Almeida Stages Pulitzer Winner & Bergman GlassDate: 22 October 2009
The Almeida Theatre has announced its spring 2010 season, which features the European premiere of Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize winning Ruined, the world premiere of Andrew Upton's adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly and, as previously reported, artistic director Michael Attenborough's production of Measure for Measure, with a cast led by Rory Kinnear, Anna Maxwell Martin and Ben Miles (See News, 25 Sep 2009).
Lynn Nottage's Ruined, which runs from 22 April to 5 June 2010 (previews from 15 April), was first seen in a co-production between the Manhattan Theatre Club and Chicago's Goodman Theatre earlier this year. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize for drama, it also picked up seven Best Play awards, including the New York Critics' Circle Award, two Drama Desk awards and four OBIE Awards.
The play, inspired by Brecht's Mother Courage, is set in a bar in a small mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As tales of local atrocities spread and tensions between rebels and government militia rise, shrewd Mama Nadi must reassess her business priorities and personal loyalties when two girls arrive tainted by their recent past.
Jenny Jules returns to the Almeida to play Mama Nadi, having previously performed in Michael Attenborough's productions of The Homecoming and Big White Fog. She stars alongside Lucian Msamati, whose recent theatre credits include Death and the Kings Horseman at the National Theatre, as Christian. Ruined is directed by Indhu Rubasingham, who recently co-directed The Great Game season at the Tricyle.
Ruined is followed by a new stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Oscar-winning 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly, the only one of the Bergman's films for which he gave permission for a stage adaptation, which runs from 16 June to 31 July (previews from 10 June).
Adapted by Andrew Upton (The Philistines) and directed by Michael Attenborough, the story concerns Karin, a young schizophrenic woman who is taken on a recuperative holiday to a bleakly beautiful island, where the relations between herself and three male family members become increasingly entangled.
Full casting for Measure
The season opens, from 18 February to 10 April 2010 (previews from 10 February), with Michael Attenborough's production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, which has now announced full casting.
Joining Rory Kinnear (Angelo), Anna Maxwell Martin (Isabella) and Ben Miles (Vincentio), are: David Annen (Provost), Daisy Boulton (Juliet), Flaminia Cinque (Mistress Overdone), Trevor Cooper (Pompey), Emun Elliot (Claudio), David Killick (Escalus), Victoria Lloyd (Marianna), Jessica Tomchak (Francisca) and Tony Turner (Elbow).
Currently at the Almeida, Thea Sharrock’s new production of Nicholas Wright’s Mrs Klein, the play’s first major London revival since its premiere at the National in 1988 (See News, 19 May 2009), begins previews tonight, and opens on 29 October.
It's followed, as previously reported, by Roger Michell's revival of Patrick Hamilton's classic thriller Rope (See News, 20 Oct 2009), which runs from 16 December 2009 to 6 February 2010 (previews from 10 December).
- by Theo Bosanquet
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