Mendes Plans Second Shakespeare-Chekhov Double???
Date: 23 January 2003
Though no longer artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, Sam Mendes is apparently keen to repeat the success he's had with his swansong productions there. His Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night had a sell-out repertory run this autumn. In addition to critical acclaim, the double bill has so far garnered Mendes the Evening Standard's award for Best Director and nominations for the same honour in both the Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards (click here to vote in the latter). Between them, the productions have received a further four Olivier nominations and four Whatsonstage.com nominations, including Theatre Event of the Year. They and their ensemble - which includes Simon Russell Beale, Emily Watson, Helen McCrory and Mark Strong - have transferred this month to New York for a four-week season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where they've attracted rapturous reviews. According to Variety's New York critic, Charles Ishwerwood, "Superb individually, the productions shoul really be considered as a single, magnificent achievement....They offer further proof, if any were needed, of the director's plentiful talents." With such commendation, it's understandable why Mendes would now like another go at a Shakespeare-Chekhov pairing, which he hopes to stage independently with his producing partner Caro Newling, also lately of the Donmar. In other Mendes theatrical rumours, the director is said to be in talks to take over and convert the West End's Cambridge Theatre (See The Goss, 6 Dec 2002). Of course, he'll have to fit such projects in around his ever-burgeoning film career. After the Hollywood success of American Beauty and The Road to Perdition, Mendes is also reportedly keen to shoot a third film in this country with a cast comprised of some of his favourite British stage talent, such as Russell Beale, McCrory, Watson, Jude Law and Daniel Craig.
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