39 Steps creator brings Ben Hur to the Watermill
Seven
years after adapting The
39 Steps – which has been running at the Criterion since
its West End transfer in 2006 – playwright and director Patrick
Barlow is bringing another classic book and film to the stage. Ben
Hur, the epic story of Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur, will be
co-directed by Sean
Foley and will
run at the Watermill Theatre from 22 June to 28 July.
While
the most recent stage adaptation of the 1880 novel, the 2009 Ben
Hur Live at the O2, had a cast of 400 performers and 100
animals including horses and eagles, the Watermill version will be on
a rather more modest scale. The show will include, however, according
to a statement from the company, “a sea battle
(with real water); the recreation of Ancient Rome (no expense
spared); an unexpurgated and authentic Roman orgy (suitable for all
ages)” and “a
sensational live chariot race (with real chariots)”. Like The
39 Steps, Ben Hur is a four-hander. The company will play 12,059 characters between them.
The
four cast members are Elizabeth Cadwallader, seen most recently in
the role of Bianca in the
RSC’s The Taming of the Shrew; veteran stage and
television actor Bob
Goody; Nick Haverson, who played Mr Punch in
Improbable Theatre’s The Devil and Mr Punch at
the Barbican in February; and John
Hopkins, who appeared as Hannay in The
39 Steps in 2009.
The
show is a co-production by the Watermill and Fiery Angel, the team
behind The 39 Steps, who will presumably be hoping
for a repeat of that success. The 39
Steps premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before
transfering to the Tricycle the following year.
