New Plays in London for 2009
Old Vic
Complicit
From Jan 28th (we hope) – booking to Feb 21st. Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic production takes a look at Bush-era politics vis a vis the press in this play by Joe Sutton Richard Dreyfuss plays Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ben Kritzer, who is hauled before the Supreme Court “where he faces the dilemma of defending his belief in the freedom of the press or protecting his family.”. The cast also includes David Suchet and Elizabeth McGovern.
Donmar Warhouse
Be Near Me
From Jan. 22, – Be Near Me, adapted for the stage by Ian McDiarmid — who also stars — from The Booker Prize-nominated novel by Andrew O’Hagan. McDiarmid plays David Anderton, an Oxford-educated Catholic priest who befriends two unstable Scottish teenagers in his parish.
Dimetos
From March 19 th. Jonathan Pryce and Anne Reid star in Athol Fugard’s play about a skilled engineer who escapes to a remote coastal village in search of a simpler existence.
A Doll’s House
From May 14. Gillian Anderson stars as Nora in a new production of A Doll’s House.
Wyndhams Theatre – Donmar in the West End
Madame de Sade
From March 19, Judi Dench stars in this all woman cast. The play, by Yukio Mishima focusses on the inexplicably loyal wife of a notorious figure. Michael Grandage directs.
Almeida Theatre
Duet for One
Starts Jan. 22. Tom Kempinski’s story of a concert pianist, played by Juliet Stevenson, who seeks out a psychiatrist, played by Henry Goodman, when she is faced with a tragedy that causes her to reevaluate her life.
Parlour Song
Begins March 19 . Jez Butterworth’s play about the strange things that keep happening to demolition expert Ned, played by Toby Jones. Ian Rickson directs.
Theatre Royal, Haymarket
Waiting for Godot.
Performances begin April 30 . Sean Mathias directs Ian McKellen (Estragon), Patrick Stewart (Vladamir), Simon Callow (Pozzo) and Ronald Pickup (Lucky).
The National Theatre
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.
From Jan 16th A revival of Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn’s play exploring the slippery relationship between truth and freedom. Toby Jones plays a dissident prisoner who will be released by the authorities only if he admits he has been mentally sick and, after treatment, is now well. The man must ask himself which price is the dearer: freedom bought with a lie, or sticking to a truth that ensures captivity. Felix Barrett and Tom Morris direct.
Burnt by the Sun
From Feb 24th. Written by Peter Flannery from the screenplay by Nikita Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov. Ciarán Hinds stars as Colonel Kotov, a decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, who, while on holiday with his family in 1936, finally understands what it means to have Stalin as your leader. Howard Davies directs.
England People Very Nice
From Feb. 4th A new play by Richard Bean described as “a riotous journey through four waves of immigration from the 17th century to today.”
The Littleton
Time and the Conways
From April 28th. A new production of a play about the disappointed aspirations of another era: J.B. Priestley’s classic starts in 1919, the clock and the calendar are the villains, as a peek into the future reveals the gap between 21-year-old Kay’s aspirations and the possible reality.
A Selection
These are a few of the plays that are coming to London in the next few months. What have I missed off that you are dying to see?
LISTING INFORMATION
Theatre/Event
Children, Not Adults By Tamsin Irwin
New Play/Adaptation, live recording of performance for audio
April 6th 2010 at 6.15pm
Last Approx. 1 hour.
Theatro Technis
26 Crowndale Road
London
NW1 1TT
Box Office 0207 387 6617 Tickets £5
Press Release February 2010
A Live Recording of a New Audio Play
Theatro Technis and Making Drama offer a unique alternative after Easter in the form of a live audio performance of a new play, which adapts historic love letters with contemporary relationships, on Tuesday 6th April at 6.15pm.
Children, Not Adults, by Tamsin Irwin, looks at the how we like to impose premature narratives on relationships and the dangerous path that it can lead to. This new play merges the murder, anti-hero and the romantic genres.
Set in West Cornwall, in a self-build eco-house, Freddy, Fred or Frederick – depending on the capacity in which you know him – is haunted by the recent past. A local inquisitive teenage girl is determined to find out why he left London and in the process discovers what happens when trust is destroyed.
Featuring the 17th Century Letters of a Portuguese Nun, famous for chronicling falling out of love, this new play shows how emotional frankness transcends time and place.
Jeremy Sheffer directs Children, Not Adults. His previous credits include directing Auditions at Lillian Baylis Studio at Sadlers Wells, Jeremy is a member of the Young Vic Genesis Directors Project. His numerous credits include Artistic Director of Dark Edge Theatre Company, director of Shalom Camden at Hampstead Theatre and assistant director on The Laramie Project Theatre at Theatre Royal Haymarket.
James Bartholomew (Stephen Poliakoff’s Momentum Pictures film ‘Glorious 39′, Many a Slipped, Twixt Cap and Dick, Sadler’s Wells and Absent, Royal Opera House) leads the cast as Freddy and Emma Kedge (On War, Young Vic and ITV’s Footballer’s Wives) plays Beatrice. The cast also includes Chania Belle (Steven Pimlott’s Eugene Onegin, Royal Opera House and Allo, Allo, UK Tour) as Hayley with Nicholas Clarke (Cockeyed , Institute of Contemporary Art and Taken In, Tristan Bates) as the Policeman.
Sound is by John Marshall. His previous credits include several years with BBC Radio.
The live audio-performance starts at 6.15pm at Theatro Technis in Mornington Crescent (NW1 1TT) on Tuesday 6th April 2010. Sadly, late-comers can not be admitted because of the recording. Tickets are available from the Box Office on 0207 387 6617 at £5. Theatro Technis is at 26 Crowndale Road , Camden Town, London , NW1 1TT.
Notes to Editor.
Children, Not Adults had two development workshops in 2009 with the generous support and creative impact from Amanda Meyer, Dean Tunkara, Jemma Hunter, Michael Bucknell, Richard Osborne, Sofizel and Zoe Grainge.
Recording will start no later than 6.15pm. Recording will finish by 7.30pm. This is not a fully staged performance, but a live studio audio performance. Tickets are limited to 100.