Pinter Premiere Leads Almeida Plans
Date: 30 September 1999
Islington's powerhouse Almeida Theatre, which previously took such productions as Medea (with Diana Rigg) and Hamlet (with Ralph Fiennes) to Broadway and over the last year staged a West End residency at the Albery that included appearances by Rigg (in a Racine double bill of Phedre and Brittanicus that subsequently travelled to BAM) and Cate Blanchett, is lining up a new programme that is astonishing in its width and range.
Joint artistic directors Ian McDiarmid (who as an actor was recently seen as Chancellor Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace) and Jonathan Kent have announced a programme that includes the premiere of a new Pinter play, Celebration, which will be coupled with his first play, The Room. The Almeida have previously staged a Pinter double-bill in 1991, when they paired the world premiere of Party Time with Mountain Language. The Almeida also staged revivals of Pinter's Betrayal (in 1991), No Man's Land (in a 1992 production featuring the author), and the world premiere of Moonlight starring Ian Holm in 1993, the last two of which both subsequently transferred to the West End's Comedy Theatre. Celebration, directed by the author, will feature Lindsay Duncan, recently seen in Pinter's Ashes to Ashes at London's Royal Court and New York's Gramercy Theatre (produced by Roundabout), Lia Williams (who starred opposite Michael Gambon in David Hare's Skylight at the National and on Broadway), and Steven Pacey. Opening night is March 22, 2000 (following previews from March 16).
There will also be British premieres of two plays first seen off-Broadway: Arthur Miller's Mr Peters' Connections (originally seen at the Signature Theatre with Peter Falk); and Neil LaBute's bash (orginally seen at the Douglas Fairbanks this summer with Calista Flockhart). Mr Peters' Connections, which opens on July 26, 2000 (following previews from July 20) will be staged by Michael Blakemore, currently responsible for the upcoming Broadway production of Kiss Me Kate. bash, opening on February 2, 2000 (following previews from January 27) will be staged by Joe Mantello, who also directed the New York production.
Other productions at the Almeida's home base will include a new play by Edna O'Brien, Our Father (opening on November 17, 1999 following previews from November 11); and Sartre's Les Mains Sales, retitled The Novice (opening on May 10, following previews from May 4), in an adaptation written and directed by Richard Eyre, formerly head of the National Theatre.
The Almeida will also return to the West End with a new play by Nicholas Wright, Cressida, starring Michael Gambon. One of Wright's previous plays, Mrs Klein, was staged at the National and seen at the Lucille Lortel Theatre with Uta Hagen. The new play is reported to be about a Jacobean school for boy-actors. Nicholas Hytner, currently preparing to direct Maggie Smith in Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van in the West End, will direct the play, which will open in the spring of 2000 at a theatre to be announced.
The Almeida are also creating a new venue out of a former film studio in Shoreditch, in which Jonathan Kent will stage a double bill of Richard II and Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes in the title roles. The Gainsborough Film Studios was the London home to several of Alfred Hitchock's early films, including The Lodger and The Lady Vanishes. Richard II opens on April 12 (following previews from March 30), with Coriolanus opening on June 14 (following previews from June 1); the plays will then continue in repertoire to July 22. On Saturdays, it will be possible to see both plays in a single day.
