Lunghi Stars in Grandage's Passion Revival
Date: 16 March 2000
Director Michael Grandage returns to the Donmar Warehouse next month, a year after his acclaimed revival of CP Taylor's Good, starring Charles Dance. This time Grandage takes on another modern stage classic, Peter Nichols' 1981 tragi-comedy, Passion Play, which opens 18 April, following previews from 13 April, and continues to 10 June 2000. The cast, led by Cherie Lunghi and James Laurenson, has now been confirmed.
After 25 years of marriage, a successful man still in love with his wife is attracted to another woman whose temptations he's unable to resist. As trust collapses, husband and wife Eleanor and James are left floundering and exposed. They're forced to choose a future and to decide whether desire and freedom can survive in a marriage were sex has become a delicate negotiation.
Lunghi and Laurenson play Eleanor and James. Lunghi, best known recently for her role in the Kenco coffee adverts, has appeared in numerous stage roles for the RSC and the National, including the latter's production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. Laurenson most recently played Claudius in the Almeida's production of Hamlet, both in London and on Broadway.
The couple's consciences are played by Cheryl Campbell (from TV's Pennies from Heaven and Testament of Youth) and Martin Jarvis (seen on Broadway last year in David Hare's Skylight). They are joined in the cast by Nicola Walker and Gillian Barge.
Nichols' other plays include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and Privates on Parade. Passion Play won the 1981 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play. Grandage's production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, starring Victoria Hamilton is currently playing at the Lyric Hammersmith.
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