Journey’s End Back for Limited West End Season
David Grindley‘s production of RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End will return to the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre, playing a seven-week season from 22 July (previews 19 July) to 3 September 2011 as part of its national tour. Journey’s End tickets will go on sale from Monday morning (6 June 2011).
The First World War classic, written by Sherriff in 1928, is based on the author’s own experience in the trenches and follows a group of officers, positioned behind British lines at St Quentin, France, awaiting their fate.
Set in the lead up to Operation Michael on 21 March 1918 – the last great German Offensive of the First World War which saw the deaths of 38,000 men – a company of officers prepare for a daring raid across No Man’s Land to gather intelligence.
The production initially played opened at the West End’s Comedy Theatre on 21 January 2004 (previews from 15 January), 75 years (to the day) since its first West End season at the Savoy Theatre. It then transferred to the Playhouse Theatre and the Duke of York’s Theatre before closing on 18 February 2005.
Since that West End outing Journey’s End has played a 2007 run on Broadway and embarked on two national tours, the most recent of which started from Malvern Theatre on 9 February 2011.
The most recent touring cast included Graham Butler, Tim Chipping, Andy Daniel, Daniel Hanna, Simon Harrison, Nigel Hastings, Mike Hayley, Dominic Mafham, James Norton, Christian Patterson and Tony Turner. All will appear the play’s 55-performance West End run.
The production is directed by David Grindley, who directed the 25th anniversary revival of Mike Leigh‘s Abigail’s Party, at the Hampstead Theatre and in the West End. His other directing credits include Six Degrees of Separation for the Old Vic and numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.
Journey’s End is designed by Jonathan Fensom, with lighting by Jason Taylor and sound by Gregory Clarke. It’s presented by Flora Suk-Hwa Yoon and Lee Menzies with Act Productions Ltd, Jeremy Meadow, Suzanna Rosenthal and The Shaftesbury Theatre.
Following its limited West End season Journey’s End will continue its national tour, with dates confirmed for Glasgow on 6 September, followed by Aberdeen, Milton Keynes, Woking, Wolverhampton, Salford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Cheltenham, Nottingham and High Wycombe through to December 2011.
Journey’s End follows the Lyric Hammersmith and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse’s production of Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s which today (3 June 2011) announced it will continue its run at the theatre to 16 July 2011. The production had been booking to 2 October 2011.
