Theatre News

Cast: Mastrantonio Takes View, Pride, Cinderella

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (pictured) will play Ken Stott’s wife in Lindsay Posner’s upcoming revival of Arthur Miller’s 20th-century classic A View from the Bridge, which opens on 5 February 2009 (previews from 24 January) at the West End’s Duke of York’s theatre (See News, 10 Oct 2008).

In Miller’s 1955 play, which hasn’t been seen in the West End since 1995, Stott plays Eddie Carbone, a head-strong longshoreman raising his wife Beatrice’s orphaned niece, Catherine. When Eddie’s feelings for Catherine develop from paternal protectiveness to sexual desire, his struggle to contain his emotions leads him on a path of self destruction transforming him from a respected, honourable man to a virtual stranger shamed and broken by his own actions.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is best known for Hollywood films including The Perfect Storm, Robin Hood, Robin Hood, The Abyss, The Colour of Money, Scarface and Consenting Adults. Her stage credits include Man of La Mancha, Twelfth Night and, most recently in London, the 2004 Donmar Warehouse revival of Grand Hotel.

A View from the Bridge is directed by Lindsay Posner – whose revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel starring Lesley Garrett transfers to the West End’s Savoy Theatre this December – designed by Christopher Oram, lit by Peter Mumford and produced by Kim Poster for Stanhope Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions. No further casting has yet been announced.


In other play casting news:

  • Bertie Carvel (Whatsonstage.com and Olivier-nominated for Parade), JJ Field (Ring Round the Moon on stage, TV’s Northanger Abbey, The Ruby in the Smoke) and Lyndsay Marshal A Matter of Life and Death, Absurdia, Redundant on stage, TV’s Rome) will star in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s debut play The Pride, which runs from 27 November to 20 December 2008 (previews from 21 November) at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs (See News, 12 Jun 2008). Jamie Lloyd directs the new play, which looks at convention, compulsion and sex addiction in a triangle that moves between 1958 and 2008.

  • At the Lyric Hammersmith, company details have been announced for a new version of classic fairytale Cinderella, adapted by Ben Power and Coram Boy director Melly Still, which runs 5 December 2008 (previews from 28 November) to 3 January 2009. Coram Boy actors Katherine Manners and Kelly Williams play Cinderella’s sisters, joined by Tim McMullan as the father, Grainne Byrne as the mother, Daniel Weyman as the Prince and Elizabeth Chan in the title role. An original score is composed and performed live by renowned Norwegian ice-musician Terje Isungset, using instruments crafted from natural elements such as arctic birch, sheep bells and glacial ice.

    – by Terri Paddock