#d major is hedda

[thislittlekumquat]

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[justforbooks]

Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873. He was an Italian operatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) from the Italian and French repertoires that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic. One of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded, Caruso made 247 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920, which made him an international popular entertainment star.

Caruso's 25-year career, stretching from 1895 to 1920, included 863 appearances at the New York Metropolitan Opera before he died at the age of 48. Thanks in part to his tremendously popular phonograph records, Caruso was one of the most famous personalities of his day, and his fame has endured to the present. He was one of the first examples of a global media celebrity. Beyond records, Caruso's name became familiar to millions through newspapers, books, magazines, and the new media technology of the 20th century: cinema, the telephone and telegraph.

Caruso toured widely both with the Metropolitan Opera touring company and on his own, giving hundreds of performances throughout Europe, and North and South America. He was a client of the noted promoter Edward Bernays, during the latter's tenure as a press agent in the United States. Beverly Sills noted in an interview: "I was able to do it with television and radio and media and all kinds of assists. The popularity that Caruso enjoyed without any of this technological assistance is astonishing."

Caruso biographers Pierre Key, Bruno Zirato and Stanley Jackson attribute Caruso's fame not only to his voice and musicianship but also to a keen business sense and an enthusiastic embrace of commercial sound recording, then in its infancy. Many opera singers of Caruso's time rejected the phonograph (or gramophone) owing to the low fidelity of early discs. Others, including Adelina Patti, Francesco Tamagno and Nellie Melba, exploited the new technology once they became aware of the financial returns that Caruso was reaping from his initial recording sessions.

Caruso made more than 260 extant recordings in America for the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor) from 1904 to 1920, and he and his heirs earned millions of dollars in royalties from the retail sales of these records. He was also heard live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in 1910, when he participated in the first public radio broadcast to be transmitted in the United States.

Caruso also appeared in two motion pictures. In 1918, he played a dual role in the American silent film My Cousin for Paramount Pictures. This film included a sequence depicting him on stage performing the aria Vesti la giubba from Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. The following year Caruso played a character called Cosimo in another film, The Splendid Romance. Producer Jesse Lasky paid Caruso $100,000 each to appear in these two efforts but My Cousin flopped at the box office, and The Splendid Romance was apparently never released. Brief candid glimpses of Caruso offstage have been preserved in contemporary newsreel footage.

While Caruso sang at such venues as La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House, in London, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, he appeared most often at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where he was the leading tenor for 18 consecutive seasons. It was at the Met, in 1910, that he created the role of Dick Johnson in Giacomo Puccini's La fanciulla del West.

Caruso's voice extended up to high D-flat in its prime and grew in power and weight as he grew older. At times, his voice took on a dark, almost baritonal coloration. He sang a broad spectrum of roles, ranging from lyric, to spinto, to dramatic parts, in the Italian and French repertoires. In the German repertoire, Caruso sang only two roles, Assad (in Karl Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba) and Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, both of which he performed in Italian in Buenos Aires in 1899 and 1901, respectively.

Repertoire

Caruso's operatic repertoire consisted primarily of Italian works along with a few roles in French. He also performed two German operas, Wagner's Lohengrin and Goldmark's Die Königin von Saba, singing in Italian, early in his career. Below are the first performances by Caruso, in chronological order, of each of the operas that he undertook on the stage.

World premieres are indicated with **.

L'amico Francesco (Morelli) – Teatro Nuovo, Napoli, 15 March 1895 (debut)**

Faust – Caserta, 28 March 1895

Cavalleria rusticana – Caserta, April 1895

Camoens (Musoni) – Caserta, May 1895

Rigoletto – Napoli, 21 July 1895

La traviata – Napoli, 25 August 1895

Lucia di Lammermoor – Cairo, 30 October 1895

La Gioconda – Cairo, 9 November 1895

Manon Lescaut – Cairo, 15 November 1895

I Capuleti e i Montecchi – Napoli, 7 December 1895

Malia (Francesco Paolo Frontini) – Trapani, 21 March 1896

La sonnambula – Trapani, 25 March 1896

Mariedda (Gianni Bucceri [it]) – Napoli, 23 June 1896

I puritani – Salerno, 10 September 1896

La Favorita – Salerno, 22 November 1896

A San Francisco (Sebastiani) – Salerno, 23 November 1896

Carmen – Salerno, 6 December 1896

Un Dramma in vendemmia (Fornari) – Napoli, 1 February 1897

Celeste (Marengo) – Napoli, 6 March 1897**

Il Profeta Velato (Napolitano) – Salerno, 8 April 1897

La bohème – Livorno, 14 August 1897

La Navarrese – Milano, 3 November 1897

Il Voto (Giordano) – Milano, 10 November 1897**

L'arlesiana – Milano, 27 November 1897**

Pagliacci – Milano, 31 December 1897

La bohème (Leoncavallo) – Genova, 20 January 1898

The Pearl Fishers – Genova, 3 February 1898

Hedda (Leborne) – Milano, 2 April 1898**

Mefistofele – Fiume, 4 March 1898

Sapho (Massenet) – Trento, 3 June (?) 1898

Fedora – Milano, 17 November 1898**

Iris – Buenos Aires, 22 June 1899

La regina di Saba (Goldmark) – Buenos Aires, 4 July 1899

Yupanki (Berutti)– Buenos Aires, 25 July 1899**

Aida – St. Petersburg, 3 January 1900

Un ballo in maschera – St. Petersburg, 11 January 1900

Maria di Rohan – St. Petersburg, 2 March 1900

Manon – Buenos Aires, 28 July 1900

Tosca – Treviso, 23 October 1900

Le maschere (Mascagni) – Milano, 17 January 1901**

L'elisir d'amore – Milano, 17 February 1901

Lohengrin – Buenos Aires, 7 July 1901

Germania – Milano, 11 March 1902**

Don Giovanni – London, 19 July 1902

Adriana Lecouvreur – Milano, 6 November 1902**

Lucrezia Borgia – Lisbon, 10 March 1903

Les Huguenots – New York, 3 February 1905

Martha – New York, 9 February 1906

Madama Butterfly – London, 26 May 1906

L'Africana – New York, 11 January 1907

Andrea Chénier – London, 20 July 1907

Il trovatore – New York, 26 February 1908

Armide – New York, 14 November 1910

La fanciulla del West – New York, 10 December 1910**

Julien – New York, 26 December 1914

Samson et Dalila – New York, 24 November 1916

Lodoletta – Buenos Aires, 29 July 1917

Le prophète – New York, 7 February 1918

L'amore dei tre re – New York, 14 March 1918

La forza del destino – New York, 15 November 1918

La Juive – New York, 22 November 1919

Caruso also had a repertory of more than 500 songs. They ranged from classical compositions to traditional Italian melodies and popular tunes of the day, including a few English-language titles such as George M. Cohan's "Over There", Henry Geehl's "For You Alone" and Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord".

On 16 September 1920, Caruso concluded three days of recording sessions at Victor's Trinity Church studio in Camden, New Jersey. He recorded several discs, including the Domine Deus and Crucifixus from the Petite messe solennelle by Rossini. These recordings were to be his last.

Dorothy Caruso noted that her husband's health began a distinct downward spiral in late 1920 after he returned from a lengthy North American concert tour. In his biography, Enrico Caruso Jr. points to an on-stage injury suffered by Caruso as the possible trigger of his fatal illness. A falling pillar in Samson and Delilah on 3 December had hit him on the back, over the left kidney (and not on the chest as popularly reported). A few days before a performance of Pagliacci at the Met (Pierre Key says it was 4 December, the day after the Samson and Delilah injury) he suffered a chill and developed a cough and a "dull pain in his side". It appeared to be a severe episode of bronchitis. Caruso's physician, Philip Horowitz, who usually treated him for migraine headaches with a kind of primitive TENS unit, diagnosed "intercostal neuralgia" and pronounced him fit to appear on stage, although the pain continued to hinder his voice production and movements.

During a performance of L'elisir d'amore by Donizetti at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on December 11, 1920, he suffered a throat haemorrhage and the performance was canceled at the end of Act 1. Following this incident, a clearly unwell Caruso gave only three more performances at the Met, the final one being as Eléazar in Halévy's La Juive, on 24 December 1920. By Christmas Day, the pain in his side was so excruciating that he was screaming. Dorothy summoned the hotel physician, who gave Caruso some morphine and codeine and called in another doctor, Evan M. Evans. Evans brought in three other doctors and Caruso finally received a correct diagnosis: purulent pleurisy and empyema.

Caruso's health deteriorated further during the new year, lapsing into a coma and nearly dying of heart failure at one point. He experienced episodes of intense pain because of the infection and underwent seven surgical procedures to drain fluid from his chest and lungs. He slowly began to improve and he returned to Naples in May 1921 to recuperate from the most serious of the operations, during which part of a rib had been removed. According to Dorothy Caruso, he seemed to be recovering, but allowed himself to be examined by an unhygienic local doctor, and his condition worsened dramatically after that. The Bastianelli brothers, eminent medical practitioners with a clinic in Rome, recommended that his left kidney be removed. He was on his way to Rome to see them but, while staying overnight in the Vesuvio Hotel in Naples, he took an alarming turn for the worse and was given morphine to help him sleep.

Caruso died at the hotel shortly after 9:00 a.m. local time, on 2 August 1921. He was 48. The Bastianellis attributed the likely cause of death to peritonitis arising from a burst subphrenic abscess. The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, opened the Royal Basilica of the Church of San Francesco di Paola for Caruso's funeral, which was attended by thousands of people. His embalmed body was preserved in a glass sarcophagus at Del Pianto Cemetery in Naples for mourners to view. In 1929, Dorothy Caruso had his remains sealed permanently in an ornate stone tomb.

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[alcalavicci]

1988 interview with Dean. This is a really good one and helps bring more of his life into perspective. Note: the newspaper originally censored his swearing, but I’ve put it back.

Guthman, Edward. "Dean Stockwell: Third Time's a Charm." The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California), August 14, 1988.

“Six years ago, Dean Stockwell's acting career had turned to dust. Reduced to playing parts in unreleasable, made-in-Mexico movies that now make him cringe, Stockwell decided to chuck it all and get out of Hollywood.

“Along with his second wife, Joy, Stockwell moved to Santa Fe, settled down under the wide New Mexico sky and applied for a real estate license. He even placed an ad in Daily Variety to announce his exile: 'Dean Stockwell will help you with all your real estate needs in the new center of creative energy.'

“Stockwell never sold a house; he didn't need to. Instead, almost as soon as he'd relocated, things started happening to the former 1940s child star. It began with a small part in David Lynch's 'Dune,' and escalated with an important supporting role in Wim Wenders' highly regarded 'Paris, Texas.'

“Moving back to California to cash in on his fortune, Stockwell acted in 'Beverly Hills Cop II,' 'Gardens of Stone,' and 'To Live and Die in L.A.' He also played a cameo role, as Howard Hughes, in the newly released 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream.' And in 'Blue Velvet,' David Lynch's American nightmare, he delivered a chilling cameo as Ben, a waxlike, sexually ambiguous drug dealer.

“And now, at 52, Stockwell says he's found 'the favorite role I've had, by far.'

“The picture is 'Married to the Mob,' a dark, romantic comedy by Jonathan Demme ('Melvin and Howard,' 'Stop Making Sense') and Stockwell plays Mafia don Tony 'the Tiger' Russo. Wearing an Al Capone fedora and full-length vicuna coat, Tony is a rich, sardonic, larger-than-life character -- the kind Stockwell has never had a chance to play until now.

“Opening Friday at the Galaxy and UA the Movies, 'Married to the Mob' has been touted as Demme's first shot at a genuine box-office winner. Set in Long Island, New Jersey and Florida, it stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Angela DeMarco, a young Mafia wife who tries to start a new life when her husband, Frankie 'the Cucumber' DeMarco, is pumped full of lead during a hot-tub tryst at the Fantasia Motel.

“When Stockwell's character isn't ordering hits, drug deals and the dumping of toxic waste, he's lusting assiduously after the gorgeous widow. Meanwhile, bumbling FBI agent Mike Downey (played by Matthew Modine) is jumping through hoops trying to shadow Angela and 'catch Tony with his pants down.' Instead, he falls in love with Angela.

“During a recent luncheon interview, not far from his central California home, Stockwell spoke about the film, about his new happiness as the father of two children and about the bizarre trajectory of his long career. Dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and slacks, wearing a Panama hat and drawing first on a cigaret, later on a cigar, Stockwell emanates prosperity and calm.

“'I don't know why I was unemployed so long,' he says, reflecting on a fallow period that started in the '60s and lasted the better part of two decades. 'The only thing I can figure out in my own mind is that, for some reason or another, I was being made to wait until a certain time in my life when my talent would reach its full maturity and fruition.'

“Ironically, he says, he felt just as equipped 10 years ago to do the work he's doing now -- 'only I couldn't get fucking arrested.'

“Today, Stockwell sees harmony in the fact that his new success coincides with the arrival of two children. His son, Austin, will be 5 in November, and his daughter, Sophia, turns 3 this month. Inordinately proud and protective, he refuses to allow his children to be photographed, and also requests that the town in which he and his family reside not be named. (There were no children from his first marriage, to Millie Perkins, which lasted from 1960 to 1962.)

“'I want to make a lot of money and I want to put it away for my children,' he says. To that end, Stockwell has been snapping up job offers. 'A lot of people ask me, "How have you been able to choose these wonderful things you're doing? Have you been very selective?" And I have to tell them, "I haven't been choosing what I'm doing." Things have been coming and I've been accepting virtually anything that's come.'

“Stockwell's ambition is so great that, for the first time in his life, he actively pursues aspects of his career that he once shunned- interviews, for example.

“'My entire motivation in life is my family,' he says. 'I don't need to get an award. I don't need recognition. I've had that already. What I need is to provide. The best way I can provide is to be successful, and the best way I can be successful is to take advantage of all the things at my disposal to achieve that, one of which certainly is press.'

“Take a look at the young Stockwell, specifically the version that emerges from old magazine and newspaper interviews, and you meet another person altogether.

“Robbed of a normal childhood, Stockwell had made 22 films by the time he was 15 -- including 'The Boy with Green Hair,' 'Kim,' 'Anchors Aweigh,' and the Oscar-winning 'Gentleman's Agreement.' Working nonstop, he had a privileged life that millions of children probably envied, but he loathed it nonetheless.

“The son of show-business parents -- his father, Harry Stockwell, was the voice of the Prince in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' and his mother, Betty Veronica, was a former stage dancer -- Stockwell made his professional debut at 7. It all happened by a fluke: when Stockwell accompanied his older brother, Guy, on a Broadway audition, the casting director took a liking to both boys, and cast each one. The play, aptly enough, was called 'Innocent Voyage,' and it led to an MGM contract for curly-haired Dean.

“From the beginning, the pressure on young Stockwell was intense. His parents had divorced when he was 6, and when his father defaulted on child-support payments, Dean reluctantly became the family provider. Over a six-year period, he averaged three to four films per year.

“At home, he says, 'There was a lot of friction... I was getting all the attention, but I hated it. [Guy] couldn't appreciate that, because he wasn't getting the attention. He had all these friends, his peer group, that he took for granted. I had none and I resented him for being able to live that way. I was fucking lonely.'

“When he was 13, chained to a seven-year contract, Stockwell was described by one magazine as 'a young rebel who despises acting and resents every moment it takes from his fleeting boyhood.' Many years later, Stockwell told columnist Hedda Hopper, 'Child actors exist in a sort of limbo between childhood and maturity and belong to neither. Adults take them too seriously and other children are either awed or hostile. A child actor can find friends in neither group.'

“Finally, Stockwell fled Hollywood when he was 16. He cut off his curly locks, started using his real name, Robert Stockwell, and for the next five years roamed the country, working menial jobs and disavowing his true identity. 'People that might have known me from seeing my films knew me as a young child,' he remembers. 'Now I was 17 and I wasn't that recognizable.'

“Around the time of his 21st birthday, Stockwell was pushing papers as mail boy to a Manhattan plumbing firm. 'Of all the jobs that I'd had in those intervening years,' he remembers. 'I think I hated that worse than anything. I came to the realization I had no training at anything. My primary education was very skimpy, very poor, and happened under the worst type of conditions. I was literally at the mercy of the world.'

“Most of Stockwell's childhood earnings were squandered by crooked accountants, he says, and he knew that the tiny sum being held in a trust wouldn't last forever. 'So I thought, "What am I gonna do? Well, let's go back and attack this [acting career] again, and see if I can do it a little more on my terms."'

“What followed for Stockwell was a brief but impressive 'second career.' He starred in the 1959 film 'Compulsion,' based on the Leopold-Loeb case of the '20s, and won a joint acting award with Orson Welles and Bradford Dillman at the Cannes Film Festival. He played the lead in the 1960 film of D. H. Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers,' and in 1962 scored the plum role of Edmund Tyrone in Sidney Lumet's film version of 'Long Day's Journey Into Night,' holding his own alongside Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards.

“Stockwell was winning the best parts, but found his attention drifting elsewhere. What was happening, he says, were the first signs of the '60s youth revolution. 'It captured my imagination as much as anybody's. And it represented to me -- I can see this in retrospect -- something in childhood that I had missed: the freedom and loving being alive, without responsibilities and work and having to report to the studio every day, and deal with fans and interviews and shit that I hated when I was a kid.'

“So Stockwell called his agent, said, 'I'm not workin',' and dropped out once again. When he tried to come back three years later, though, 'I found it very difficult, 'cause I'd been out-of-sight, out-of-mind.' What followed was a long period of marginal employment: He found some TV work, took parts in low-budget trash ('The Dunwich Horror') and occasional oddities (Dennis Hopper's 'The Last Movie') and co-directed a film with musician Neil Young ('Human Highway') but often just didn't work at all. At one point, he went 18 months without a job.

“Today, along with his buddy Hopper, Stockwell is enjoying a major career renaissance. And with his starring role in 'Married to the Mob,' he says, he's never felt more confident.

“'I knew before I started the film that this character was going to work in spades,' he says, adding that Demme, as director, deserves credit for taking a risk with such offbeat casting. Instead of picking Peter Falk, Vincent Gardenia or another ethnically identified actor to play the Mafia don, he went with Stockwell (who is actually half-Italian on his mother's side).

“Demme's inspiration occurred on a flight from Los Angeles to New York, when he opened a copy of the Hollywood Reporter. Stockwell had just changed agents, and in order to announce the fact, had taken out a full-page ad. Demme saw the picture, and instantly recognized his Tony.

“Weirdly enough, Stockwell made another film immediately prior to 'Married to the Mob': a Canadian feature called 'Palais Royale,' due for an October release, in which he plays a character almost identical to Tony Russo.

“'It's very curious,' he says. 'For all my years I'd never had a role like this come my way, and here it was twice. The Mafia don in New York, the Mafia don in Toronto, both of them colorful and charming and also threatening. And I just thought, "What am I gonna do? It's the same character." So I decided to do the same character in both those movies.'

“To take the coincidence 'one nauseating step further,' Stockwell says he's also got a part in the recently completed 'Backtrack,' Hopper's next film. This time he plays a corrupt mob lawyer, dropping the Italian accent for a generalized East Coast sound.

“It would be difficult to find a film actor who's busier than Stockwell at this moment. And it would be difficult to find anyone whose job history better illustrates the vicissitudes, serendipities and insecurity of a Hollywood career.

“Looking back on his misfortunes -- at the career that he was forced to accept as a child, and the humiliation he felt when he couldn't maintain it as an adult -- Stockwell says he's not bitter. 'When you reach your maturity, I think it behooves you to accept the fact that it's absolutely futile and fruitless even to speculate on changing anything in your life. All you can do is get embittered. So I accept everything that's happened as part of my life, and try to push it in a positive direction from the moment right now.'”

[londontheatre]

Christian Slater returns to the West End as smooth talking sales shark Ricky Roma, in David Mamet’s cult classic Glengarry Glen Ross. Alongside A Killer Sales Team: Robert Glenister as Dave Moss, Kris Marshall as John Williamson, Stanley Townsend as Shelley ‘The Machine’ Levene and Don Warrington as George Aaronow.

Christian Slater (Mr Robot, True Romance, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Robert Glenister (Hustle, Spooks), Kris Marshall (Death in Paradise, Love Actually, My Family), Stanley Townsend (Girl from the North Country, The Nether) and Don Warrington (Death in Paradise, Rising Damp) are the ‘deal chasing’ cut-throat sales team in David Mamet’s masterpiece, Glengarry Glen Ross.

This trailblazing modern classic, directed by Sam Yates, runs at the Playhouse Theatre from 26 October to 3 February 2018 for a strictly limited 14-week season. The play has won every major dramatic award on both sides of the Atlantic, making it an extraordinary theatrical success story. Its sensational world premiere at the National Theatre in 1983, earned it the Olivier Award for Best Play, whilst its 1984 Broadway premiere garnered multiple Tony Award nominations and just a year later, it won the Pulitzer Award for Drama. In 1992 the play was adapted by Mamet into an Academy Award nominated film featuring an all-star cast including Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Jonathan Pryce.

At a time of fierce debate about the American Dream and what it represents, Glengarry Glen Ross is a lacerating satire for modern society, highlighting how economic austerity can affect the morality and greed of individuals under financial pressure.

Glengarry Glen Ross is produced by ATG Productions, Act Productions and Glass Half Full Productions.

Lies. Greed. Corruption. It’s business as usual. Set in an office of cut-throat Chicago salesmen. Pitched in a high-stakes competition against each other, four increasingly desperate employees will do anything, legal or otherwise, to sell the most real estate. As time and luck start to run out, the mantra is simple: close the deal and you’ve won a Cadillac; blow the lead and you’re f****d.

Christian Slater (Ricky Roma) is an internationally acclaimed actor who recently won a Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice award for his role in Mr Robot, for which he is also a producer.

He was last on the London stage in Swimming with Sharks at the Vaudeville Theatre and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at the Gielgud/Garrick Theatre. His other stage credits include Spamalot at the Hollywood Bowl and The Glass Menagerie, opposite Jessica Lange, on Broadway.

Forthcoming films include, Bjorn Runge’s adaptation of Meg Wolitszer’s novel, The Wife and Emilio Estevez’s film The Public. Previous films include King Cobra opposite James Franco, Nymphomaniac, Bobby, Windtalkers, Broken Arrow, True Romance, Very Bad Things, Heathers, He Was a Quiet Man, The Contender, Bed of Roses, Murder in the First, Interview with a Vampire, Untamed Heart, Pump Up the Volume, The Name of the Rose, Tucker: The Man and His Dream and Gleaming the Cube.

His TV credits include Archer and Milo Murphy’s Law and he executive produced Very Bad Things.

Robert Glenister (Dave Moss) is best known from TV roles including Ash Morgan in Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in Spooks. His stage credits include Great Britain, Blue Remembered Hills, Ting Tang Mine, Fathers and Sons and Brighton Bach Memoirs, Never So Good all for the National Theatre, The Late Middle Classes at the Donmar Warehouse, Hedda Gabler for Theatre Royal Bath, The Winterling at the Royal Court, Uncle Vanya, An Ideal Husband, The Idiot and The Voysey Inheritance all for the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Measure for Measure, The Tempest, The Spanish Tragedy and Little Eyolf all for the RSC, According to Hoyle at Hampstead Theatre, The Duchess of Malfi at Greenwich Theatre, In The Heart of America, Wrecks and Crimes of the Heart at the Bush Theatre and Hamlet at Sheffield Crucible.

Robert’s TV credits include Cold Feet, Paranoid, The Musketeers, Close to the Enemy, Vera, The Guest Train Robbery, Miss Marple, The Care, We’ll Take Manhattan, Hustle (series 1-8), Appropriate Adult, Moving On: Skin Deep, Law and Order, Spooks (series 6-9), George Gently, Warriors: Spartacus, Murder, Legless, Ruby in the Smoke, Sirens, Midsomer Murders, Class of 76, Between the Sheets, A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat and Only Fools and Horses. His film credits include Journey’s End, Live by Night, Cryptic, Creation, Laissez Passer, The Visitors, All Forgotten, Secret Rapture and Quadrophenia.

Kris Marshall (John Williamson) is most recognized for screen roles including Nick Harper in My Family (for which he received the Best Newcomer award at the 2002 British Comedy Awards), Colin Frissell in Love Actually, Dave in Citizen Khan and DI Humphrey Goodman in Death in Paradise. Other screen credits include Lightfields, Traffic Light, Human Target, D.O.A, Sold, Catwalk Dogs, Heist, Singled Out, Funland, My Life In Film, Murder City, Dr Zhivago, Waiting For The Whistle, Metropolis, Trial And Retribution, The Bill, Lively Lads, Stick With Me Kid, A Few Less Men, Sparks & Embers, A Few Best Men, Oka Amerikee, Meant To Be, Easy Virtue, Death at a Funeral, The Merchant of Venice, Mexicano, Deathwatch, Iris, Je T’aime John Wayne, Four Feathers, Most Fertile Man In Ireland, and Dead.

Kris’s stage credits include Ugly Lies the Bone at the National Theatre, Fat Pig at Trafalgar Studios, The Revengers Tragedy at Southwark Playhouse, The Hypochondriac at the Almeida, Invention of Love at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Happy Savages at the Lyric Hammersmith, The Unexpected Guest on UK tour, Journey’s End at the Kings Head and Deathtrap on UK tour.

Stanley Townsend’s (Shelley Levene) recent stage credits include The Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic, and the lead in The Nether at the Royal Court/West End. Other stage credits include King Lear, Gethsemane, Guys and Dolls and Phedre at the National Theatre, The Plough and the Stars at the Young Vic, Under the Blue Sky, The Alice Trilogy and The Shining City all at the Royal Court Theatre.

Stanley’s TV credits include The Hollow Crown II, The Collection, The Tunnel (series two), Galavant, Fleming, 24 Live, Another Day, New Worlds, Quirke, Call The Midwife, The Shadow Line, Zen, Spooks, The Commander, Hustle, Waking the Dead and Sherlock. His film credits include Florence Foster Jenkins, The Voices, One Chance, Lovely Louise, Killing Bono, Happy Go Lucky, Into The West, In The Name of the Father, The Van, Tulse Luper and The Libertine.

Don Warrington’s (George Aaronow) stage credits include King Lear and All My Sons at the Royal Exchange, Driving Miss Daisy on UK tour, A Statement of Regret and The Mysteries at the National Theatre, Elmina’s Kitchen at the Garrick Theatre and The Merchant of Venice for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Don’s TV credits include Henry IX, Death In Paradise, The Five, The Ark, Chasing Shadows, Lewis, This Is Jinsy, Waking the Dead, Going Postal, Casualty, Law & Order, Diamond Geezer, Sunny D, New Street Law, Doctor Who, The Crouches, London and Manchild, All Star Comedy Show, Trial and Retribution, The Aramand Lannucci Show, Arabian Knights, Backup and The Professional Tusk Force. His film credits include You, Me & Him, Voodoo Magic, The Glass Man, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, Land of the Blind, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith, Black Xxxmas, Tube Tales, The Lighthouse, Eight and A Half Women, The Seventh Scroll, Babymother and Hamlet. As a director, Don’s credits include Rising Damp UK Number 1 Tour, Rum and Coca Cola for the West Yorkshire Playhouse and The Coloured Museum for Talawa Theatre Company at the V&A.

Sam Yates (Director) is currently directing Desire Under the Elms, which runs at the Sheffield Crucible from 21 September. Other directing credits include Murder Ballad at the Arts Theatre, Cymbeline with Pauline McLynn & Joseph Marcell at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, East is East with Jane Horrocks & Ayub Khan Din at Trafalgar Studios followed by two national tours, The El. Train with Ruth Wilson at Hoxton Hall, Billy Liar at the Royal Exchange, Cornelius at the Finborough Theatre and 59E59 New York and Mixed Marriage at the Finborough Theatre.

Sam’s screen credits include The Hope Rooms with Ciarán Hinds & Andrew Scott (Rather Good Films, Bill Kenwright Films, winner Grand Prize Future Filmmaker Award, RIIFF 2016); Cymbeline with Hayley Atwell, All’s Well That Ends Well with Lindsay Duncan & Ruth Wilson, and Love’s Labour’s Lost with Gemma Arterton & David Dawson (The Complete Walk, Shakespeare’s Globe). Yates directed two music videos for Ivor Novello-nominated band Bear’s Den, Emeralds and Auld Wives (MTV’s A-list). For radio he directed Ecco featuring Hayley Atwell (BBC Radio 4).

In 2016 he was voted one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow having previously featured as rising star in theatre in The Observer, and in GQ Magazine’s Men of the Next 25 years for theatre.

David Mamet (Playwright) is the author of the plays November, Boston Marriage, Faustus, Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross (1984 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award), American Buffalo, The Old Neighborhood, Life in the Theatre, Speed-the-Plow, Edmond, Lakeboat, The Water Engine, The Woods, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Reunion and The Cryptogram (1995 Obie Award). His translations and adaptations include Faustus, Red River by Pierre Laville and The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov. His films include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, The Untouchables, House of Games (writer/director), Oleanna (writer/director), Homicide (writer/director), The Spanish Prisoner (writer/director), Heist (writer/director), Spartan (writer/director) and Redbelt (writer/director). Mamet is also the author of Warm and Cold, a book for children with drawings by Donald Sultan, and two other children’s books, Passover and The Duck and the Goat. His most recent books include True and False, Three Uses of the Knife, The Wicked Son, and Bambi Vs. Godzilla.

LISTINGS GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS BY DAVID MAMET DIRECTED BY SAM YATES PLAYHOUSE THEATRE 26 OCTOBER 2017 – 3 FEBRUARY 2018

Press Night: Thursday 9 November at 7pm

Performances: Monday – Saturday evening: 7.45pm Thursday and Saturday matinee: 2.30pm

Christmas Schedule: Sunday 17 Dec DAY OFF Sunday 24 Dec DAY OFF (Xmas Eve) Monday 25 Dec DAY OFF (Xmas Day) Tuesday 26 Dec Evening (Boxing Day) Sunday 31 Dec DAY OFF (New Year’s Eve) Monday 1 Jan DAY OFF (New Year’s Day)

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[vileart]

Places Dramaturgy: Romy Nordlinger @ Edfringe 2017

** ROMY NORDLINGER’S PLACES – THE STORY OF THE MOST FAMOUS BROADWAY AND SILENT FILM STAR YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF - ALLA NAZIMOVA - TO HAVE ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT 59E59 THEATERS as part of EAST OF EDINBURGH BEFORE TRAVELING TO EDINBURGH FRINGE **

NEW YORK, NY (June 13, 2017)

Yonder Window Theatre Company and

Parity Productions are thrilled to announce that writer/performer Romy Nordlinger’s Places is among the selected performances for this year’s East to Edinburgh at 59E59 Theaters. 

At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Places is playing at the New Town Theatre (Venue 7).

The performance dates are August 3rd -14th and 16th -27th at 5 pm. 

Places will play 6 performances in July before traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland for the 2017 Fringe Festival where it will have 25 performances over the month of August (4th - 27th). 

Places, a tour-de-force one-actor multimedia show, tells the story of Alla Nazimova, the rule-breaking lesbian Broadway and Hollywood legend. From a Jewish immigrant fleeing Tsarist Russia to Hollywood’s first female director and producer, Nazimova was a trailblazer who wouldn’t be silenced. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

I was performing a short piece that I wrote about Alla Nazimova in a collection of pieces about great actresses from our past who might otherwise be forgotten. I was absolutely awestruck by Nazimova, her character, her harrowing and triumphant story and her amazing accomplishments. 

 She was at one time the highest paid actress in Hollywood’s silent movies and had a Broadway theatre named after her. She was also the first female writer, director and producer in Hollywood.

 A trailblazer who was incredibly outspoken and openly bisexual, her mansion on Sunset Boulevard coined ‘The Garden Of Allah” became the watering hole for the great luminaries of literature and the performing arts such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Greta Garbo and a haven for intellectual liberty and freedom. It also was the setting in which the term the ‘Sewing Circle’ was born; an acronym for her all women’s lesbian gatherings. Where did her story go? 

Why was she virtually erased from the history books and how could we forget such a giant? In writing my solo show about Nazimova, I was determined to set the record straight and to tell her magnificent story. We are all the stories we tell and an artist is only dead when the last person to remember them dies.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

To me theatre will always be the most powerful of all medias. The immediacy of being together in one room at one time and sharing our humanness, our stories, is a transformative experience. I’m not saying theatre is always good, but the very act of assembling together and telling our stories live is cathartic. 

Abstract ideas and news are very important of course, but in theatre one is able to feel, to empathize, and most importantly to share the human condition out loud and together. In our increasingly polarizing society, theatre is more important than ever – telling our stories out loud and live.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I am interested in the human condition. I feel less alone when I can express my feelings, and hear other’s feelings expressed. I feel most alive when I write, when I act. This propels me to make performances – the sharing part of it.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I read everything about Nazimova that I possibly could. Watched her movies, read her journals, looked at her pictures. I isolated quotes that she’d said that particularly struck me, moved me, and made me feel that I understood her.

 In the end, her story is an amalgam of herself and myself. As she was not here to interview, her story is told through the lens of my perspective.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

I’ve primarily been an actress in my life and in the past six years began writing plays. The productions of the plays I’ve had are vastly different. This story is unique as it is a solo voice and it is multimedia. The characters I am writing about dictate the landscape of the play.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope the audience feels hope. I hope they feel less alone knowing that others long before them have triumphed over adversity, have spoken their truths, and have found strength even when they’ve been beaten down. I hope they feel jazzed to be alive knowing that every day is a chance to begin anew.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

I wanted the audience to see this not as a ‘museum’ piece but a piece that was very relevant today. Nazimova was fighting the things in the 19th century and early 20th century that we are still fighting today, but alone and without a twitter account: sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism. I made sure to juxtapose her life through the lens of her being an all seeing ghost who is able to peer into the life of the 21st century and reflect on the past and present simultaneously.

 As Nazimova says, “By opening our eyes to the past, we are better able to see our present.” I also wanted to include the cinematic look of her life with the multimedia elements of the play. As she was a film star and director and so much of her life was on screen, it was vital to use the same mediums to tell her story – the story and visions that were brushed under the rug because they were so ahead of her time.

Nordlinger’s solo performance reimagines one of the most daring and censored artists of the 20th century who tells it like it was… and still is.

Long before innovative and outspoken performers such as Madonna and Lady Gaga, the world was enamored of Nazimova. 

“Telling Alla Nazimova’s story is relevant now more than ever as we face a new age of civil liberties being under attack, a backlash against women, against the LGBTQ community, and against immigrants. If Nazimova could have faced those kinds of obstacles and still flourished, then it gives me faith that we can do the same,” says director and co-developer Katie McHugh adds, “If we could call the voices of our past to come back and speak to us, Nazimova would be on the top of the list. What is happening now in our world is an opportunity to listen to the predecessors who paved the way for us as we strive for equality. ”

Nazimova was born Adelaide Yakovlevna Leventon, the daughter of an abusive father. Facing persecution for her Jewish heritage and having lived in foster homes, she finally found her true home with the Moscow Art Theatre and Stanislavsky. She adopted the name Alla Nazimova and became a major star in Moscow and Europe before fleeing to America in 1905. Her Broadway premiere in November 1906 was in the title role of Hedda Gabler. Nazimova became a major success and box office draw, helping to launch the careers of Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov as well as inspire the careers of others including Tennessee Williams.

Nazimova was open about her sexual preference, often to the chagrin of the New York entertainment establishment. She ultimately fled to Hollywood where, by 1917, she wielded considerable power and became the highest paid actress there. Not to be beaten by the ��boys club,’ she formed her own production company—Nazimova Productions—to become the first female producer, director, and writer in Hollywood. Her production of ‘Salome,’ helmed by an all-gay cast, ushered in the birth of art cinema. But the homosexual themes and experimental filmmaking proved too forward for the 1920s, leading her to a reputation as box office poison and to her artistic demise.

At Nazzy’s mansion on 8080 Sunset Boulevard - dubbed the “Garden of Allah” - she hosted parties frequented by such luminaries as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marlene Dietrich, Dorothy Parker, and Tennessee Williams. There she created her all women’s “sewing circle,” a term she coined to describe her infamous meetings of lesbian and bisexual actresses in Hollywood. Eventually, with the public and studios turning against her, Nazimova had no choice but to turn her Garden Of Allah into hotels and was eventually forced into obscurity. Her contributions to the film industry have since been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Places is a co-production between Yonder Window Theatre Company and Parity Productions and is made possible in part by the support of Jack Sharkey.

RomyNordlinger (Actor/Playwright) Selected credits: “Edna Hoffman” (VO role) in Florence Foster Jenkins dir. Stephen Frears, WOMG and The Ruthless Spectator (Web Series), Lancelot by Steven Fechter (The Woodsman) of which she is also in pre-production for the feature film & “A Separation”. Co & Guest starring roles on Law & Order CI (Officer Talbor), All My Children, Gotham, One Life To Live, plus numerous indie films. Selected theatre: "Rose"/ Shakespeare's Slave @ Clurman with Resonance Ensemble; Between Here and There @ New Perspectives; The Woman On The Bridge workshop dir. Ludovica Villar-Hauser; January dir Lorca Peress/Multi Stages, R Culture by Cecilia Copeland @ IRT, Stage Struck helmed by Mari Lyn Henry and The Society For The Preservation Of Theatrical History @ Snapple Theatre, The Players Club, Metropolitan Playhouse. Regional credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Wilma, Fleetwood Stage, Emelin. Playwriting credits include Liptshick @ FringeNYC , The Feeling Part with LoNyLa & The Playwriting Collective, Broadville @ Manhattan Theatre Source & her solo show Sex and Sealing Wax @ MITF. Romy is also an audiobook narrator and voice-over artist with over 200 titles to her credit as well as numerous international voice-over spots. Romy has also been a theatre-teaching artist for the past 15 years working with underserved communities in every borough of New York City. Member of The League Of Professional Theatre Women. Member of NY Madness, Resonance Theatre Ensemble, Flux Sundays and The Playwrights Gallery. B.F.A University Of Arts. 

Katie McHugh (Director) is a New York-based director, teacher and producer of theatre with an MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama. She is the Founding Director of the Southeastern Teen Shakespeare Company, Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory at the Actors Movement Studio, and Artistic Director of Yonder Window Theatre Company. Katie is an award-winning director who specializes in devised and experimental theatre. Selected New York directing credits: Euripides’ Medea at the New School for Drama’s New Visions Festival, and The List by Jennifer Tremblay in the New York International Fringe Festival 2012 (Winner of Overall Excellence in a Solo Performance). The List was chosen to perform internationally in the first Mexican Fringe Festival of San Miguel de Allende. After directing her second production in Mexico in February of 2015, Waiting for Goddreau preceded by Shut up Kathleen, Katie was named an Artistic Ambassador of the Mexican Fringe Festival San Miguel. She spent two months last winter in Mexico working on the third annual Fringe Festival as well as co-producing Enemy, an adaptation of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People directed by Emmy award winner, Dorothy Lyman at the San Miguel Playhouse Theatre. Her new theatre company, Yonder Window, made its maiden voyage this year with a multidisciplinary, multi-cultural, bi-lingual international production called The Dream Project, premiering at Muv arte, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Katie is a five-time director for the Writopia World Wide Plays Festival sponsored by David Letterman, as well as a regular guest director with the NYU dramatic writing program. She also runs a program for young actors focused on auditioning for college called the Audition Prep Intensive and is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women. http://ift.tt/2suSmD6

On Places, Adam Burns is the creative force behind the graphic and video elements. Nick T. Moore is the sound designer and composer. Places is production managed by Tamara Geisler and assistant directed by Jason Beckmann.

Yonder Window Theatre Company is a New York-based theater company focused on platforms for cultural conversations and exchange. Committed to connecting with artists around the world, each production is inspired by a specific culture. Stories are explored through workshops and laboratories, where artists can begin to experiment with their talents and ideas. Upcoming productions:  The House on Poe Street by Fengar Gael, 14th Street Y, October 2017 and The Dream Project, Mexico 2018.

Parity Productions is the theatre company with a dual mission to create new work while ensuring that all its productions are comprised of at least 50% women and transgender directors, designers, and playwrights. The company has several lauded advocacy platforms specifically aimed at creating more opportunities for women and transgender artists. Upcoming productions: Teresa Lotz's She Calls Me Firefly and Gregory Murphy’s Household Words.

The Drama Desk Award-winning 59E59 is dedicated to bringing the best new work from around the country and across the world to premiere in New York. Their annual East to Edinburgh highlights North American companies and productions before they make the journey across the pond in the closest thing to Festival Fringe this side of the Atlantic.

Civil Disobedience is an international producing team and the on-the-ground producers of Places in Edinburgh. With a passion for ensuring that world-class acts find their place in the UK market and internationally, Civil Disobedience brings the finest talent from around the world to global stages, arts festivals, and events.

Places will run at 59E59 Theater (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues) on Friday, July 21st at 8:30 pm; Saturday, July 22nd at 6:30 pm; Sunday, July 23rd at 4:30 pm; Friday, July 28th at 8:30 pm; Saturday, July 29th at 8:30 pm; and Sunday, July 30th at 4:30 pm. 

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2rZW9oB

[londontheatre]

NT entrance February 2015 photo by Philip Vile

Ivo van Hove follows his acclaimed Hedda Gabler with the world premiere of Network, with Bryan Cranston making his UK stage debut

Anne-Marie Duff returns to the National Theatre in Common, and will appear alongside Rory Kinnear in Macbeth in 2018, directed by Rufus Norris

Award-winning playwright Annie Baker (The Flick) returns with the European premiere of her new play John in the Dorfman

John Tiffany directs the world premiere of Pinocchio

Saint George and the Dragon, Beginning and The Majority continue the NT’s commitment to new work and contemporary stories on our stages

12 new plays, 50% of which are written by women, will open in the next 12 months

People, Places & Things transfers to St Ann’s Warehouse, New York

The NT will tour to 47 venues in 35 towns and cities across the UK in 2017-18

Co-productions with Fuel, Headlong, Out of Joint, Improbable, and West Yorkshire Playhouse

Double the number of Entry Pass tickets for young people under 26

NEW PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCED OLIVIER THEATRE

AMADEUS – photograph by Seamus Ryan, designed by the NT Graphic Design Studio

SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON Rory Mullarkey’s epic new folk play tells of a knight who became a myth, and a country in need of a story. The world premiere is directed by National Theatre Associate Lyndsey Turner with design by Rae Smith, lighting design by Bruno Poet, music by Grant Olding, choreography by Lynne Page and sound design by Christopher Shutt. Opening in October 2017. Hundreds of Travelex tickets at £15 available per performance.

MACBETH Rufus Norris directs Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff in Shakespeare’s darkest tragedy 25 years after his last Shakespeare production. Opening in spring 2018. Broadcast to cinemas by NT Live in 2018.

AMADEUS Michael Longhurst’s sell-out production of Peter Shaffer’s masterpiece returns to the Olivier. Lucian Msamati and Adam Gillen once again lead the company of actors, singers and musicians. Amadeus is directed by Michael Longhurst with design by Chloe Lamford, music direction and additional music by Simon Slater, choreography by Imogen Knight, lighting design by Jon Clark and sound design by Paul Arditti. Amadeus is produced in association with Southbank Sinfonia, supported by the Amadeus production syndicate. Opening in January 2018.

LYTTELTON THEATRE NETWORK

Ivo van Hove © Jan Versweyveld

Lee Hall’s new adaptation of the Oscar-winning film by Paddy Chayefsky is directed by Ivo van Hove. Cast includes Tony award winner Bryan Cranston (All the Way, Breaking Bad and Trumbo for which he was nominated for both an Oscar and a BAFTA) in the role of Howard Beale. Set and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, video design by Tal Yarden, costume design by An D’Huys, music by Eric Sleichim and sound design by Tom Gibbons. Network is produced in association with Patrick Myles, David Luff, Ros Povey and Lee Menzies. Production supported by Marcia Grand for the memory of Richard Grand. Opening in November 2017.

DORFMAN THEATRE THE MAJORITY Following the acclaimed run of Bullet Catch in The Shed, Rob Drummond returns to the National with a new one-man show about democracy. Directed by David Overend and opening in August 2017. Originally co-commissioned with The Arches, Glasgow.

BEGINNING In the early hours of the morning, in the aftermath of a party in north London, two people meet. And nothing will ever be the same for them again. The world premiere of David Eldridge’s new play is directed by Polly Findlay. With design by Fly Davis, lighting design by Jack Knowles and sound design by Paul Arditti. Opening in October 2017.

JOHN Following The Flick in 2016, Annie Baker returns to the Dorfman with her new play, John. James Macdonald directs the European premiere, with a cast including Georgia Engel. Opening in early 2018.

UPDATES ON PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED PRODUCTIONS OLIVIER THEATRE

Tamsin Greig in Gethsemane (2008)-credit Catherine Ashmore

TWELFTH NIGHT Will now run until 13 May, previews from 15 February, press night 22 February. Simon Godwin directs this joyous new production. Tamsin Greig is a transformed Malvolia, performing alongside Adam Best, Oliver Chris, Claire Cordier, Imogen Doel, Mary Doherty, Ammar Duffus, Daniel Ezra, Phoebe Fox, Whitney Kehinde, Emmanuel Kojo, Tamara Lawrance, Andrew Macbean, Doon Mackichan, Tim McMullan, Brad Morrison, Daniel Rigby, Imogen Slaughter, James Wallace and Niky Wardley. The production will be designed by Soutra Gilmour, lighting by James Farncombe, movement by Shelley Maxwell, music by Michael Bruce, sound by Christopher Shutt, and fight direction by Kev McCurdy.

A ship is wrecked on the rocks. Viola is washed ashore but her twin brother Sebastian is lost. Determined to survive on her own, she steps out to explore a new land. So begins a whirlwind of mistaken identity and unrequited love. The nearby households of Olivia and Orsino are overrun with passion. Even Olivia’s uptight housekeeper Malvolia is swept up in the madness. Where music is the food of love and nobody is quite what they seem, anything proves possible. Broadcast to cinemas by NT Live on 6 April.

Director Yael Farber NT lesblancs 2016 credit Johan Persson

SALOMÉ Previews from 2 May, press night 9 May, continuing in the repertoire until 15 July. Salomé in a new version by Yaël Farber The story has been told before, but never like this. An occupied desert nation. A radical from the wilderness on hunger strike. A girl whose mysterious dance will change the course of the world. This charged retelling turns the infamous biblical tale on its head, placing the girl we call Salomé at the centre of a revolution.

Internationally acclaimed director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs) draws on multiple accounts to create her urgent, hypnotic production on the Olivier stage.

Salomé is designed by Susan Hilferty with lighting design by Tim Lutkin, music and sound by Adam Cork, movement direction by Ami Shulman, fight direction by Kate Waters and dramaturgy by Drew Lichtenberg. Cast includes Philip Arditti, Paul Chahidi, Ramzi Choukair, Uriel Emil, Olwen Fouéré, Roseanna Frascona, Aidan Kelly, Yasmin Levy, Theo T J Lowe, Isabella Niloufar, Lubana al Quntar, Raad Rawi and Stanley Townsend. Hundreds of Travelex tickets at £15 available per performance. Broadcast to cinemas by NT Live on 22 June.

COMMON Previews from 30 May, press night 6 June. A co-production with Headlong.

Mary’s the best liar, rogue, thief and faker in this whole septic isle. And she’s back. As the factory smoke of the industrial revolution belches out from the cities, Mary is swept up in the battle of her former home. The common land, belonging to all, is disappearing. D C Moore’s dark and funny new play is an epic tale of unsavoury action and England’s lost land.

Headlong’s Artistic Director, Jeremy Herrin, (People, Places and Things, This House) directs Anne-Marie Duff as Mary. Cast includes Trevor Fox. Design is by Richard Hudson, lighting design by Paule Constable, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound design by Ian Dickinson. Hundreds of Travelex tickets at £15 available per performance.

FOLLIES Further casting has been announced for Follies, which will be directed by Dominic Cooke, book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Joining Imelda Staunton will be Dame Josephine Barstow, Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee, Peter Forbes and Phillip Quast. Design will be by Vicki Mortimer, choreography by Bill Deamer, musical supervision by Nicholas Skilbeck, orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, musical direction by Nigel Lilley, lighting design by Paule Constable and sound design by Paul Groothuis. Opening in August 2017.

LYTTELTON THEATRE HEDDA GABLER – Ends 21 March

Just married. Buried alive. Hedda longs to be free… Ruth Wilson plays the title role in a new version of Ibsen’s masterpiece, by Patrick Marber. Directed by Ivo van Hove, set and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, costume design by An D’Huys, sound design by Tom Gibbons. Production supported by the Williams Charitable Trust. Broadcast to cinemas by NT Live on 9 March.

UGLY LIES THE BONE Previews from 22 February, press night 1 March Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino makes its European premiere. ‘Beauty is but skin deep, ugly lies the bone; beauty dies and fades away, but ugly holds its own.’ After three tours in Afghanistan and months in a severe burns unit, Jess finally returns to Florida. In a small town on the Space Coast, as the final shuttle is about the launch, Jess must confront her scars, and a home that may have changed even more than her. Experimenting with pioneering virtual reality therapy, she builds a breathtaking new world where she can escape her pain. There, she begins to restore her relationships, her life and, slowly, herself.

Award-winning playwright Lindsey Ferrentino’s honest and funny new drama is directed by Indhu Rubasingham, with set design by Es Devlin, video design by Luke Halls, costume design by Johanna Coe, lighting design by Oliver Fenwick, music and sound by Ben and Max Ringham, movement direction by Lucy Hind and fight direction by Rachel Brown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Ltd. The cast is Marianne Adams, Katy Brittain, Olivia Darnley, Buffy Davis, Kate Fleetwood, Ralf Little, Kris Marshall, Tom Peters and Siân Polhill-Thomas. Hundreds of Travelex tickets at £15 available per performance.

ANGELS IN AMERICA: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes Previews from 11 April, press day 4 May, continuing in repertoire

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis, and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

This new staging of Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award-winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse). Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed at the NT in 1992, and was joined by Perestroika in a double-bill the following year. 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the shows.

Set design is by Ian MacNeil, costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Paule Constable, choreography and movement by Robby Graham, music by Adrian Sutton, sound design by Ian Dickinson, puppetry direction and movement by Finn Caldwell, puppetry design by Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes, illusions by Chris Fisher, aerial direction by Gwen Hales and fight direction by Kate Waters.

The cast is Stuart Angell, Mark Arnold, Arun Blair-Mangat, Susan Brown, Laura Caldow, Andrew Garfield, Denise Gough, Kate Harper, John Hastings, Claire Lambert, Nathan Lane, Amanda Lawrence, James McArdle, Becky Namgauds, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Russell Tovey, Paksie Vernon, Stan West and Lewis Wilkins.

The Angels in America ballot presented by Delta – each week hundreds of £20 tickets will be released in a ballot for the following week’s performances. Broadcast to cinemas by NT Live – Part One on 20 July, Part Two on 27 July

John Tiffany, credit Tony Rinaldo

PINOCCHIO John Tiffany directs the world premiere of Pinocchio by Dennis Kelly, with songs and score from the Walt Disney film by Leigh Harline, Ned Washington and Paul J. Smith newly adapted by Martin Lowe. With design and puppet co-design by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Paule Constable, music supervision, orchestrations and additional music by Martin Lowe, choreography by Steven Hoggett, puppet co-design and puppetry direction by Toby Olié, sound design by Simon Baker and illusions by Jamie Harrison. Presented by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions. Opening in the Lyttelton in December 2017.

DORFMAN THEATRE SHAKESPEARE FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES Following highly successful schools performances, these productions can be seen in the Dorfman.

Macbeth 6 – 20 February Amid bloody rebellion and the deafening drums of war, Macbeth and his wife will stop at nothing to fulfil their ambition. Witchcraft, murder, treason and treachery are all at play in this murky world. A bold contemporary retelling of one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays. Suitable for 13yrs+

Romeo and Juliet 11 – 24 February Set against a vibrant urban backdrop bursting full of excitement, colour, dancing and live song, a company of eight tell the most famous love story of all time. Join us for this swift, contemporary celebration of Shakespeare’s masterpiece as we bring Romeo and Juliet to life for a new generation. Suitable for 8 – 12yrs

Shakespeare for younger audiences is supported by: The Ingram Trust, Archie Sherman Charitable Trust, Behrens Foundation, Cleopatra Trust, The Ernest Cook Trust, Jill and David Leuw, Mulberry Trust, The Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and the Topinambour Trust.

MY COUNTRY; A WORK IN PROGRESS 28 February – 22 March, prior to national tour, see p10 for details Britannia has called a meeting, to listen to her people. Form an orderly queue.

In the months following the Brexit vote, a team of interviewers from the NT spoke to people nationwide, hearing their views on Britain, the community they live in, and the referendum. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Director of the NT Rufus Norris put those conversations centre stage in this new production, which opens in London before playing at venues around the country. Designed by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Paul Knott, Music by David Shrubsole and sound design by Alex Caplen. The cast for My Country; a work in progress are Seema Bowri, Cavan Clarke, Laura Elphinstone, Adam Ewan, Penny Layden, Stuart McQuarrie and Christian Patterson. Created in collaboration with eight UK arts organisations in association with Cusack Projects Limited.

The NT today announces a new behind-the-scenes BBC Radio 4 documentary, which will track the development of Rufus Norris’ new play My Country: a work in progress. The Radio 4 programme captures the development of the creative process for the NT’s production My Country: a work in progress. It follows the rehearsal process as Rufus Norris, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and designer Katrina Lindsay work with the interviewers, their material and the cast to bring to life this current and compelling verbatim play.

LOST WITHOUT WORDS 4 – 18 March A co-production with Improbable. Imagine older actors in their 70s and 80s, actors who have spent their lives being other people, bringing life to other people’s words. Imagine they were on stage with nothing but themselves and no worlds but their own. No script, no map, a different show every night, all they have is a lifetime of theatre to help them find their way.

Lost Without Words is co-directed by Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson with design by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Colin Grenfell and music by Steven Edis. The cast is Georgine Anderson, Caroline Blakiston, Anna Calder-Marshall, Lynn Farleigh, Charles Kay and Tim Preece.

CONSENT Previews from 28 March, press night 4 April, playing until 17 May A co-production with Out of Joint. Consent by Nina Raine will receive its world premiere in the Dorfman Theatre. Why is justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered? This powerful, painful and funny play sifts the evidence in a rape case from every side and puts justice in the dock. Directed by Roger Michell with set design by Hildegard Bechtler, costume design by Dinah Collin, lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by John Leonard. Cast includes Priyanga Burford, Pip Carter, Ben Chaplin, Heather Craney, Daisy Haggard, Adam James and Anna Maxwell Martin.

BARBER SHOP CHRONICLES Previews from 30 May, press night 7 June, in repertoire until 8 July A co-production with Fuel and West Yorkshire Playhouse. A new play by Inua Ellams, directed by Bijan Sheibani.

Newsroom, political platform, local hot-spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world.

This dynamic new play journeys from a barber shop in London, to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.

Barber Shop Chronicles is Inua Ellams’ third play at the National, following the exhilarating The 14th Tale and Black T-shirt Collection.

The production is designed by Rae Smith with lighting design by Jack Knowles, movement direction by Aline David and sound design by Gareth Fry.

Barber Shop Chronicles will play at West Yorkshire Playhouse 12 – 29 July.

MOSQUITOES Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood will have its world premiere in the Dorfman Theatre in July. Rufus Norris will direct this new play about families and particle physics, with a cast that includes Olivia Colman. Designed by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Paule Constable, music by Adam Cork, sound design by Paul Arditti and video design by Finn Ross & Ian William Galloway.

Mosquitoes is generously supported by the Edgerton Foundation, the Winton Charitable Foundation, and Rosetrees Trust. This play is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Plays Award.

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE NT Live has a season of ten new broadcasts to the UK and 55 countries across the globe

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer. Lucian Msamati plays Salieri, with live orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia. Broadcast live from the NT on Thursday 2 February.

Saint Joan Josie Rourke directs Gemma Arterton as Joan of Arc in Bernard Shaw’s electrifying classic. Broadcast live from the Donmar Warehouse on Thursday 16 February.

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Patrick Marber. Ruth Wilson plays the title role in Ivo van Hove’s production. Broadcast live from the NT on Thursday 9 March.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Tamsin Greig plays Malvolia in Shakespeare’s comedy of mistaken identity. Directed by Simon Godwin. Broadcast live from the NT on Thursday 6 April.

Salomé A radical retelling of the biblical story of one young woman’s political awakening. Directed by Yaël Farber. Broadcast live from the NT on Thursday 22 June.

Peter Pan, Sally Cookson’s wondrously inventive production recorded live during its run at the NT will be broadcast on Saturday 10 June.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Fifty years after the play premiered at The Old Vic, David Leveaux directs Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern alongside David Haig as The Player in this iconic mind bending situation comedy. Broadcast live from The Old Vic on Thursday 20 April, this marks the Old Vic’s first collaboration with NT Live.

Angels in America, Marianne Elliott’s new production of Tony Kushner’s two-part play will be broadcast live from the NT. Part 1: Millennium Approaches on Thursday 20 July and Part 2: Perestroika on Thursday 27 July.

Yerma – Billie Piper stars in Yerma as a woman driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child. Simon Stone creates a radical new production of Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece. Broadcast live from the Young Vic on 31 August.

Macbeth with a cast including Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff will be broadcast by NT Live in 2018. Find your nearest venue at ntlive.com

NATIONAL THEATRE THROUGHOUT THE UK, IN THE WEST END AND INTERNATIONALLY The NT will tour to 47 venues in 35 towns and cities across the UK in 2017-18

PEOPLE PLACES AND THINGS TRANSFERS TO NEW YORK AND TOURS THE UK THIS AUTUMN The National Theatre, Headlong and St Ann’s Warehouse in association with Bryan Singer Productions will present the National Theatre/Headlong production of People, Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York in October 2017. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, Macmillan’s intoxicating new play opened at the NT’s Dorfman Theatre in autumn 2015, and transferred to the Wyndham’s Theatre in March 2016 where it became the ‘must see’ show of the season. Denise Gough will reprise her award-winning role as Emma. Gough’s raw and heart-breaking performance as an actress whose life has spun recklessly out of control because of her addiction to drink and drugs was unanimously acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, earning her the 2016 Olivier Award and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress. Further cast details and dates to be announced.

Generous support to the National Theatre for People, Places and Things from: Areté Foundation / Betsy & Ed Cohen and Leila Maw Straus MBE.

Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places and Things will also begin a major UK tour with a new cast this autumn, in a co-production between the National Theatre, Headlong, HOME and Exeter Northcott Theatre. Full casting to be announced shortly. The tour begins at HOME, Manchester (22 September – 7 October), and continues to Oxford Playhouse (11 – 14 October), Theatre Royal Bath (17 – 21 October), Bristol Old Vic (24 – 28 October), Exeter Northcott Theatre (31 October – 4 November), Nuffield Southampton Theatres (7 – 11 November) and finish at Liverpool Playhouse Theatre (14 – 18 November).

The set is designed by Bunny Christie, the Olivier and Tony Award winning designer of the NT’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Costumes are by Christina Cunningham, lighting by James Farncombe, video by Andrzej Goulding and music is composed by Matthew Herbert with Olivier award-winning sound design by Tom Gibbons. Original production sponsored by Neptune Investment Management

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