Written in 1964 and premiered in London 1965, the power of Pinter’s writing, and the quality and skill of this production, mean that the themes of familial dysfunction are just as relevant today as they were over fifty years ago when this work deservedly won the Tony for Best Play in 1967.
This is a funny, if dark, exploration of family and relationships and encompasses all of Pinter’s trademark stillness and slower pace, giving us plenty of time for the meaning to sink in.
Teddy, a professor at an American university, returns to his childhood South London home with his wife, Ruth, to find his father, uncle and brothers still living there. What will happen when the emancipated Ruth is thrown into the masculine world of aggression and self-aggrandisement that has shaped this family? The outcomes are not as obvious as they might at first seem, as Ruth becomes more powerful.
Mathew Horne (Star of BBC’s Gavin & Stacey) is Lenny, one of Teddy’s brothers. Playing very much against type, he owns the stage with a creeping menace and really gives us a sense of hidden (and probably unpleasant) depths, with his impressive delivery of long, complex lines.
Keith Allen (The Young Ones, Comic Strip Presents, Trainspotting) as Max, the capricious and bullying patriarch, commands our attention throughout. A nightmare of a father-figure, he cannot be dismissed at any point, as he changes his mood unpredictably, morphing from a sweet character to one that is quite vile.
Shanaya Rafaat (Eastenders, Lewis) is a cool and enigmatic Ruth. We are challenged to make up our own minds about her motivations and the disruption she brings.
The set is dominated by an absurdly long and high staircase disappearing upward into darkness, contributing to the sense of unreality that is one of the cornerstones of this play. No-one and nothing is quite what it seems.
The sound and lighting design are very effective and unobtrusive, except when the lighting is used several times for a particular dramatic effect giving us a surprise and adding to the general air of menace.
Other Cast members are Sam Alexander (Emmerdale, Lady In The Van) as Teddy, Ian Bartholomew (Coronation Street, Into The Woods) as Sam, the mild-mannered brother of Max and Teddy’s uncle, and Geoffrey Lumb as Joey, Teddy’s other brother.
This is not the show for you if you want the simple and efficient clarity of a TV Soap but if you want to be drawn in, challenged and given plenty to think and talk about on your way home, then this production is not to be missed.
SHEFFIELD THEATRES ANNOUNCES CAST AND FURTHER CREATIVE TEAMS FOR THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY CENTREPIECE
ROCK / PAPER / SCISSORS
By Chris Bush
Co-directed by Robert Hastie, Anthony Lau and Elin Schofield
Designers Janet Bird, Natasha Jenkins and Ben Stones
Lighting Designers Richard Howell, Jai Morjaria and Johanna Town Composer Richard Taylor
Sound Designers Tingying Dong, Annie May Fletcher and Sam Glossop
Movement Director Tom Herron
Casting Director Christopher Worrall Casting Consultant Stuart Burt CDG Assistant Directors Callum Berridge, Grace Cordell and Alexandra Whiteley Assistant Sound Designer JoséGuillermo Puello
Thursday 16 June – Saturday 2 July 2022
Sheffield Theatres todayannounces the cast for its trilogy of new plays, Rock / Paper / Scissors, by Chris Bush.
Performing across all three theatres, the cast includes: Denise Black (Coronation Street)playing Susie, Natalie Casey (Guys and Dolls) playing Mel, Andrew Macbean (Amadeus) playing Leo, Daisy May (Sex Education) playing Molly,Alastair Natkiel(Standing at the Sky’s Edge) playing Billy, Samantha Power (Chicken Soup) playing Faye, Guy Rhys (Mary, Queen of Scots) playing Omar, Lucie Shorthouse (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) playing Zara,Dumile Sibanda (Hedda) playing Ava,Jabez Sykes(Spring Awakening) playing Mason, Maia Tamrakar (Spring Awakening) playing Liv, Joe Usher (The Last Days of Judas) playing Trent, Chanel Waddock (Hamlet) playing Cocoand Leo Wan (Bridgerton)playing Xander.
Denise Black returns to Sheffield Theatres after appearing in Miniatures, her first professional acting job, and Sisters. Natalie Casey is welcomed back following her role in 2019 Christmas musical Guys and Dolls. Alastair Natkiel returns after starring in Standing at the Sky’s Edge, also in 2019. Lucie Shorthouse returns having played Pritti Pasha in the original Sheffield production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and more recently the lead in Victoria Wood’s Talent in 2020. Having appeared in Chicken Soup in the Studio, Samantha Power is also welcomed back to Sheffield Theatres.
Andrew Macbean, Daisy May, Guy Rhys, Dumile Sibanda, Jabez Sykes, Maia Tamrakar, Joe Usher, Chanel Waddock and Leo Wan all make their Sheffield Theatres debut. Four of the roles have been written by Chris Bush specifically for actors who graduated during the pandemic; to ensure them a platform after having launched their careers in such difficult and unprecedented circumstances.
Additional members of the creative team are also announced: joining the previously announced co-directors Robert Hastie, Anthony Lau and Elin Schofield, and designers Janet Bird (Paper in the Lyceum Theatre), Natasha Jenkins (Scissors in the Studio Theatre) and Ben Stones (Rock in the Crucible Theatre), are: Lighting Designers Richard Howell, Jai Morjaria and Johanna Town; Composer Richard Taylor;Sound Designers Tingying Dong, Annie May Fletcher and Sam Glossop; Movement Director Tom Herron; Casting Director Christopher Worrall, Casting Consultant Stuart Burt CDG and Assistant Sound Designer JoséGuillermo Puello. TheAssistant Directors are Callum Berridge, Grace Cordell and Alexandra Whiteley, with Alexandra and Callum joining the creative team as current members of Sheffield Theatres’ Bank Cohort for 2022.
Rock / Paper / Scissors are three new plays by Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge). The centrepiece of Sheffield Theatres’ 50th Anniversary celebrations, the plays will see all three Sheffield spaces – The Crucible, Studio and Lyceum theatres – unite to stage Chris’snew trilogy of plays. Three interlinked but standalone plays will tell the story of a Sheffield scissor manufacturer and the three generations feuding over what happens to the factory site. In a theatrical first, the same cast perform in the Crucible, Lyceum and Studio simultaneously, dashing between scenes, when a character exits one stage, they arrive on another.
Rock / Paper / Scissors runs at Sheffield Theatres from Thursday 16 June – Saturday 2 July 2022. Tickets can be booked through the Box Office in person, over the phone on 0114 249 6000 or at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk. Accessible performances are available.
Join Gecko for playful story songs of pig outlaws, tooth fairy admin and more in
Man With a Guitar Plays Story Songs
at Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh throughout August, as part of PBH’s Free Fringe
Ignored characters in Italian renaissance paintings, pig outlaws and tricky tooth fairy admin are just a few of the topics which singer-songwriter Gecko will be covering this August in Man With a Guitar Plays Story Songs. Expect wit and warmth from this Glastonbury Festival regular, fresh from appearing on the BAFTA-winning Sky TV show Life and Rhymes, when he performs at Banshee Labyrinth (29-35 Niddry St. Edinburgh) from 6-9, 11-16, 18-23, 25-28 August at 2pm as part of PBH’s Free Fringe (free non-ticketed show).
Gecko said: “Audiences can expect songs sung from the point of view of numerous characters including an exhaustive guide to surviving primary school from a 5 year old two weeks into their first term, the trials and tribulations of being repeatedly asked to play Wonderwall during other songs you are already playing, and a reimagining of Rapunzel with less hair pulling. I will try to make you laugh and cry within the space of an hour – and will offer you a full refund if you don’t (note this is a free entry show).”
Gecko is a Singer, Storyteller and Musician. His playful lyrics cover the big things in life; think iPhones, libraries and Guanabana fruit juice to name but a few. With more than 1 million views and 400k likes on TikTok in the past year, Gecko’s previous appearances include Glastonbury, Latitude, Bestival, BBC Scotland, BBC London and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has toured the UK, Europe & New Zealand. Gecko’s music has also been featured on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio X and BBC Introducing. He has twice been awarded ‘Album of the Year’ by The Morning Star newspaper. In 2020, Gecko released his second album, Climbing Frame,crowd funded by his audience in just 48 hours. He has shared bills with the likes of Tim Minchin, Eddie Izzard, Ed Sheeran, Billy Bragg, Josie Long and Robin Ince.
Fans of Gecko’s story songs include Benjamin Zephaniah who said: ‘He’s a work of art’, Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music: ‘Just completely charmed me…I think he’s quite brilliant’, Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1: ‘It made me instantly happy’, John Kennedy, Radio X: ‘Absolutely brilliant’, Gary Crowley, BBC Introducing: ‘Guaranteed to put a smile on even the grumpiest of faces…an absolute favourite’ and Attila the Stockbroker, The Morning Star: ‘a sumptuous feast of lovely melodies and cascades of sweet and clever words, superficially often seemingly inconsequential but with serious undertones’.
The title might be a nod to Pirandello, but there is more of a sense of Beckettian gloom to this unusual, beautifully crafted piece of theatre. Five Characters In Search Of A Good Night’s Sleep tells you pretty much what you’re going to get as a quintet of older people mull over their lives while courting elusive sleep in a series of monologues ranging from the mundane to the deeply moving.
Created by Sonja Linden and director Mike Alfreds in conjunction with a team of actors (two of whom are in the present cast), the show is essentially plotless, concentrating instead on providing snapshots of very different lives, the only common factors being that none of these people are in the first flush of youth, and they’re all in the grip of serious regret. If the length -an hour and three quarters with no interval- feels punishing given the lack of interaction between the actors, the storytelling is undeniably compelling, and the performances are top notch.
It’s a pleasure to see veteran actors of the calibre of Sally Knyvette, Andrew Hawkins and Vincenzo Nicoli working at close quarters, and it is arguably most fascinating watching them fully inhabiting their characters in the moments when they’re not actually speaking. Gary Lilburn’s Irish Hugo, garrulously descending into macular degeneration, is terrific, so vivid and natural that one almost forgets he’s even acting, and is probably the most satisfyingly well crafted creation. Geraldine Alexander breaks the heart as a woman whose grip on a life devoted to being her elderly mother’s carer is slipping.
It’s not exactly feel good entertainment but it’s sweet and sad, and there is some wry humour. For a piece where each character is preoccupied with getting off to sleep, Mike Alfred’s staging moves at an excellent pace, as the monologues bleed into each other, and character’s thoughts are left hanging in the air, like melancholic non sequiturs. It’s tempting to think that the whole thing might work just as well on the radio as on a stage but then one would miss out on Neill Brinkworth’s subtle and rather marvellous lighting design which subtly suggests the transition from the middle of the night to the waking dawn as the piece progresses.
It’s really more an anthology than a conventional play, and the lack of action may prove frustrating for some, but it’s exquisitely done and the performances make it absolutely worth seeing.
Theatr Clwyd today announces the cast for their new production of Celebrated Virgins: A Story of the Ladies of Llangollen, created by Katie Elin-Salt and Eleri B. Jones. This inspiring new play, based on the remarkable true sapphic love story of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, opens at Theatr Mix – Theatr Clwyd’s temporary theatre village – on 24 May, with previews from 20 May, and runs until 4 June. Celebrated Virgins stars Victoria John as Eleanor, Heather Agyepong as Sarah, Seán Carlsen as William and Emma Pallant as Lady Betty/Mary.
Katie Elin-Salt and Eleri Jones said: “We are thrilled to finally be able to bring this important and historic story to the stage, nearly 250 years after it started. We are so grateful to Theatr Clwyd, The Carne Trust, and to Tamara Harvey, for supporting us and giving us the platform to help these women reclaim their life story for a modern audience.”
THEATR MIX, THEATR CLWYD
Theatr Clwyd presents the world première of
CELEBRATED VIRGINS
A STORY OF THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN
Created by Katie Elin-Salt and Eleri B. Jones
Cast: Victoria John (Eleanor), Heather Agyepong (Sarah), Seán Carlsen (William), Emma Pallant (Lady Betty/Mary)
Celebrated Virgins follows the story of Miss Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler, two women raised in the upper echelons of 18th century Irish society who met when their worlds collided at Miss Parkes School for Girls, forming an unbreakable bond. Following this, they were forced to leave their homes and cast out by society. Taking up residence in Llangollen they became minor celebrities, forced to witness their own lives written about by those who could never understand. Now, they are back, ready to take back the story that’s rightfully theirs – on their own terms.
Katie Elin-Salt returns to Theatr Clwyd following a writing residency at the venue from 2020-2021 and various acting credits at the theatre including the Paines Plough Roundabout season, Educating Rita, Under Milkwood, As You Like It, Season’s Greetings and Jack and The Beanstalk. An actor and writer from Bridgend, South Wales, she trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and worked professionally as actor for many years. Most recently she has been seen on BBC Wales starring in The Tuckers. She has worked to develop her writing voice during the pandemic, mentored under the Royal court’s Playwriting scheme and her first play Sprinkles was produced by Dirty Protest in December 2021. She has also had commissions from the Sherman Theatre, Out of Joint and Chippy Lane.
Eleri B. Jones is a Welsh theatre and film director. After seven years working as a professional actor and workshop leader, she moved into directing, mentored by BAFTA-winning director Carol Wiseman and was selected as one of the first two recipients of the Traineeship for Directors in Wales at Theatr Clwyd, supported by the Carne Trust and Sir Ian McKellen. Her previous directing credits include the Women Rediscovered film series (written by Emyr John for Theatr Clwyd/NE Wales Archives), Sprinkles (written by Katie Elin-Salt for Dirty Protest), A Christmas Carol (devised from the original text by Jones & Laura Marie Donnelly for the Charles Dickens Museum) and Gwyl Gaeaf (written by Rebecca Wilson for the Once Upon a Christmas Series, Theatr Clwyd). Eleri also works as an assistant director and has recently finished shooting on the Theatr Clwyd/Rondo Media production of Tim Price’s Isla for BBC Four, directed by Tamara Harvey.
Victoria John returns to Theatr Clwyd to play Sarah. She previously appeared in: Pavilion, Wave Me Goodbye, Cyrano de Bergerac, All My Sons, The Light of Heart, Aristocrats, The Winslow Boy, Rape of the Fair Country, Boeing Boeing, Roots, The Suicide, A Chorus of Disapproval. Her other theatre credits include: Glitterball (RifCo Theatre), The Flock (Chichester Festival Theatre), HIR (Bush Theatre), Play/Silence (The Other Room), The Frozen Scream (WMC/Birmingham Hippodrome), Cancer Time (the Caramel Club), Never, Fear, Love? (Velvet Ensemble/WMC), The Gut Girls (Velvet Ensemble/Sherman Cymru), Treasure (King’s Head Theatre) and Reasons for Feeling (Tristan Bates Theatre). Her television credits include: Gwaith/Cartref, Miranda, Cast Offs and Little Britain.
Heather Agyepong plays Sarah. For theatre, her credits include: The Body Remembers (The Place/Fuel Theatre), Noughts & Crosses (Mercury Theatre Colchester/Pilot Theatre), GIRLS (Talawa Theatre Company/HighTide/Soho Theatre), So Many Reasons (Fuel Theatre/Ovalhouse Theatre), TYPT 16: HATCH (Talawa Theatre Company), Brent in a Tent and SWITCH (Tricycle Theatre). Her television credits include: The Power (Amazon Studios), This is Going to Hurt and Enterprice (BBC). She was nominated for the South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award 2018, awarded the Firecracker Photographic Grant 2020 and was selected as part of Foam Talent 2021, Jerwood/Photoworks Award 2022 and The Photographers Gallery New Talent Award 2021.
Seán Carlsen returns to Theatr Clwyd to play William – he previously appeared in An Enemy of the People. Theatre work includes Dust, Tales of the Country (UK tours), Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ludlow Festival Theatre), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (The Watermill Theatre), Blue Remembered Hills (Cheltenham Everyman/Laughing Orange), The Masque of the Red Death (Fetch Theatre), Sons and Lovers (UK tour), Brief Encounter (OTTC tour), Rock n’ Roll & Barbirolli (Snap/Westcliff Palace Theatre), The Picture of Dorian Gray (UK tour) as well as work with National Theatre Wales, Bristol Old Vic, Spectacle Theatre, Gwent Theatre, Theatr Powys and Theatre West Glamorgan. His television credits include His Dark Materials, All Creatures Great and Small, A Mother’s Love, Stella, Skins, Legends, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Manhunt, Crimewatch, The Great Dome Robbery, The Bench, Casualty, Tastebuddies, Back Up, Tiger Bay, Mud, Y Palmant Our and Halen yn y Gwaed; and for film: Forgotten Journeys, The Cleansing, Boudica – Rise of the Warrior Queen, Frenzy, Shine and Darklands.
Emma Pallant plays Lady Betty/Mary. Her theatre credits include: Ravens: Spassky vs Fischer (Hampstead Theatre), AnEnemy of the People, LAVA (Nottingham Playhouse), A Christmas Carol, The Dog in the Manger, Tamar’s Revenge, The House of Desires, Pedro, The Great Pretender, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, As You Like It, Laughter in the Dark (Royal Shakespeare Company), Intra Muros (Park Theatre), William Wordsworth (ETT/Theatre by the Lake), TheWind in the Willows (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), It Just Stopped, Alison’s House (Orange Tree Theatre); Bell, Book and Candle, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet (New Vic,; The Cherry Orchard, His Dark Materials, Katherine Desouza (Birmingham Rep), On Golden Pond, The Herbal Bed (Salisbury Playhouse), The House of Bernarda Alba (Belgrade Theatre), Cymbeline (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Top Girls (Watford Palace) and Precious Bane (Pentabus). Her television credits include: Father Brown, Holby City, Casualty and Doctors.
Tickets are now officially on sale for our stunning new venue in Prescot, Shakespeare North Playhouse!
Priority booking is now live! Tickets are on sale for Friends and Supporters of Shakespeare North Playhouse.
General booking will be live from Wednesday 4 May, 2pm.
Shakespeare North Playhouse is home to the only 17th-century style timber theatre outside London, includes a fully accessible outdoor performance garden, exhibition gallery, 60-seater studio theatre, learning centre, exhibition and events spaces, and a café and bar with outdoor piazza.
Bletchley Park commemorated in new stamps and new theatre show from start of May
One of a new set of stamps paying tribute to women’s contributions during World War Two will feature a rare photograph of female codebreakers at Bletchley Park where they operated complex cryptographic machinery. Available from 5 May, the set celebrates the huge range of work women undertook during the conflict. In advance of VE Day, Bletchley Park is at the forefront of peoples’ minds in a variety of ways!
Also opening next week will be Illicit Signals Bletchley, an incredible production from trailblazing immersive theatre company Parabolic Theatre with Mechanical Thought. Audiences work alongside famous figures from the Government Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park to crack ENIGMA, while uncomfortable secrets closer to home threaten to be revealed. Illicit Signals Bletchley combines historical drama with rewarding codebreaking to create a fun, stimulating evening. Follow in the footsteps of real-life cryptologists as Bletchley Park goes through its most pivotal moment. Crack codes and decipher messages to uncover their private lives and make the tough decision of whether to keep their secrets or spill the beans
Christopher Styles, artistic associate at Parabolic Theatre, commented, Mavis Batey and Joan Clarke were two incredible codebreakers working at Bletchley Park and both of who feature prominently in Illicit Signals Bletchley. Mavis, a talented linguist, worked on deciphering Italian Navy Enigma messages and uncovered critical information that led the Royal Navy to victory at the battle of Matapan in the Mediterranean. Joan, who had a double first in mathematics from Cambridge (although didn’t receive her full degree until after the war as Cambridge only award these to men), was described as one of the best Bamburists in her section, a cryptanalytic method of deciphering Enigma. It is brilliant to see their work recognised and be able commemorate their prolific contributions within our show.
Codebreakers based at Bletchley Park, the home of the Government Code and Cypher School in Buckinghamshire were crucial to the war effort, feeding important information to Allied forces, especially in the days and weeks leading up to D-Day in 1944. Experts believe the work done at the site may have shortened the war by up to two years. At its height there were 9,000 staff at the site, with about 75% women.
Illicit Signals Bletchley can be seen at CRYPT, one of London’s newest and most exciting venues, run by Parabolic Theatre. This innovative new venue is dedicated to immersive and interactive theatre in the heart of Bethnal Green
London County Hall booking – until 25th September 2022
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
It’s five years since Lucy Bailey’s stunning production of Witness For The Prosecution opened in London County Hall, and it is as exciting as ever in the hands of its seventh cast.
The sense of grandeur and power as you walk through the building is wonderful and the immersive production is in the perfect setting within the magnificently atmospheric council chamber, creating a real sense of authority when the court officials are present. Audience members can pay to be in the jury, be sworn in and take a more active role in the trial.
Agatha Christie’s classic play has all the twists and turns you expect, and still draws gasps from audience members who are unfamiliar with the plot. Leonard Vole’s melodramatic premonition of being found guilty of murder and hanged makes way for the civilised setting of Sir Wilfrid Robarts QC’s (Owen Oakeshott) chambers. Vole (Joshua Glenister) and his solicitor Mr Mayhew (Peter Landi) relate the facts of his case to the barrister. Vole had befriended a rich old lady (50 was definitely not the new 30 when this was written!) and become a regular visitor to her home. When she is found dead from a blow to the head after an apparent burglary attempt, the police suspect Vole. The victim’s housekeeper is adamant she heard Vole at the house, but his wife insists he was at home with her. However, Vole’s wife Romaine (Lauren O’Neil) is German – will a 1950’s jury believe a foreigner? – and her behaviour and attitude is puzzling. What is she planning, and will she stick to her story in court?
Vole’s charm and personality convince the women in Robarts’ office of his innocence, and Joshua Glenister’s emotional performance makes an instant connection with the audience, sweeping them along with his story. Bailey’s direction is astute and assured, and the impressive cast have fun with the dated language and attitudes of the characters, and Owen Oakeshott and Richard Teverson have a ball as the duelling barristers in the trial scenes. Lauren O’Neil as Romaine is the polar opposite of Glenister’s affable Vole – sharp and scornful of the pompous lawyers and oozing contempt for the establishment. Mandi Symonds steals the show as the victim’s housekeeper Janet Mackenzie, providing lots of laughs in her testimony.
Witness For The Prosecution is a gripping and polished production – a thoroughly entertaining guilt-free night out.
Dan Brown’s critically acclaimed The Da Vinci Code hits the stage and it is definitely one to watch.
We follow Dr Robert Langdon ( Christopher Harper) and Sophie Neveu (Hannah Rose Caton) as they try to uncover clues and riddles to unearth the long lost secrets that lead to the answer of the Holy Grail. Along with Sir Leigh Teabing (Danny John-Jules) and his butler Remy (Alisdair Buchan)they scour the streets of Europe to piece this puzzle together! Adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, this piece lends itself beautifully to the stage and with direction from Luke Sheppard, it is a fast paced murder mystery like no other!
This limited cast were superb and showed great rapport on stage, as well as enticing and shocking the audiences with all of the revelations that are made during the course of the play. Chris Harper and Hannah Rose Caton as Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu were brilliant, with such emotion and suspense that had the audience teetering on their seats to find out the next clue. They were both heart warming and inviting and made the audience believe this was their first time opening these clues-a brilliant duo. Josh Lacey as Silas, the murderous monk, was outstanding. His unhinged and unpredictable character was played to perfection.
Having never read the book or seen the film, this was a first for me and it was exhilarating to follow along and manage to click the clues into place myself. This is the perfect show for an avid Dan Brown fan and equally so for a novice-the story is beautifully told and is so easy to follow.
So, will you join Robert and Sophie and help to crack The Da Vinci Code?
In association with Eva Price, Sonia Friedman Productions and Michael Harrison
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs
Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille
Directed by Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein
27 April – 25 June 2022
Initial production images are today released forthe UK premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Daniel Fish’s striking revival of the classic musical which originally premiered at the Richard B. Fisher Center in 2015 ahead of its New York premiere at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2018.
This is Oklahoma! as you’ve never seen it before, re-orchestrated and reimagined for the 21st century. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, Daniel Fish’s bold interpretation transfers to the Young Vic, direct from an acclaimed run on Broadway and a U.S. tour. Oklahoma! tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Seventy-five years after Rodgers and Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this visionary production is funny and sexy, provocative and probing, without changing a word of the text.
Arthur Darvill plays Curly McLain, with James Davis as Will Parker, Stavros Demetraki as Ali Hakim, Anoushka Lucas as Laurey Williams, Olivier Award nominee Liza Sadovy as Aunt Eller, Patrick Vaill as Jud Fry and Marisha Wallace as Ado Annie. The cast is complete with Raphael Bushay as Mike, Greg Hicks as Andrew Carnes, Rebekah Hinds as Gertie Cummings, Ashley Samuels as Cord Elam, and Marie Mence as the lead dancer.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is Co-Directed by Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein, with Orchestrations, Arrangements by Daniel Kluger and Co-Music Supervision by Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, Choreography by John Heginbotham, Co-Set Design by Laura Jellinek and Grace Laubacher, Costume Design by Terese Wadden, Lighting Design by Scott Zielinski, Sound Design by Drew Levy, Projection Design by Joshua Thorson, Musical Director Tom Brady and Casting by Jacob Sparrow, with Associate Choreographer Shelby Williams, Assistant Director Nimmo Ismail, Associate Costume Designer Rachel Townsend, Associate Lighting Designer Fiffi Thorsteinsson, Associate Musical Director Huw Evans, Dialect Coach Sam Lilja and Orchestral Manager David Gallagher.
Socially Distanced performances: 24, 25 May 7.30pm, 25 May, 2.30pm, and 9, 10 June, 7.30pm
Audio Described performance: 24 May, 7.30pm
Captioned performance: 9 June, 7.30pm
Relaxed performance: 10 June, 7.30pm
This production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! was originally developed, produced and premiered at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in July 2015. It was subsequently developed and produced by St Ann’s Warehouse and Eva Price at the Joseph S. and Dianna H. Steinberg Theatre, Brooklyn in 2018.
