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.
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LINKS
Book tickets to Death and the Maiden at the Comedy Theatre
