Print Room at the Coronet to Stage UK Premiere of HAIM - IN THE LIGHT OF A VIOLIN

With Deathwatch currently running in the theatre and Beckett in London due to open on the 17 May, The Print Room at the Coronet today announces the UK première of Haïm - In The Light Of A Violin, written and directed by Gérald Garutti, in a new translation by Christopher Hampton. This production marks the return of French writer and director Garutti to the Print Room, after his 2014 production of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, starring Harry Lloyd.

Haim - In the Light of A Violin, known in French as 'Haim - A La Lumiere d'un Violon,' tells the true story of Haïm Lipsky - a Polish Jew born in 1922 into a working-class family. Thanks to his passion for music, and his extraordinary skill with the violin, he went on to survive the hell of the Lodz ghetto and Auchwitz, where he played in the camp orchestra. At the end of the war, he emigrated to Israel, where he gave up playing music, to became an electrician. However, he passed on his love of music to his children and grand-children, who are now all internationally renowned musicians.

Mélanie Doutey (two-time-nominee for the César-award for Most Promising Actress) tells his story on stage, accompanied by four musicians: the virtuoso violinist Yaïr Benaïm, international classical concert pianist Dana Ciocarlie, and the renowned klezmer duo "The Mentshs" Alexis Kune and Samuel Maquin.

This musical tale, mixing classical pieces and klezmer melodies, is a testimony of survival through art, of hope preserved in the heart of darkness, and of the importance of musical heritage.

Gerald Garutti said, "When Haim left Auschwitz, Haim rejected Polish in order to speak two languages - Yiddish and Silence. Now at the age of 90, he speaks Hebrew. But all through his life, the language of his heart has been music."

Since its debut in 2012, Haïm has been a public and a critical triumph, enjoying sell-out performances both in Paris and on tour in France and Switzerland.

Mélanie Doutey 's theatre credits include Lady Windermere's Fan (Palais Royal), Intimate Strangers (Théâtre de l'Atelier), Qu'elle aille au diable, Meryl Streep! (Laurent Lafitte), Le Rattachement (Théâtre national de Nice), The Master Builder (Théâtre Hébertot), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin) and Festen la suite (Théâtre national de Nice). Her film credits include Les gens qui s'aiment, Leïla, Le frère du guerrier, Guillemette, La fleur du mal, Narco, El Lobo, Il ne faut jurer... de rien!, Clara Sheller, Président, Fair Play, On va s'aimer, Ce soir, je dors chez toi, Ma place au soleil, Santa Closed, RTT, Le bal des actrices, Aux yeux de tous, Jamais le premier soir, La French and Entre amis.

Gérald Garutti is a theatre director, writer and translator. As the artistic director of the C(h)aracteres theatre company, he has written, adapted and directed works including Badly But Quickly (Odéon), The Hunters Of The Absolute (France Culture), A Century of Fury (Brangues), The Sense of Desire (Odéon), Correspondence For Three - Rilke-Tsvetaieva-Pasternak (Printemps des Poètes) and Haim - In The Light Of A Violin (Salle Gaveau, National Tour for three seasons). Other directing credits include Lorenzaccio, (Théâtre National La Criée & French tour), Roberto Zucco, Richard III (both ADC Theatre), The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Vingtième Théâtre), a script-in-hand performance of Dangerous Liaisons by Christopher Hampton (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon), and Notes From Underground (Print Room at the Coronet, 2014). From 2006 to 2011, he was the dramaturg of and literary adviser to the French National Theatre (Théâtre National Populaire), on several multi-ward winning plays, such as Coriolanus (Molière Award and Grand Prix du Syndicat de la Critique), Overboard (Théâtre National de la Colline, Molière Award and Grand Prix du Syndicat de la Critique), Philoctetes (Odéon-Theatre de L'Europe). He has published many articles, two plays and a book on Franz Kafka and Orson Welles. He has translated, amongst others, The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard, The Power of Yes by David Hare (for France Culture), and Songs by Bertolt Brecht (for the French National Theatre La Colline).

Christopher Hampton has translated plays by Ibsen, Molière, Chekhov and Yasmina Reza (including Art and Life x 3). He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the adaptation of his own play, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (released as Dangerous Liaisons). He was nominated again in 2007 for adapting Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. His television work includes adaptations of The History Man and Hotel du Lac. In the last 2 years Christopher's translations of Florian Zeller's works (The Father, The Mother & The Truth) have all played to great success in London theatres.

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