Gate Announces Season of New WorkDate: 30 July 2009
The Gate has announced that it will be concluding this year’s 30th birthday celebrations with two radical new versions of classic works by emerging playwrights. Both shows, Vanya by Sam Holcroft (from 26 August to 26 September) and The Kreutzler Sonata by Leo Tolstoy and adapted by Nancy Harris (from 5 November to 5 December) will be world premieres and both will be directed by Gate co-artistic director Natalie Abrahami.
Vanya is's stripped down version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya which focuses on the four central characters of the classic tragicomedy. Sam Holcroft was a member of the Traverse Theatre’s Young Writers’ Group and has recently been awarded the Tom Erhardt Award for up and coming writers, a prize that was launched in 2008. Holcraft’s credits include Cockroach, which was commissioned and co-produced by the Traverse and National Theatre of Scotland and the short play Vogue, which was recently performed at the Royal Court as part of Angry Now.
Vanya will be designed by Tom Scutt and performed by Fiona Button, Robert Goodale, Susie Trayling and Simon Wilson.
The Kreutzler Sonata is an adaptation of the 1889 novella of the same name by Leo Tolstoy, which was censored by the Russian authorities for its explicit argument in favour of sexual abstinence. Inspired by Beethoven’s Kreutzler Sonata it tells the story of a man led to confess the sins of his past by the triggering of certain memories during a train journey.
Under the musical directorship of Tom Mills musicians will accompany actors in this production to finally combine Tolstoy’s words with the music by which they were inspired.
Playwright Nancy Harris has written for both the stage and radio. Her credits include Girl in a Bath and The Cleanest Way To End It (Soho Theatre) and Little Dolls (Bush). She is currently under commission to write a play for the Abbey Theatre Dublin following a run of her Love in a Glass Jar.
- by Jo Caird - Theatregoer Reporter
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