The brother and sister stars of two of the most successful movies in recent times get together this October to head the cast of a the revival of a lost gem of British theatre. Charlie Bewley, who hit worldwide fame for his portrayal of Demetri in the Twilight saga, will join forces with Lydia Rose Bewley, who made her screen debut as Jane in this Summer's box office phenomenon The Inbetweeners Movie to star as stage siblings in Charles Morgan's wartime drama The River Line at Jermyn Street Theatre. They also includes Alex Felton, Dave Hill, Eileen Page and Lyne Renee.
The River Line follows Jermyn Street's critical successes of Terence Raittigan's Less Than Kind,
Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf starring Imogen Stubbs and
Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play; continuing the theatre's policy of presenting revivals of little performed European and American classics.
Originally written by Morgan as a novel in 1949 The River Line was adapted by him for the Edinburgh Festival of 1952 with a cast that included
Paul Scofield and
Virginia McKenna. At the time Morgan was considered one of the greatest dramatists of his era, before the angry young men of the late fifties revolutionised British theatre. With Harold Hobson of The Sunday Times describing him as "one of the most important writers of our generation" and the play as "the most exciting, the most sensitive, the most intellectually and emotionally alive play that the Edinburgh Festival has yet given us" The River Line was considered to be one of the most important plays of the post-war era before the angry young men of the Royal Court arrived on the scene to blow the theatre establishment apart.
Drawing upon his own wartime experience Morgan tells the story of a group of downed, allied pilots in occupied France in 1943 hiding from the Nazis in the granary of a farmhouse owned by a member of the resistance. Tensions rise as they await news of the last leg of their journey through occupied Europe to the Pyrenees along the escape route known as 'The River Line'. As midnight approaches, one brutal action of terrible suddenness is to haunt their lives forever. It is the story of normal men and women are caught in the turmoil of war and how ordinary people are forced to face up to extraordinary circumstances.
Anthony Biggs is Associate Director of Jermyn Street Theatre, where he has directed Ibsen's Little Eyolf with Imogen Stubbs,
Stewart Permutt's Many Roads To Paradise and the musical All I Want For Christmas. He has also developed and produced the premiere of Words Of Honour: The Mafia Exposed for the Assembly Rooms Edinburgh and Jermyn Street Theatre. Other directing credits include Fraser Grace's Gorgons and Beth Steele's Temptations for Decade,
Sam Shepard's Savage/Love, Amir The Lost Prince of Persia and The Working Girl (all Theatre503), This Story of Yours (Old Red Lion), Carolyn Pertwee and Ros Adler's Between Friends (OSO Barnes) Brecht's The Wedding (Edinburgh Festival and tour), Hounslow West and Piccadilly Circus (Urban Scrawl), and Francis Turnly's Hiding with Claire Goose, Tanya Franks and Michael Smiley (Watford Palace).
Jermyn Street Theatre's recent critically acclaimed production
Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play, directed by Gene David Kirk is to transfer to Provincetown, USA this September for the writer's 100th Birthday celebrations. Following that the production transfers for a twelve week run Off Broadway in the late autumn of 2011.
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