Tennessee Williams THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY at Playmate Theatre Malmö
Dates: (11/13/2024 - 11/17/2024 )
Playmate Theatre Malmö |
C/O Bastionen Norra Vallgatan 28
Malmö, 21125
Phone: 0046706001850
Tickets: 150 SEK - 275 SEK
The Two Character Play by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Lars Junggreen
A meta psychological thriller. 5 performances. In English.
At black box theatre Bastionen, Malmö, Sweden.
Wed 13 – Sunday 17 November 2024
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A NORDIC PREMIERE
Playmate Theatre Malmö presents the English-language Nordic premiere of this incredible, rarely performed Tennessee Williams play.
*THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY first premiered in 1967 in London, remained relatively undiscovered for years in Europe, returned to the stage triumphantly in London in 2021. It is now, finally, more relevant than ever to the universal human condition in 2024, in a world facing crumbling borders, warped realities and absurdist socio-political scenarios – more than ever before.
Have you ever seen it performed in Scandinavia professionally? Now is your chance.
Along with Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams is the foremost playwright of 20th-century American drama, famous of course for his iconic cult melodramas on screen and off - The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and more…
THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY is the one Tennessee Williams stage play you have not seen.
"I think it is my most beautiful play since Streetcar, the very heart of my life"…
/ Tennessee Williams
/"...The Two Character Play is at its heart desperate, a portrait of madness and despair, a reminder that we’re all of us trapped on our own little stages, struggling with life’s tape decks and lighting rigs and missing staircases in an attempt to hold it all together."/ (London, 2021)
On stage – an exciting, tour de force performance by strong character actors Andreas Lyon (US/Cph) and Vanessa Poole (UK/Malmö), accompanied by a choreographic movement ensemble of four.
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THE PLOT
The play begins with a brother and sister backstage. The curtain about to open on their latest play. They are actors, Felice and Clare.
Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as the two face a (perhaps imaginary) audience expecting a performance of The Two-Character Play.
It is an illusion within an illusion, created from isolation, panic, and fear. Two fragile, tempestuous siblings flinging words, embraces and insults, try desperately to limp through to the end of their day.
So what is this “TWO CHARACTER PLAY” Felice and Clare are eternally committed to performing? Why does the play never have an ending neither Felice can write nor Clare can act? Where has everybody gone? Their theatre company and crew have vanished.
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ABOUT THE PLAY
The actress Clare and especially the character Clare in the ‘play within the play’ are loosely based on Williams’ real-life relationship with his sister, Rose, a schizophrenic who was lobotomised and spent her life in an institution. This play is perhaps an echo of the life Tennessee Williams and his sister were never allowed to share.The actor Felice and the character Felice seem to be based on Williams himself, who had been a sickly child with an alcoholic father, an eccentric mother.
Interviews from the rehearsal room:
https://youtube.com/shorts/2Etjo7YrwpU?si=3fnGC0F8HS5IhvRY
https://youtu.be/qiQQDLo3j9k?si=XZH-CMksgp0M_4cX
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Directed by: Lars Junggreen
Director of Movement: Mariana Araoz
Director's Assistant: Alexandra Christensen
Dramaturg: Nicoline Thyrstedt Gandrup
Scenography advisor: Marta Cicionesi
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* THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY in Malmö is a professional performance jointly presented by Playmate Theatre Malmö, in collaboration with HIT International Theatre Arts. THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY by Tennessee Williams is presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
(Photo image @Smallfield Photo: Tomas Lissåker)
Tennessee Williams THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY at Playmate Theatre Malmö Schedule
Cast and Creative team for Tennessee Williams THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY at Playmate Theatre Malmö
Cast
Vanessa Poole
Clare
https://www.vanessapoole.com/
Vanessa Poole is a British character & stage actress who has made Malmö her home for over 20 years, trained for the theatre in Sweden, Denmark and the UK including master classes on voice, movement, drama and speech with Patsy Rodenburg, Judy Kuhn, Declan Donnellan, Barbara Houseman and more.
Vanessa played Max’s mother in the TV series “Max’s Movie” for Swedish television and has won acclaim for her performances in English-language theatre in Denmark as, among others, Virginia in The Clean House (2020), Stevie in The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (2019), Venus in Venus in Fur (2017).
Audiences in Malmö remember Vanessa as the comedienne Lesley in Talking Heads for Playmate, lead Edith in the drama Sunday in Sodom (2022) directed by Matthew Short, the laughing patient in HAP in Malmö and at the English Theatre of Hamburg (2021), directed by Paul Glaser, which sold out at prestigious Teatret ved Sorte Hest in Copenhagen (2024). Vanessa played the sister in HIT production VODKA TALKS (2023) directed by Lars Junggreen, in Malmö and at Teatret ved Sorte Hest, Copenhagen.
Andreas Lyon
Felice
https://www.andreaslyon.com/
Andreas Lyon is an American-Danish character and strong method actor as well as international Chubbuck technique acting coach, who has re-located to Copenhagen after living and working for 10 years as an actor in LA.
Recent work on Danish TV includes Sommerdahl (TV 2 Play 2023), Helt Ny (DR Ultra 2023) Elvira( Viaplay 2022); Grønland - 300 år ( Danmarks Radio 2021-22); Kastanjemanden (Netflix 2021 ); Klovn 8 (TV 2 play: 2021); Frederik IX: episode 3 (Danmarks Radio 2020) ; Julemandens Datter 2 playing Bedemand (2020).
Theatre : OLD TIMES by Harold Pinter (HIT-House of International Theatre 2020) and Don’t Mention the War at Teatret ved Sorte Hest, Copenhagen.
Creative Team
Lars Junggreen
Director
With an impressive acting career spanning more than 40 years in Danish film and TV as well as on the Danish stage, Lars Junggreen is a well-known name in Denmark. He has worked as a theatre director and taught drama continuously since 1974, at all three National Danish drama schools in Århus, Odense and Copenhagen, most recently in a 5-year position as associate professor at the Danish National School of Performing Arts DDSKS.
A graduate of Århus Teater National Theatre School, Lars went on to play leading roles as an actor, including Hamlet at the age of 27, as well as the lead in Cabaret, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, La Cage aux Folles, A Christmas Carol, Gray, Night Creatures (Noreen), Three Penny Opera, Waiting for Godot, The Wild Duck, King Lear, Total Eclipse and more.
For significant periods Lars has been artistic director of Aarhus Theater, board member for both Aarhus Theater and Theater Plan B, a member of the National Danish Performing Arts Committee and resident dramaturgist at Ålborg Teater and Århus Teater, working at theatres such as Det Danske Teater, Svalegangen, Alle Scenen (Betty Nansen Teatret), Cafe Teatret, Banden (Odense ) , Filuren, Mungo Park Kolding and more.
As a theatre director, Lars has more than 35 theatrical productions in Denmark under his belt, including "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens ,"Blackbird", "Besættelse”, "Elling" , "Grounded" "Et Juleeventyr" " The Rocky Horror Picture Show" "Narnia" , Shakespeares samlede værker" "Gæld uden ansigt" and directing for Det Kolde Bord in 2017.
(Photo credit: Kasper Hellesøe)
Mariana Araoz
Director of Choreography & Movemement
Argentinian-born Mariana Araoz specialises in mask and puppetry, object theatre, performance and drama and has done so as performer and pedagogue as well as director and writer for over 30 years. She divides her time between Sweden and Paris, France.
In Paris Mariana runs her French theater company and theatre space affiliated to Collectif Masque: La Maison de l'équilibre, based on mask and puppet technique built on a gender-balance/gender fluid perspective and pro-ecology vision and world view.
In Sweden Mariana is Artistic Director of Theatre In-Balance (https://www.facebook.com/TheatreInBalanceSweden)
and has published a book on her ©In-Balance Method, which she teaches at some of the world’s leading theatre schools, including Teaterhögskolan Malmö, Paris National Conservatory, Ecole du Jeu Paris, Saint Olaf College in Minneapolis, Columbia University in New York, Boris Shchukin’s Institut in Moscow, Hong Kong Theatre Academy, Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
Mariana has directed more than forty productions in Sweden, France and the United States, including plays by Shakespeare, Moliere, Brecht, Sophocles, Chekhov, Genet, Duras, Strindberg. Her work has been performed at prestigious venues such as Guthrie LAB in Minneapolis, National Art Center of Chicago, Avignon Theatre Festival.
Directing in Sweden includes: The Threepenny Opera (Teater Halland), Antigone, The Maids, The Seagull, Dissection of a Snowfall, Katrin X (2021) , Lady Macbeth (2022), Fores(t)empest (2023) and as Director of Choreography & Movement for AMADEUS - all at Skillinge Teater (2024)
Alexandra Christensen
Assisting/Consulting Director
Alexandra Christensen in 2012 started with a dream of becoming an actress, then quickly moved on to leaving the spotlight to explore multiple roles on, off and around the stage.
Alexandra has in recent years found her perfect role as stage director, with a flair for the scenic picture, the poetic story and the balance between comedy and tragedy.
Alexandra has a strong need to tell an honest story of humanity as both good and bad. She has worked on assisted direction at theatres such as Teater Grob (now Blaagårds teater), Folketeatret and Det Kongelige Teater.
And she has since 2016 directed her own productions.
The result is a close bond to her two theatrical partners in "crime” and the creation of Teater Mikado.Teater Mikado was founded in 2018, its audience-prize winning performance “Til sidste fjer” has been touring Denmark since then and still lives on today.
Other Mikado performances are “Du finder mig nederst i bunken” from 2021 and “Tævehjerte” from 2023.
Nicoline Gandrup Thyrsted
Dramaturg
Nicoline Gandrup Thyrsted (1993, Horsens) lives and works in Copenhagen, is a freelance dramaturg, actor, and performance artist. She holds a master’s degree in Dramaturgy from Aarhus University (2021).
She works in devising processes, especially immersive ones, where one collectively generates ideas and material. When acting she likes to analyse everything from complex and psychological characters to a role that is more of a facilitator, a bodily piece of installation art or something in between, such as dance or physical theatre forms.
Her work includes projects such as HEDDA (2021), an Aarhus based performance project that examined the immersive & side specific possibilities of Henrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler, Are we PISD? ,a devising project and performance at the University of Aarhus (2017), the development of educational material for use in public schools & gymnasiums for Theatre Mikado’s play Til sidste fjer (Until the last feather), and working as an actress in the museum Den Gamle By in Aarhus from 2016-2020, plus performances inThe Tempest, Love is colder than dead, and the movie Hvidstengruppen II.
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