US Pulitzer Prize Topdog Transfers to Royal CourtDate: 1 April 2003
The Pulitzer Prize-winning American drama Topdog/Underdog will transfer to London this August as part of the Royal Court's summer season, which also includes premieres from home-grown authors Roy Williams, Richard Bean, Che Walker and Mick Mahoney.
In the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Roy Williams' latest, Fallout, directed by Royal Court artistic director Ian Rickson, will run from 12 June to 12 July 2003. The play revolves around DC Joe Stephens, who's forced to return to his old neighbourhood when a boy is found dead. No one wants to break the code and talk, but when a reward is offered, their loyalty is tested to the limit.
Williams has written two other plays for the Royal Court: Clubland, which won the 2001 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, and Lift Off, which earned him George Devine Award in 2000. Last year, his Sing Your Heart Out for the Lads premiered at the National as part of the theatre's five-month Transformation season. Fallout will star Lennie James, a familiar face from films such as Snatch and 24 Hour Party People as well as television's Cold Feet.
Fallout is followed Downstairs - from 6 to 30 August 2003 - by the Broadway transfer of Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, a production from New York's Public Theatre, which last year had huge success at London's Donmar Warehouse with Take Me Out. The US drama relates the tale of two brothers and their obsession with the street con 'Three Card Monte'. Lincoln and Booth seethe with resentment and sibling rivalry, a modern Cain and Abel.
Parks won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog, which premiered at the Public Theater in autumn 2001 before transferring to Broadway, where it was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor for star Jeffrey White. For the Royal Court, White (whose films include Ride with the Devil and Ali) and his co-star, rapper Mos Def (who has collaborated with the likes of Massive Attack), will reprise their roles under George C Wolfe's direction.
Currently on at the Theatre Downstairs is Hitchcock Blonde, written and directed by Terry Johnson, which stars David Haig and Rosamunde Pike. It receives its world premiere tomorrow (2 April 2003) and continues to 10 May. It's followed by a short engagement - from 29 to 31 May - of the Tindersticks band in concert.
Meanwhile, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Under the Whaleback runs from 10 April to 3 May 2003. The new play is directed by Richard Wilson and written by Richard Bean, the joint winner of the 2002 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright. Bean's first play for the Royal Court was Toast while his piece The Mentalists featured in the National's Transformation season last year.
Next up Upstairs, Che Walker's second play for the Royal Court, Flesh Wound, is set in London, where young Vincent is trying to extricate himself from trouble with the infamous Calderazzos and save his family. Directed by Wilson Milam (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, A Lie of the Mind), it runs from 15 May to 7 June 2003.
It's followed Upstairs by another Royal Court second play, Mick Mahoney's musing on materialism Food Chain, which stars Linda Robson of Birds of a Feather television fame and is directed by Sheffield Crucible's Anna Mackmin, currently represented in the West End by Alan Davies and Auntie and Me.
- by Hannah Khalil
Related Content
