellig for the Young Vic, The Lady From the Sea for the Almeida, Scenes from a Marriage for the Belgrade, Coventry, A Little Night Music for the Menier Chocolate Factory, in the West End and on Broadway, Cyrano de Bergerac for Chichester Festival Theatre, Inherit the Wind for The Old Vic and Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre.

Born in 1911 Terence Rattigan became one of Britain’s most important dramatists. His first play French Without Tears was a critical success and was soon followed by titles such as After the Dance, The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, The Deep Blue Sea and Separate Tables. Several of his plays were adapted for film and television. He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of June 1971 for services to the theatre. 2011 marks the centenary of the birth of Terence Rattigan. As well as Flare Path, celebrations for Rattigan’s centenary year will include several major revivals of his plays in London and beyond, including Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic, a new film of The Deep Blue Sea, a season of his films at the BFI, a special display at the British Library, BBC radio productions and the publication of new editions of his work.

Bomber Command

A campaign to create a memorial to the achievements of Bomber Command in the Second World War is now reaching its climax, having gained the approval of the Royal Family and Government. Although there remains opposition to the erection of the memorial on moral grounds, the unimaginable bravery of the bomber crews is undeniable, as evidenced in the play.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Nunn directs Sienna Miller in Rattigan

Trevor Nunn will direct Hollywood actress Sienna Miller in a new revival of Terence Rattigan’s 1942 play Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket this spring.

Flare Path is to be Nunn’s first production as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, following Jonathan Kent and Sean Mathias in the role.

Flare Path (from 4 March 2011) joins a long list of plays timed for Terence Rattigan’s centenary this year, including Thea Sharrock’s new production of Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic from 17 March starring Anne-Marie Duff and Niamh Cusack, Less Than Kind currently playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre starring Sara Crowe, In Praise of Love at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton from 1 April directed by Richard Beecham, and a revival of The Deep Blue Sea at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 18 February starring Maxine Peake. Also a new movie version of The Deep Blue Sea, starring Simon Russell-Beale, Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston, will open this year in cinemas this year.

In the play Sienna Miller plays Patricia Graham, a former actress married to a pilot but caught in a love triangle. Miller was last seen on stage in 2009 at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre in After Miss Julie alongside Jonny Lee Miller, who will be starring in Frankenstein at the National Theatre from 5 February. She was last seen in London in As You Like It at the Wyndham’s Theatre in 2005. Recent films include The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe. Her partner, Jude Law, is also scheduled to appear in the West End this year, in Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse from 8 August.

Trevor Nunn comes to the production after directing Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre starring Ben Barnes, which closed on Saturday. His production of A Little Night Music continues to run on Broadway.

Flare Path will be designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis.

MORE ABOUT FLARE PATH

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

Flare Path was first performed in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1942. It is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War. He later reworked Flare Path into a screenplay and in 1945 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was successfully released.

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

In Terence Rattigan’s Centenary Year Trevor Nunn Will Direct Sienna Miller In Flare Path

Trevor Nunn is to direct Sienna Miller in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path in the first of a series of productions he will present as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company. Opening on 10 March 2011 with previews from 4 March 2011 Flare Path is booking until 4 June 2011. Set and costumes are by Stephen Brimson Lewis. Flare Path is produced by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Tom McKitterick and the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in association with Act Productions Ltd. Further casting will be announced shortly as well as details of Trevor Nunn’s other productions.

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

Flare Path was first performed in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1942. It is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War. He later reworked Flare Path into a screenplay and in 1945 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was successfully released.

Sienna Miller trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. She was last on stage at Broadway’s Roundabout Theatre playing the title role in After Miss Julie. Her other New York theatre credits include Independence, The School for Scandal and Cigarettes and Chocolate. She was last on stage in the West End playing Celia in Shakespeare’s As You Like It opposite Helen McCrory and Dominic West. Her many film credits include Layer Cake, Alfie, Casanova, Factory Girl, The Interview, Stardust, Camille, The Edge of Love, Hippie Hippie Shake, G.I. Joe and Yellow. On television her credits include Bedtime and Keen Eddie.

Trevor Nunn was the longest-serving Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1968 to 1986). During that time he directed most of the Shakespeare canon, as well as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables. He returned to the RSC to direct King Lear and The Seagull. From 1997 to 2003 he was Director of the National Theatre where his 21 productions included award-winning revivals of Troilus and Cressida, The Merchant of Venice, Summerfolk and The Cherry Orchard, as well as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, and Anything Goes. He has directed the world premieres of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Coast of Utopia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and of Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard and The Woman in White by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His more recent theatre work includes Hamlet and Richard II at The Old Vic, Timon of Athens and Skellig for the Young Vic, The Lady From the Sea for the Almeida, Scenes from a Marriage for the Belgrade, Coventry, A Little Night Music for the Menier Chocolate Factory, in the West End and on Broadway, Cyrano de Bergerac for Chichester Festival Theatre, Inherit the Wind for The Old Vic and Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre.

Born in 1911 Terence Rattigan became one of Britain’s most important dramatists. His first play French Without Tears was a critical success and was soon followed by titles such as After the Dance, The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, The Deep Blue Sea and Separate Tables. Several of his plays were adapted for film and television. He was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of June 1971 for services to the theatre. 2011 marks the centenary of the birth of Terence Rattigan. As well as Flare Path, celebrations for Rattigan’s centenary year will include several major revivals of his plays in London and beyond, including Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic, a new film of The Deep Blue Sea, a season of his films at the BFI, a special display at the British Library, BBC radio productions and the publication of new editions of his work.

Bomber Command

A campaign to create a memorial to the achievements of Bomber Command in the Second World War is now reaching its climax, having gained the approval of the Royal Family and Government. Although there remains opposition to the erection of the memorial on moral grounds, the unimaginable bravery of the bomber crews is undeniable, as evidenced in the play.

The Haymarket Theatre Company

In an initiative pioneered by the theatre’s producers, Arnold M. Crook and Nigel Everett, the newly created Theatre Royal Haymarket Company presented their first season of work in 2007/08 under the direction of Jonathan Kent. The season comprised The Country Wife, The Sea and Marguerite. This was followed by Waiting for Godot and Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Sean Mathias, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in 2009. Now Trevor Nunn will direct a season of work throughout 2011.

The historic Theatre Royal Haymarket, a Grade 1 listed building built in 1821 by John Nash, was erected on The Haymarket a short distance from the original site which dates back to 1720. In 1994, under the direction of Chairman Arnold M. Crook and the Board of Directors, a £1.3 million investment saw a major overhaul and refurbishment of the theatre, restoring the building to its original glory as well as the modernisation of facilities for both theatregoers and theatre practitioners alike.

Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions

Matthew Byam Shaw has produced new work with the Donmar Warehouse, Almeida, Bush, Lyric Hammersmith, Liverpool Playhouse, Chichester Festival Theatres, Sheffield Theatres, Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Court and the National Theatre. His West End productions include Don Carlos, Humble Boy, Mary Stuart, Boeing-Boeing, Frost/Nixon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spring Awakening, Enron, Krapp’s Last Tape and currently Legally Blonde and Yes, Prime Minister. On Broadway he has produced Frost/Nixon (he was also a producer of the Universal/Working Title film), Boeing-Boeing, Mary Stuart, Jude Law’s Hamlet, Enron and most recently Red.

Playful Productions is led by Nia Janis, Nick Salmon and Matthew Byam Shaw. Playful’s team of 18 produces and general manages plays and musicals in the West End, on Broadway, and on tour in the UK and internationally. Productions currently managed by the partnership include Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Dirty Dancing (Aldwych), Shrek, the Musical (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Million Dollar Quartet (Noël Coward) and Clybourne Park (Wyndhams).

Tom McKitterick

As well as serving as a dramaturg for the production Tom McKitterick was credited as an Associate Producer on Period of Adjustment directed by Howard Davies at the Almeida Theatre.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Binkie Beaumont

27 March 1908 – 22 March 1973

Hugh Beaumont, famously known as Binkie Beaumont, was one of the most powerful West End theatre managers of his, or any other, generation.

As co-founder and managing director of play producers H.M. Tennent Ltd, he controlled much of the West End for forty years. He was famously very publicity shy, avoiding his picture being in the papers and leaving scant details about his parents, upbringing, education or even his real name.

He worked out of a small office above the Gielgud Theatre (then the Globe Theatre) on Shaftesbury Avenue and at one time was running a staggering fourteen productions at the same time in London. From 1936 to 1973 the company produced over 400 plays, musicals and revues, covering every aspect of British theatre from big musicals such as My Fair Lady to the edgy new work of Joe Orton.

He touched the lives of many of the most famous writers and actors of the Twentieth Century, forming close working relationships with people such as Noel Coward, Terence Rattigan, Emlyn Williams, Cecil Beaton, John Gielgud, Vivien Leigh, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and Edith Evans.

For much of his time in the West End, he was assisted by the efforts of H.M. Tennent’s talented press agent Vivienne “No News Is Good News” Byerley (1906-1995, obituary).

BOOKSHOP

Binkie Beaumont: Eminence Grise of the West End Theatre, 1933-73 (Richard Huggett)

Angus McBean Portraits (Terence Pepper)

Upper Circle: A Theatrical Chronicle (Kitty Black)

New Old Vic season launched

Kevin Spacey pulls out the stops for his 7th year at the Old Vic with three heavy-weight directors

Hollywood actor and Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey has announced a new season of plays at the Old Vic Theatre in London.

Now in his seventh year at the theatre, Spacey revealed that he has attracted three of Britain’s leading directors to helm three revivals during 2010 and 2011.

Anthony Page, whose credits include last year’s Waiting for Godot on Broadway, will direct Noël Coward’s Design For Living, playing at the theatre from 3 September to 27 November 2010. The play will star Tom Burke (Telstar), Andrew Scott (Lennon Naked) and Lisa Dillon (Cranford). Written in 1932, the comedy concerns the complicated three-way relationship between two men and a woman.

Richard Eyre, who recently directed Kim Cattrall in Private Lives at the Vaudeville Theatre, will direct Georges Feydeau’s 1907 French farce A Flea In Her Ear, in a version by John Mortimer, from 4 December 2010 to 5 March 2011. The production will star Tom Hollander (In The Loop) and Lisa Dillon.

Finally, Thea Sharrock, who has enjoyed enormous success for her current National Theatre staging of Terence Rattigan’s After The Dance, will return to the playwright in his centenary year with a revival of his final play, Cause Célèbre, from 17 March to 11 June 2011.

Sharrock will also direct Alison Steadman in a new production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, coming to the Apollo Theatre from March 2011.

Spacey commented on the new season: “These are three great plays that all rather brilliantly explore the attitudes of their time and offer wonderful roles to actors.”

Current shows at the Old Vic and the Old Vic in the West End:

Book tickets to Design For Living at the Old Vic Theatre

Book tickets to A Flea In Her Ear at the Old Vic Theatre

Book tickets to Cause Célèbre at the Old Vic Theatre

Book tickets to The Tempest at the Old Vic Theatre

Book tickets to As You Like It at the Old Vic Theatre

Book tickets to see The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre

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