James Revisits Royal Court as Playwright with PaoraDate: 14 November 2003
Actor Lennie James (pictured) returns in the new year to the Royal Court - where he was critically acclaimed for his role this past summer in Roy Williams' Fallout - under the new guise of playwright. His New Zealand-set play, The Sons of Charlie Paora, will run at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs 26 February to 6 March 2004 (preview 25 February).
In The Sons of Charlie Paora, the man of the title is dead and buried. One night in a garage in Mangere, South Auckland, a group of young men gather to acknowledge the passing of their mentor, father figure and rugby coach. The tension heightens when the real son and daughter of Charlie Paora turn up.
The piece was first produced in Auckland in 2002. It's directed by Sam Scott and is presented at the Royal Court by Massive Company, a collective of theatre professionals embracing the multi-culturalism of New Zealand. James' other writing credits include Storm Damage. As an actor, he's well known for roles such as A Raisin in the Sun on stage and, on screen, 24 Hour Party People and Snatch.
The Sons of Charlie Paora is preceded Downstairs, from 12 January to 7 February 2004 (previews from 8 January), by English Touring Theatre's production Honeymoon Suite, a new play by Richard Bean (Under the Whaleback, The Mentalists, The God Botherers) directed by Paul Miller (See News, 4 Nov 2003).
Honeymoon Suite asks the question: If Romeo and Juliet had lived, would their marriage have survived? How long? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? How would the union have coped with poverty, corruption, his ignorance, her aspiration, an ungrateful daughter, no sons, infidelity with an attractive bloke on a night class, God knows how many miscarriages and even murder?
Meanwhile, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, the upcoming Out of Joint co-production of Stella Feehily's Duck - which arrives, from 26 November 2003 to 10 January 2004, at the end of an extensive regional tour (See News, 24 Jun 2003) - will be followed by two new offerings presented as part of the theatre's annual International Playwrights Season.
The double bill of Almost Nothing and At the Table, by Brazilian author Marcos Barbosa will play from 5 to 28 February 2004. Both are translated by Mark O'Thomas and directed by Roxana Silbert. Vassily Sigarev's Ladybird, translated by Sasha Dugdale and directed by Ramin Gray, will then run from 5 to 27 March 2004. It will be the Russian dramatist's third play, after Plasticine and Black Milk, presented at the Royal Court. Last year, Sigarev won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.
The Jerwood Theatre Downstairs will be dark for three-and-a-half weeks from the conclusion of its current production, Gary Mitchell's Loyal Women, on 13 December 2003, until the start of Honeymoon Suite on 8 January 2004. Upstairs over the Christmas period, Duck will also cease performances between 21 and 28 December 2003 and on 1 January 2004.
- by Terri Paddock
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