Marsha Norman's multi-award winning play ‘night, Mother has its first professional production in London at the Old Red Lion Theatre nearly three decades after it garnered the Pulitzer, Drama Desk and Susan Blackburn award for Best Play.
‘night, Mother was nominated for four Tony awards and won a Pulitzer Prize after a production starring Kathy Bathes and
Anne Pitoniak transferred from the
American Repertory Theater in Boston to Broadway, where it ran for 380 performances. The UK premiere will be directed by Paul Stacey who trained in Dramaturgy at the ART and directed
David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago at the same prestigious theatre upon graduation - this will be his directorial debut in the UK.
Co-artistic director of the Old Red Lion, Nicholas Thompson, said that the programming of ‘night, Mother was "reflective of the bold new path that the Red Lion Theatres wanted to take. We want to take the best new talent in the country, from directors and designers to stage managers and producers and help them to develop their craft working with brilliant scripts, from classics such as ‘night, Mother to new work."
Marsha Norman's most famous production is a fast paced, darkly comic, heart-wrenching tale of love and its limits. Jessie hasn't got much time; just a single evening to put the house in order before she leaves Mama forever. Everything is carefully planned - she'll show Mama how to do the washing, how to find the cloths and sponges, where all the electrical equipment is kept - and then she'll go to her room and shoot herself in the head. But Mama's not going to let that happen, not over her dead body.
Marsha Norman sprang to fame with her first play Getting Out which was a hit on Broadway in 1979. After garnering several awards her next play ‘night, Mother was adapted into a film starring
Sissy Spacek and
Anne Bancroft. Norman followed this in 1991 by winning the Tony Award for best book for her musical adaptation of The Secret Garden.
‘night, Mother is directed by Paul Stacey (Sexual Perversity in Chicago,
American Repertory Theatre), designed by Kat Heath (La Dispute, Soho Theatre) with lighting from Eoin Furbank (The Tempest, RSC).
Box Office: 0844 412 4307.
www.redliontheatres.co.uk418 St John Street, London, EC1V 4NJ
Tue - Sat, 7.30pm
Sat, Sun matinees, 3.00pm
Tickets: £16 / £13
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