The SCANDAL Season
Jermyn Street Theatre Spring Season 2018
Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6ST
Wednesday 17th January – Saturday 31st March 2018
Jermyn Street Theatre’s dynamic Spring Season 2018 focuses on scandal and its impact. Putting on stage four shocking stories that will outrage, delight, and open our eyes to new perspectives, this season casts light on some of the extraordinary women who didn’t mind being the subject of scandal as long as they could remain true to themselves.
Lanie Robertson’s Woman Before A Glass brings Peggy Guggenheim’s remarkable story to life – showing how her love life was as colourful as her art collection and how her passionate loyalties changed the face of twentieth century art. Mad as Hell, written by Cassie McFarlane and Adrian Hope, will reveal for the first time how the backdrop to Peter Finch’s iconic Oscar- winning performance in Network was as fiery as the role he played. It was a battle of race, prejudice and love that scandalised Hollywood.
Maureen Duffy’s double-bill, Hilda & Virginia, looks back on Virginia Woolf’s life, uncovering the hidden stories behind her iconic novels from the torture of depression to the scandal of her lesbian affairs. Closing the season, part madcap misadventure, part piercing social satire, Proud Haddock presents The Dog Beneath the Skin by Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden – a vivid depiction of a world on the brink of collapse that has never seemed so timely
Tom Littler, Jermyn Street Theatre’s Artistic Director, comments, Following the wonderful reception for our Escape Season so far, I am excited to announce our Scandal Season, which runs from the New Year until Easter 2018. It features three world premieres, one UK premiere, and a rare revival of a truly remarkable 1930s drama. The plays tell the stories of some incredible, path-breaking women, and we are especially proud to present the UK premiere of Lanie Robertson’s Woman Before a Glass, in a beautiful production by one of New York’s great directors, Austin Pendleton
Jermyn Street Theatre’s Spring Season 2018 is as follows:
Woman Before A Glass
17 January – 3 February (Mon – Sat 7.30pm, Sat 3.30pm)
Press Night Friday 19 January, 7.30pm
Peggy Guggenheim collected art, and artists. Married to Max Ernst, lover of Samuel Beckett, champion of Jackson Pollock and Pablo Picasso, Peggy’s love life was as colourful as her art collection. She moved to Venice in the late 1940s and quickly became one of its most glamorous, scandalous residents. Lanie Robertson’s play brings Peggy’s remarkable story to life. Peggy’s passionate loyalties and prejudices changed the face of twentieth century art – but at what cost?
Mad as Hell
7- 24 February (Mon – Sat 7:30pm, Thurs & Sat 3:30pm)
Press Night Friday 9 February, 7.30pm
A bar in Jamaica. The early 1960s. When womanizing, hell-raising film star Peter Finch meets Eletha Barrett, a charismatic island girl, they both get more than they bargained for. The relationship between Peter and Eletha scandalises Hollywood, and culminates in Finch’s Oscar winning performance in Network.
A battle between the ‘isms and schisms’ of race and prejudice and the courage of love, Mad as Hell reveals for the first time how the backdrop to Finch’s iconic performance was as fiery as the role he played.
Hilda & Virginia
27 February – 3 March (Tues – Sat 7:30pm, Thurs & Sat, 3.30pm)
Press Night Wednesday 28 February, 7.30pm
Maureen Duffy’s double-bill tells the story of two remarkable women. The Choice is the story of a very unsaintly saint. Hilda of Whitby, who brought Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons, was a businesswoman, teacher and adviser to kings.
In A Nightingale in Bloomsbury Square, Virginia Woolf looks back on her life, uncovering the hidden stories behind her iconic novels. From the torture of depression to the scandal of her lesbian affairs, Virginia goes down fighting. As the saying goes: well-behaved women don’t make history…
Proud Haddock presents The Dog Beneath the Skin
7 – 31 March (Mon – Sat 7.30pm, Sat 3.30pm)
Press Night Friday 9 March, 7.30pm
The sleepy English village of Pressan Ambo has a secret. Ten years ago, Sir Francis Crewe, heir to the local estate disappeared. Every year a young man is chosen by lot to go searching for him. Alan Norman, accompanied by a surprisingly intelligent dog, sets out on a journey through preWar Europe.
Part madcap misadventure, part piercing social satire, Auden and Isherwood’s vivid depiction of a world on the brink of collapse has never seemed so timely