Trafalgar Tames Tennessee Shorts & PeccadillosDate: 16 January 2007
In the spring line-up at the West End’s Trafalgar Studio 2, Britain’s views on sex are revealed in a one-woman docu-comedy performed by Lizzie Roper (pictured), and three “undiscovered” short plays by Tennessee Williams receive their European premieres.
The season opens on 14 February 2007 with Peccadillo Circus, the Edinburgh Fringe hit in which comedian Lizzie Roper reveals the fetishes and naughty secrets of the general public from interviews she conducted with everyone from adulterous accountants to celibate therapists. At last year’s Edinburgh festival, the show was nominated for Best Solo Show in The Stage’s Awards for Acting Excellence. It runs at Trafalgar Studios until 3 March 2007.
Roper’s stage credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Christian Slater in the West End, and her own one-woman comedy Through My Keyhole as well as Probe, Ballet Who?, Invisible Bob Show, Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen, Asteroid Haemorrhoid, Smell of Old Lady, The Regency Rooms and What’s Wrong With Angry?, many of which she penned herself. Peccadillo Circus is directed by Leisa Rea.
Roper’s saucy secrets are followed by more sexual revelations as three short, deeply personal and autobiographical plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Tennessee Williams receive a rare outing. And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens, Mister Paradise and Summer at the Lake are performed under the collective title Lovely and Misfit from 6 to 31 March 2007.
And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens - Williams’ most defiantly gay play - tells the story of a transvestite who is abandoned by his lover for a younger man and seeks solace in the arms of a young sailor, who proves a volatile and dangerous choice. Mister Paradise explores the effects of fame on a writer, following the story of a young woman who seeks her favourite author. Summer at the Lake portrays a young man dealing with his family relationships, adulthood and emerging sexuality.
The triple bill is directed by Anna Ledwich and produced by Andrew Fishwick (Who Killed Mr Drum?) and Kate Mackonochie for Fish Productions. Other Tennessee Williams hitting town in the coming weeks include the Jessica Lange-headed revival of 1945’s The Glass Menagerie at the West End’s Apollo Theatre (See News, 143 Dec 2006), and Steven Pimlott’s new production of The Rose Tattoo, starring Zoe Wanamaker at the National (See News, 12 Dec 2006).
- by Caroline Ansdell
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