Jacobi Transfers Grandage Don to Gielgud, 28 JanDate: 5 November 2004
As previously tipped (See The Goss, 18 Oct 2004), Michael Grandage’s Sheffield production of Don Carlos is set to transfer to the West End in 2005. The world premiere of Mike Poulton’s new adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s 1787 thriller will have a limited 12 week run from 28 January at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre (with press night on 3 February).
The original star studded cast remain with Derek Jacobi (pictured), Una Stubbs, Claire Price and Whatsonstage.com Award winner Richard Coyle in this, the final production directed by Michael Grandage for the Crucible. Grandage, who’s also the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse, announced his resignation as Sheffield Theatres’ associate director early this summer (See News, 25 Jun 2004). He continues in his Sheffield position until the end of the 2004/2005 season, after which he’ll join the theatres’ board of trustees.
In Don Carlos, Jacobi – who returns to Sheffield after his acclaimed performance as Prospero in Grandage’s 2002 staging of The Tempest, which later transferred to the West End’s Old Vic - plays King Philip II of Spain, Don Carlos’ tyrannical father who marries his son’s lover, thus provoking a full-scale rebellion against an oppressive regime.
Coyle, who plays the title role, won the 2003 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoer’s Choice Best Supporting Actor Award for his 2002 performances in The York Realist (English Touring Theatre at the Royal Court and in the West End) and Proof at the Donmar Warehouse, where he also appeared earlier this year in Grandage’s production of Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie. Coyle’s screen credits include Coupling, Strange and Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
Price, who plays Queen Elizabeth, also appeared alongside Jacobi in The Tempest. Her other recent London stage credits include Brand and Cyrano de Bergerac. Stubbs, who plays the Duchess of Olivarez, has recently appeared on stage in The Deep Blue Sea, Star Quality, Romeo and Juliet as well as Grandage’s Twelfth Night, As You Like It and The Country Wife at Sheffield. She’s also remembered for screen credits such as Till Death Us Do Part and Summer Holiday.
Others in the Don Carlos are Stuart Burt, Elliot Cowan, Peter Eyre, Michael Hadley, Ian Hogg, Paul Keating, Andrew McDonald, Brian Poyser, Charlotte Randle and Roger Swaine.
Poulton’s other acclaimed adaptations include Euripides’ Ion, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Turgenev’s Fortune’s Fool, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. The production is designed by Christopher Oram, with lighting by Paule Constable and music by Adam Cork.
The West End transfer is produced by Nick Salmon and Matthew Byam-Shaw for Act productions.
- by Hannah Kennedy & Terri Paddock
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