Polpo Productions and Jermyn Street Theatre to Present REUNION, Opening in April

This spring in Reunion at Jermyn Street Theatre, husband and wife team Roberta Taylor (Eastenders, The Bill) and Peter Guinness (Sleepy Hollow, Aliens 3) star together as a couple in the throes of a life or death decision.

Raymond and Antonia are like any normal couple in their sixties.  They have their flaws, they have had their ups and their downs but they are together and they still love each other.  Now they face a choice, the hardest choice of their lives, a choice that Raymond believes he has a right to make but about which Antonia has grave doubts. 

Diagnosed with an incurable and relentlessly progressive degenerative disease, Raymond has decided that he wants out before the illness takes over.  However if he is to end it, he needs the help of Antonia. Raymond, an atheist, has no ethical concerns about killing himself, nor does he believe that anyone else has the right to interfere in his decision but, as a lawyer, he does realise the potential legal implications for Antonia if she assists in his suicide. For Antonia, a practising Catholic, the criminal consequences that might result from helping Raymond to die are of less concern than the religious and moral issues. As the couple struggle towards a resolution of what both of them, from their different viewpoints, consider to be the crucial questions, they gradually reveal more of the thoughts and emotions that they have kept hidden, during the twenty-five years of their marriage. Reunion is the study of a couple as they face a crisis and the exploration of the moral and ethical questions that surround whether one has the right to choose the time to die.

Roberta Taylor has a rich and varied career in theatre and television and is probably best known for her work on Eastenders as Irene Hills and her portrayal of Gina Gold in The Bill. Her stage roles has included seasons at The RSC and Glasgow Citizens Theatre as well as parts at The Royal Exchange and in the West End.

Peter Guinness is a hugely respected stage and screen actor.  His recent theatre credits include; The Pianist (Manchester International Festival, Royal Exchange Theatre and Hong Kong Festival) and Reading Hebron (Orange Tree Theatre). He has recently been seen on television in: Hidden, Zen, New Tricks, Ashes to Ashes, Silent Witness, Kipling: A Remembrance Tale, The Bill and Bleak House whilst his film work includes roles in Secret Passage, Greenfingers, Conclave, Sleepy Hollow, Christopher Columbus: the Discovery and Aliens 3. 

John Caine began his career as a newscaster and presenter at Granada Television in Manchester. He is an award-winning author and playwright and has written for television and radio as well as the stage. His plays for Television include A Family Affair, Redemption,and Skinner.  For the stage he has also written, A Poem For Grace and Mister Lowry.

Anthony Biggs is Associate Director of Jermyn Street Theatre, where he directs new work, and lesser-known plays by classic authors. He has recently directed highly acclaimed sell-out productions of Charles Morgan’s The River Line and Ibsen’s Little Eyolf starring Imogen Stubbs and Doreen Mantle.

Jermyn Street Theatre is the winner of The Stage 100 Fringe Theatre of the Year Award 2012. 

The show runs from April 13th to May 5th, 2012. Tickets £18.00. Concessions £15.00.

Box office 0207 287 2875; for more information, visit www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk.

 

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