The Public Theater has announced that Kevin Kline will play 'Cook' in Shakespeare in the Park's production of Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht. Kline will replace Christopher Walken, who has withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts.
Translated by
Tony Kushner, with original music by Jeanine Tesori, and directed by
George C. Wolfe,
Mother Courage and Her Children will begin previews at the Delacorte Theater on Tuesday, August 8th. Performances will continue through Sunday, September 3rd. The press opening will be Monday, August 21st.
"In Brecht's seminal work we follow Mother Courage over a period of 12 years as one by one her children Kattrin, Eilif and Swiss Cheese are taken away by a vicious war. As Mother Courage seeks to profit from the war that is killing her children, she questions the roles of honesty, virtue and family in the face of a bitter struggle for survival," state press notes.
Mother Courage and Her Children will be the final production of Shakespeare in the Park 2006 and The Public's year-long 50th Anniversary celebration. Artistic Director
Oskar Eustis stated "This summer's shows in the park are a perfect manifestation of what The Public Theater stands for: our nation's greatest actors performing the world's greatest plays under the direction of thrilling and boundary-breaking directors free for the people. The fact that both of these magnificent classics speak to a world at war is a powerful reminder of how, in the hands of remarkable artists, great plays of the past can speak to the state of the nation better than any politician."
Kline, who was recently inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame, is also set to play King Lear in the Public Theater production of the classic Shakespeare tragedy this fall.
Kline,
a Julliard graduate and former member of the famed Acting Company, most
recently took on the role of Falstaff in the acclaimed 2003 Lincoln
Center production of Henry IV (for
which he received a Tony Award nomination). Other Shakespearean
credits include Friar Pete in John Houseman's 1973 staging of Measure for Measure, as well as the title roles in Hamlet, Richard III and Henry V, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Public Theater. Other Broadway credits include Ivanov, Arms and the Man, Three Sisters, On the Twentieth Century and The Pirates of Penzance; he won Tony Awards for the latter two shows. Screen credits include De-Lovely, Life as a House, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chaplin, The Pirates of Penzance, Sophie's Choice and A Fish Called Wanda, for which he earned an Academy Award. He was also seen opposite Streep in the Shakespeare in the Park production of The Seagull a few years ago.
The cast of
Mother Courage and Her Children also features:
Raul Aranas, Geoffrey Arend, Max Baker, Ato Essandoh, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Izquierdo, Eugene Jones,
George Kmeck,
Jenifer Lewis, Paco Lozano, Michael Markham, Larry Marshall,
Jack Noseworthy,
Austin Pendleton, Sean Phillips, Silvestre Rasuk,
Meryl Streep, Brittany Underwood, Alexandria Wailes,
Frederick Weller, Jade Wu, and Waleed F. Zuaiter.
Scenic design is by Riccardo Hernandez, costume design is by Marina Draghici, lighting design by Paul Gallo, sound design is by Acme Sound Partners, and projection design is by Batwin and Robin.
Performances of Shakespeare in the Park will be Tuesday Through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are free and will be available on the day of the performance (two per person) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1:00 p.m. and at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (near Astor Place), from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The closest entrances to the Delacorte are at 81st Street and Central Park West or 70th Street and Fifth Avenue.
For additional information about Shakespeare in the Park, call (212) 539-8750 or visit The Public Theater website at
www.publictheater.org.
