Tracy Letts' play BUG marks its 20th anniversary with a starry production at Found111 this spring.
James Norton (War and Peace, Happy Valley) and stage vet Kate Fleetwood (London Road, Medea) will lead the cast, directed by Simon Evans (The Dazzle) and produced by Emily Dobbs. BUG runs now through May 7, 2016. Press night is tonight, March 29, at 7.00pm.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Norton described his character Peter as "a victim of the undercurrents of neurosis. He's a vulnerable soul; a conspiracy theorist gone mad. I feel like he's a time bomb. Society can become an unhealthy pressure cooker -- and he just happens to be the first popcorn that pops."
Found111's official description of the play reads: "A seedy motel room. Oklahoma City. Summer. Agnes, a lonely cocktail waitress, is holed-up from her violent ex-con ex-husband, seeking solace in drink and drugs. Until a stranger arrives. Tense and blackly comic, BUG is a taut exploration of two people on the edge; where the lines between reality and delusions become blurred."
For more information, schedule and tickets, visit www.found111.co.uk.
After his recent acclaimed performance as Prince Andrei in BBC1's lavish War and Peace series and his return to TV this week playing his BAFTA-nominated role as psychopath Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley, James Norton returns to the London stage for the first time in four years. He first thrilled audiences as Miles Richards inPosh at The Royal Court, then made his West End debut as Stanhope in Journey's End at the Duke of York's Theatre. Trevor Nunn directed him as Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter at the Theatre Royal Haymarket before his breakthrough 1950s-set TV series, Grantchester, starring as Sidney Chambers, the vicar (and former Scots Guards officer) who develops a sideline in sleuthing.
Kate Fleetwood most recently starred as Tracey Lord in High Society at the Old Vic, followed by the title role in Medea for the Almeida. In 2008 she was Tony-nominated for her portrayal as Lady Macbeth in the Chichester Festival Theatre production which transferred to Broadway and in 2012 was nominated for an Olivier Award for
London Road at the National Theatre. Other theatre credits include King Lear (National Theatre) and Life is a Dream (Donmar Warehouse). On screen she has starred in the feature film adaptation of London Road, Philomena directed by Stephen Frears, The Widower for ITV and War and Peace for the BBC.
Simon Evans (Director) was universally acclaimed for his production of The Dazzle, starring Andrew Scott, David Dawson and Joanna Vanderham, which launched Found 111, produced by the Michael Grandage Company and Emily Dobbs Productions. Simon was Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse (working with Michael Grandage, Jamie Lloyd, Rob Ashford and Bijan Sheibani), Staff Director at the National Theatre, Performance Director for Secret/Future Cinema, Creative Associate at the Bush Theatre and Artistic Director of Black and White Rainbow. He is Artistic Director of Myriad & Co. For theatre his work includes Silence of the Sea (Donmar Trafalgar), Almost, Maine (Park Theatre) Hannah (Unicorn Theatre), Shawshank Redemption, The Laura Marling Project, Ghostbusters and Project Rumpus (Secret Cinema), Thom Pain (based on nothing) (Print Room), The Provoked Wife, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Go People), The Rubber Room (The Old Vic), The Separation, Something Perfect, Disappear, Devolution (Theatre503), Madness in Valencia (Trafalgar Studios).
Tracy Letts (Author) - Bug premiered 20 years ago at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill in 1996, starring a then-unknown Michael Shannon. Following its London run, the play made its US debut in New York. It was adapted into a film in 2006, with Letts writing the screenplay, directed by William Friedkin, and starring Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr and Michael Shannon reprising his role as Peter. Tracey Letts' other stage work includes the multi award-winning August: Osage County (now also a film starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts), for which he received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. It premiered at Steppenwolf in 2007, played on Broadway and had its UK premiere at the National Theatre. Other works include A Man From Nebraska (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Killer Joe(Bush Theatre) and Superior Donuts (Southwark Playhouse). An acclaimed actor, he won a Tony for his performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Broadway) and recently starred as Senator Andrew Lockhart in C4's Homeland.
Emily Dobbs Productions (EDP) is an independent theatre company, creating fresh, fearless work. The company have a diverse artistic policy that includes new writing, original adaptations, revivals and re-imaginings of classic texts. EDP collaborate with the most exciting new talent working in the UK and internationally, and with established creatives to create high quality, exiting and accessible work. Theatre includes: The Dazzle(Found111), The Father (Trafalgar Studios), Orson's Shadow, Three Sisters, The Love Girl And The Innocent, The Seagull, The Only True History Of Lizzie Finn, Antigone, The Hostage (Southwark Playhouse); Cornelius(New York transfer to 59E59 Theater); A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Gotcha, Stars In The Morning Skies (Riverside Studios); Dusa Fish Stas & Vi, Love On The Dole, Ours (Finborough); Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (Arcola). Touring productions include: Dusa Fish Stas & Vi, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It.
Found111 is a pop-up venue at 111 Charing Cross Road, the original site of the Central St Martins School of Art. For decades the site has been a hub of creativity and the springboard for some of the most seminal artists of our contemporary cultural landscape. Run by Emily Dobbs, Found111 is a space for exciting theatre in a unique site specific environment in the heart of Soho.
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