Just before I left for London, I saw an add for Passion Play, with Zoe Wanamaker in the cast... Zoe Wanamaker has this certain something that makes me want to see whatever she is in, but at the same time annoys the hell out of me...
The add was very tempting (thumbs up for who ever created it)... sadly the play would open in London the week after I was to leave for home, But then I notice it would do out of town previews, with it hitting the Stage in Brighton in 'my' week.
Brighton... whenever I hear that word my mind wanders to Pride and Prejudice... yes, THAT special BBC version with Colin Firth, where there is that scene where Lydia (the obnoxious sister) yells out "I WANT TO GO TO BRIGHTON!!!" and then ends up making things more miserable for her family than ever.
so Brighton had a nice ring to it, Passion Play was tempting and Zoe Wanamaker was in it... time for a day trip to Brighton.
To say Brighton has the allure Lydia made it sound like... no, nothing of the sort. maybe it had more grandeur in Jane Austen's days but today, it's more mundane I'd say. Though the beach was nice enough, a good way to spend some time while waiting for the theater to open.
Brighton does have a nice theater, and it's in an easy area, shops, restaurants, walkable distance from both the train station and the beach. And as I found out while chatting to regular patrons it's often used as a pre-West-End venue, so I'll keep an eye on it for future reference for sure.
Now Passion Play, I liked it very much, apart from the unsatisfying ending (not having seen it before or having read it it could have gone either way for me) I liked it very much, it had a very modern set, that worked beautifully in creating different places of action without big set changes, both lead characters have an 'inner self' that is played by another actor, by duplicating costumes that worked very well. I've read that in a previous production those parts were not cast and the lead actors played both parts... not sure how that would work, but I guess you'd have to see it to judge.
Here Zoe Wanamaker (Eleanor) and Owen Teale (James) are the stars of the show, their inner selves (Samantha Bond as 'Nell' and Oliver Cotton as 'Jim') did a great job in showing us the inner dialogue. Kate (Annabel Scholey) was less of a hit for me, a little harsh in performance, it was hard for me to understand why James would fall so hard for her.
First visit to Theatre Royal Brighton, was a nice outing, there will definitely be a next time!
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| Oliver Cotton (Jim), Samantha Bond (Nell), Zoe Wanamaker (Eleanor), Annabel Scholey (Kate), Owen Teale (James), photo: John Swannell |
from the official website:
Olivier Award-winner Zoë Wanamaker and Tony Award-winner Owen Teale star in PASSION PLAY, a provocative comedy about love, sex and infidelity.
Comfortably married for 25 years, Eleanor's world is turned upside down when her husband begins an affair with their young friend Kate. As the lies mount up, the marriage is stripped bare, revealing illicit desires and hidden passions.
A potent mix of desire, intimacy and deception, this modern classic by Peter Nichols (Privates on Parade, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg) and winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Play makes a much-anticipated return to the West End, and is directed by David Leveaux (Arcadia, Betrayal, The Real Thing). Zoë Wanamaker (Harry Potter, My Family and Arthur Miller's All My Sons) and Owen Teale (West End and Broadway's A Doll's House, RSC's King Lear and Sky1's Stella) will be joined on stage by Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey, Outnumbered, Miss Moneypenny in James Bond), Oliver Cotton (BBC's Ripper Street, The Dark Knight Rises),Siân Thomas (Donmar's Richard II, Merlin, Harry Potter) and Annabel Scholey (Lady Anne opposite Kevin Spacey in Richard III, Eastenders, Jayne Eyre).
CREATIVES
PETER NICHOLS - WRITER
Peter Nichols was born in Bristol in 1927 and educated there at The Grammar School and Old Vic Theatre School. After National Service in India, Malaya and Hong Kong, he was an actor in repertory theatre and television for five years and then a teacher in London schools. His many original scripts and adaptations have appeared on television, film and radio.
His plays for theatre are: A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG, THE NATIONAL HEALTH, FORGET-ME-NOT LANE, THE FREEWAY, CHEZ NOUS, PRIVATES ON PARADE, BORN IN THE GARDENS, PASSION PLAY, POPPY, BLUE MURDER (later FIG-LEAVES), SO LONG LIFE, A PIECE OF MY MIND and LINGUA FRANCA. These have won four Evening Standard Awards, a Society of West End Theatres Award for Best Comedy and two Ivor Novello Best Musical Awards. Details of the first and later productions are in his Plays One and Two which are published by Methuen. Five novels and another ten or so stage plays remain unproduced.
PRIVATES ON PARADE was revived by The Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre in December 2012 and starred Simon Russell Beale.
Peter was resident playwright at the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis where he co-directed THE NATIONAL HEALTH. He also directed revivals of A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG andFORGET-ME-NOT LANE at Greenwich and the first productions of BORN IN THE GARDENS andBLUE MURDER at Bristol. In 2000 he wrote and directed NICHOLODEON, a miscellany of his scenes and songs for Show of Strength.
His original plays for television include an INSPECTOR MORSE. Small and big-screen versions of some of his stage plays, adapted by Peter , include A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG, THE NATIONAL HEALTH and PRIVATES ON PARADE.
Recent work for radio includes SOMETHING IN THE AIR and JAM YESTERDAY, both about the Nazi Swing Band. FEELING YOU'RE BEHIND (a memoir published by Weidenfeld) appeared in 1984 and in 2000 Peter edited a selection from the diary he's kept on-and-off since he first left England aged eighteen (published by Nick Hern Books). Peter's 'papers' from 1945 to 2000 are now held in the British Library, He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He and his wife, to whom he has been married since 1960 now live in Oxford, previously in Devon, Bristol, Shropshire and (mostly) London. At the last count they have three surviving children and seven granchildren.
DAVID LEVEAUX - DIRECTOR
Recent productions include: RUDOLPH (Tokyo Japan), BACKBEAT (Toronto, Duke of York UK ),CQ/CX (Atlantic Theatre Co. NY), THE LATE MIDDLE CLASSES (Donmar),TALES OF BALLYCUMBER (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), ARCADIA (West End & Broadway), RUDOLPH (Vienna),A DOLL’S HOUSE (Tokyo Japan), THREE SISTERS (Abbey Theatre, Dublin).
Previous Broadway productions include: CYRANO with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner, THE GLASS MENAGERIE with Jessica Lange and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Tom Stoppard'sJUMPERS (Tony Award nom. for Outstanding Direction), NINE with Antonio Banderas (Tony Award for Best Revival and nom. for outstanding Direction), Stoppard's THE REAL THING (Tony Award for Best Revival), Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL with Juliette Binoche, ELECTRA with Zoë Wanamaker (Tony Award nom.), Eugene O'Neill's ANNA CHRISTIE with Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson (Tony Award for Best Revival) and A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN with Kate Nelligan (Tony Award nom. for Outstanding Direction).
Other productions include: London’s West End SINATRA LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM andJUMPERS (Piccadilly). For the Almeida Theatre: Harold Pinter's NO MAN’S LAND, MOONLIGHTwith Ian Holm, BETRAYAL and Neil LaBute's THE DISTANCE FROM HERE.
For the RNT: Stoppard’s JUMPERS and Strindberg's THE FATHER.
For the RSC:’TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE and ROMEO AND JULIET.
Opera includes: THE TURN OF THE SCREW and THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (Scottish Opera, Tramway), and for the English National Opera, Strauss's SALOME.
In 1993, he formed Theatre Project Tokyo, an independent theatre company with executive producer Hitoshi Kadoi. His productions for TPT include: THERESE RAQUIN, BETRAYAL, ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE, HEDDA GABLER, ELLIDA, THE TWO HEADED EAGLE, THE IBSEN PROJECT, THE CHANGELING, THREE SISTERS, MACBETH (Saison Theatre and Kobe Oriental Theatre) and NINE ( the musical) plus two of Mishima’s MODERN Noh PLAYS.
HILDEGARD BECHTLER - SET DESIGNER
Theatre includes Old Times (currently at the Harold Pinter), Top Hat (currently at the Aldwych),The Sunshine Boys, Arcadia (also Broadway), Blithe pirit, The Misanthrope, The Lady from Dubuque, By the Bog of Cats, The Master Builder, Footfalls, Hedda Gabler (West End);Scenes from an Execution, After the Dance, Harper Regan, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, The Hothouse, Thérèse Raquin, Exiles, Primo, Iphigenia at Aulis, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II, King Lear (National Theatre); Farewell to the Theatre (Hampstead);Cause Célèbre, All About My Mother, Richard II (Old Vic); The Crucible (West End/RSC);Electra (RSC); Primo, Hedda Gabler, The Seagull (Broadway); Rosmersholm, The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Almeida); The Jewish Wife (Young Vic); Now or Later, The Seagull, Krapp’s Last Tape, My Name is Rachel Corrie (Royal Court).
Opera includes The Makropulos Case at the 2012 Edinburgh International Festival and Opera North, The Damnation of Faust at English National Opera and productions at Santa Fe Opera, La Scala Milan, Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Bayerische Staatsoper, Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, Sydney Opera House, Paris Opera and Scottish Opera’s The Ring Cycle. Television includes Primo, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II and The Waste Land.
Winner of 2011 Olivier Award for Best Design for After The Dance, 2009 Australian Green Room award for Best Opera Design Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Sydney Opera House.
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