Absolutely & Fallout Extend Limited London SeasonsDate: 30 June 2003
Two London plays have this week announced extensions to their limited seasons: Franco Zeffirelli's West End revival of Pirandello comedy Absolutely! perhaps and the Royal Court's premiere production of Roy Williams' Fallout.
Joan Plowright (aka Lady Olivier, the widow of Laurence Olivier) leads an all-star cast - including Oliver Ford Davies, Anna Carteret and, making her West End debut, Liza Tarbuck - in Absolutely! perhaps, which marked Zeffirelli's return to London theatre after a 25-year absence.
The comedy opened at the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 20 May 2003, following previews from 7 May, and had been booking to 30 August. It's now extended by two weeks to 13 September when it will make way for a season of comedy featuring Michael Barrymore, Lenny Henry and Bill Bailey (See News, 27 Jun 2003).
Meanwhile, at the Royal Court Downstairs, Williams' hard-hitting London-set drama Fallout, which opened on 17 June 2003 (previews from 12 June), has extended by one week to 19 July 2003. Directed by Royal Court artistic director Ian Rickson, the play revolves around DC Joe Stephens (played by Lennie James), who's forced to return to his old neighbourhood when a boy is found dead. None of the local teens wants to break the code and talk, but when a reward is offered, their loyalty is tested to the limit.
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.
- by Terri Paddock
Related Content
