Revivals & Divas Dominate New Donmar Season
Date: 16 February 1999
Following its month of American writing, the Donmar Warehouse launches a new spring/ summer season which will include two major revivals, two divas and one Irish classic.
First up is CP Taylor's Good which explores the choices one man makes in the face of evil. The moral cowardice of a liberal German professor leads to not only a military career, but a job in Auschwitz. Good was the most successful play by Taylor, who died in 1981. It premiered at the Donmar in 1982, care of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before transferring to the West End, starring Alan Howard. The new production will be directed by Michael Grandage, making his Donmar debut, and will star Eva Maria Bryer, Charles Dance and Benedict Taylor. Good runs 18 March to 22 May.
Another piece from 1982 - Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing - follows Good. The comedy marked a departure for Stoppard - author of Arcadia and last year's Olivier Award-winning The Invention of Love - as it combined his customary literary fascination with a painfully honest look at love and adultery. The Real Thing is directed by David Leveaux who returns to the Donmar for the first time since his Olivier Award-winning 1997 production of Electra, starring Zoe Wanamaker. The Real Thing runs 27 May to 7 August. No casting details have yet been confirmed.
Over the summer, the Donmar will run its second annual Divas at the Donmar season, bringing cabaret to the heart of London. Last year, the season included Broadway dame Barbara Cook as well as New York's Callaway sisters in their London debut and British star Imelda Staunton. No names have yet been announced for the 1999 season but the Donmar promises that it will feature two divas 'of international crowd-pleasing renown'. Divas at the Donmar will run 9 to 28 August.
Then, finally, it's time for John Crowley's long-awaited production of Sean O'Casey's 1924 drama, Juno and the Paycock. Set against the background of the Irish Civil War in 1922, this tells the story of the disintegration of a Dublin tenement family. A woman struggles to support her family as her husband struts around town. When he's unexpectedly left some money, it triggers a spending spree that threatens to bring down the whole family. Juno and the Paycock runs 2 September to 6 November. Casting has yet to be confirmed.
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