Rosalind Ayres directs a cast that includes Andrea Bowen, Matt Gaydos, Simon Templeman, Joanne Whalley and Matt Wolf when L.A. Theatre Works records Tom Stoppard's two-time Tony Award-winning play, The Real Thing, at the Skirball Cultural Center, November 12-16. The final recording will air on LATW's nationally syndicated, weekly radio theater series, The Play's The Thing.
Winner of Tony Awards in 1984 for Best Play and again in 2000 for Best Revival, The Real Thing is a modern classic - a deeply-layered play about the overwhelming struggle of finding and knowing love. A "backstage" comedy about a famous playwright, Henry, who does not know how to write about love, it's a wry, witty and ultimately uplifting commentary on marriage, emotional fidelity, intellectual integrity, high art and pop culture that is full of Stoppard's trademark dazzling language and witty word play.
Frank Rich wrote in The New York Times, "Not only Mr. Stoppard's most moving play, but also the most bracing play that anyone has written about love and marriage in years." In Time magazine, Richard Corliss wrote, "It marks the return of radiance - verbal, intellectual, emotional, theatrical."
Tom Stoppard's work has been recognized consistently and often, receiving, among others, the Evening Standard Award, the Olivier Award, the Critics' Award, the Tony Award and the Academy Award. Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia , Stoppard and his family settled in England following his mother's marriage to a British army officer. Stoppard came to prominence in 1967 when the
Royal National Theatre produced Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead, which received immediate and widespread acclaim. He has continued to write prolifically over the years, with works including Jumpers and Travesties as well as his more recent works, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love and Arcadia. His screenplays include Russia House, Billy Bathgate, Brazil, Empire of the Sun and Shakespeare in Love. Stoppard was voted number 76 on Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World 2008.
For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions. LATW's radio theater series, The Play's The Thing, airs weekly on 89.3 FM KPCC in Southern California; 89.7 WGBH in Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ in Chicago; 94.9 KUOW in Seattle; 90.5 FM KUT2 in Austin;88.9 FM KUNM in Albuquerque; 94.1 KPFA in Northern California; 91.1 FM KRCB in Sonoma County; 91.5 FM WICA in Traverse City, MI; as well as on many other public radio stations nationwide and XM Satellite Radio. Selected programs from LATW are also heard internationally over BBC World Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Telefis Eirann (Ireland), Radio Hong Kong, and Radio New Zealand. The L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection is available in bookstores, libraries, through their catalog, digitally on itunes, overdrive.com, audible.com, and on the L.A. Theatre Works website at www.latw.org.
Performances of The Real Thing take place on Wednesday, November 12 at 8 pm; Thursday, November 13, at 8 pm; Friday, November 14 at 8 pm; Saturday, November 15 at 2:30 pm; and Sunday, November 16 at 4 pm. Tickets range from $20.00 to $48.00. The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive). For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to
www.latw.org.
Photo of Andrea Bowen by Sara De Boer/Retna Ltd.
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