2011 Schedule Announced For the Almeida Theatre

The Almeida is a 325 seat theatre in the heart of Islington, North London. We produce a diverse range of British and international drama with some of the world's best artists, and have developed a reputation as a local theatre with world profile.

Almeida Projects links the theatre's work with our local community.

Almeida Festival produces an annual festival of contemporary opera, music and theatre each summer.

B E C K Y S H A W

Peter DuBois will direct the British premiere of Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, from 13 January and running until 5 March, with press night on 20 January 2011. Designs are by Jonathan Fensom, with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by John Leonard. Becky Shaw is sponsored by Pinsent Masons.

The cast is David Wilson Barnes (Max Garrett), Haydn Gwynne (Susan Slater), Daisy Haggard (Becky Shaw), Anna Madeley (Suzanna Salter) and Vincent Montuel (Andrew Porter).

From the moment that Becky arrives overdressed for her blind date with straight-talking Max, it's clear the evening is unlikely go to plan. In the immediate fallout, Becky becomes an object of devotion for her boss Andrew, who appears to have a fetish for vulnerable women. In turn Andrew's wife Suzanna turns to her step-brother Max for comfort, and their mutual desire begins to resurface.

David Wilson Barnes makes his British stage debut as Max Garrett, a role he created off-Broadway where Becky Shaw premiered in 2009. On television his credits include Law and Order and You Don't Know Jack. His many New York theatre credits include The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Vengeance, Men Without Shadows, Hamlet and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. On film he has been seen in The Company Men, Remember Me, Taking Woodstock, The Scene, Capote, How to Seduce Difficult Women, Ozark Savage and Hooray for Mr Touchdown.

David Wilson Barnes is appearing with the permission of UK Equity, incorporating the Variety Artistes' Federation pursuant to an exchange programme between American Equity and UK Equity.

Haydn Gwynne was last on stage in the West End as Billy Elliot's ballet teacher in the multi award-wining Billy Elliot the Musical, a role she went on to recreate on Broadway. Her other theatre credit's include Merry Wives of Windsor, Peer Gynt, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Cabinet Minister and Bluebird of Unhappiness for the Royal Exchange Theatre. As well as playing Alex in Channel 4's Drop the Dead Donkey, her television work includes New Tricks, Peak Practice, Absolute Power, Midsommer Murders as well as Dalziel and Pascoe and Mersey Beat for which she won the Royal Television Society Best Actress Awards in 2003 and 2005 respectively. On film her work includes These Foolish Things and Remember Me.

Daisy Haggard was previously at the Almeida in Jonathan Kent's production of Ivanov. Her more recent theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest at Theatre Royal Bath, The UN Inspector for the National Theatre and Master and Margarita and A Midsummer Night's Dream for Chichester Festival Theatre. Her film credits include Nicholas Nickleby and Hard to Swallow. On television she is best known for roles in Psychoville, Man Stroke Woman and Green Wing as well as Saxondale, Clocking Off and My Family.

Anna Madeley has most recently been seen at the National Theatre in Earthquakes in London directed by Rupert Goold. Previously she has been seen in The Philanthropist and The Cosmonauts Last Message at the Donmar Warehouse, Coram Boy at the National Theatre and Contractions for the Royal Court. For the Royal Shakespeare Company her credits include The Roman Actor, The Malcontent and Love In A Wood. On film her credits include Brideshead Revisited, In Bruges, Stoned and on television Anne Lister, Hustle, Law and Order, Waking the Dead and Sense and Sensibility.

Vincent Montuel is making his professional stage debut in Becky Shaw. His screen credits are Frostbite and Chat Bleu, Chat Noir.

Obie Award-winning American playwright and television writer Gina Gionfriddo's writing credits include off-Broadway's After Ashley and U.S. Drag, in addition to many episodes of Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Cold Case.

Director Peter DuBois, Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company, Boston, directed the world premiere (Actors Theater of Louisville, Humana Festival of New American Plays) and New York premiere (Second Stage Theatre) productions of Becky Shaw. His other US directing credits include Bob Glaudini's Jack Goes Boating with Philip Seymour Hoffman, A View from 151st Street, Measure for Pleasure, Richard III and Biro for The Public Theater - where he served as associate producer and resident director - Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class and The Seagull, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet for Perseverance Theatre where he was Artistic Director.
PRODUCTION SPONSOR
City law firm Pinsent Masons, who have previously sponsored the Almeida's productions of The Late Henry Moss, The Lightning Play, Marianne Dreams, Duet for One and Measure for Measure continue their support for the Almeida, for a fifth consecutive year, as Production Sponsor of Becky Shaw. www.pinsentmasons.com
T H E K N O T O F T H E H E A R T
Michael Attenborough will direct Abigail Cruttenden (Angela), Lisa Dillon (Lucy) and Margot Leicester (Barbara) in the world premiere of David Eldridge's The Knot of the Heart which will run at the Almeida from 10 March - 30 April, with press night on 17 March 2011. The Knot of the Heart is designed by Peter McKintosh with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound and music by Dan Jones.

Beautiful and privileged, Lucy is enjoying a burgeoning career in television. But her social drug habit has become a serious addiction, casting a dark shadow over her future happiness. As her charmed life begins to slip away Lucy comes to realise that the devoted support of her family does not come without a price.

Abigail Cruttendon is best known on television for her roles in ITV1's long running series Sharpe and Benidorm. Her many other screen credits include Sex, The City and Me, Foyles War, Rosemary and Thyme, Monarch of the Glen, Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre. Her theatre credits include Afterlife and Flight for the National Theatre, The Wood Demon and Tartuffe at The Playhouse, Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as many credits for Theatr Clwyd. On film her credits include Charlotte Gray and Hideous Kinky.

Lisa Dillon returns to the Almeida where she has previously been seen in Michael Attenborough's production of When the Rain Stops Falling, as well as A Period of Adjustment and Hedda Gabler. Her other theatre credits include Design for Living which is currently playing at the Old Vic, David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky at the Duke of York's Theatre, Private Lives at the Vaudeville Theatre and Present Laughter for the National Theatre. She won the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Ian Charleson Award for her performance as Hilda in The Master Builder at the Albery Theatre. On screen her credits include Cambridge Spies, Hawking, Bright Young Things and Cranford. Dillon can currently be seen at the Old Vic in Design for Living where she returns for Richard Eyre's production of A Flea in Her Ear later this year.

Margot Leicester has most recently been seen on stage at Bolton Octagon in All My Sons, Ghosts and The Enemy Within. Previously her theatre credits include Coriolanus for Shakespeare's Globe, The Lucky Ones for Hampstead Theatre, First Frame for the Donmar Warehouse, Memory of Water at the Vaudeville Theatre, Colder Than Here and Protection both for Soho Theatre Company. Previously she was seen in Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee for the Young Vic, and Broken Glass for the National Theatre and Ibsen's An Enemy of the People at The Playhouse. On television her credits include Peak Practice, The Bill, Holby City, The Take and Heartbeat.

David Eldridge's adaptation of Festen received its world premiere at The Almeida Theatre in 2005 and subsequently transferred to the West End and then Broadway. Most recently his A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, co written with Robert Holman and Simon Stephens, opened at the Lyric Hammersmith. His other writing for the theatre includes Summer Begins, Falling, Market Boy and Under the Blue Sky, which was presented in the West End in 2008. His adaptations for the stage include The Wild Duck and John Gabriel Borkman, and his writing for the radio includes Michael & Me, Stratford, Ilford, Romford and All Stations to Sheffield and The Picture Man. Eldridge's adaptation of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre later this month.

Michael Attenborough is Artistic Director of The Almeida Theatre where his productions have been The Mercy Seat, Five Gold Rings, Brighton Rock, The Late Henry Moss, Enemies, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Big White Fog, Awake and Sing!, The Homecoming, In a Dark Dark House, When the Rain Stops Falling, Measure for Measure and, most recently, Through A Glass Darkly. Previously, he was Associate Director at, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (1972-74), Leeds Playhouse (1974-79), Young Vic (1979-80) and Artistic Director at, Palace Theatre, Watford (1980-84), and Hampstead Theatre (1984-89), and was Principal Associate Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company (1990-2002). On leaving the Royal Shakespeare Company he became an Honorary Associate Artist. Attenborough‘s freelance work includes productions at the National Theatre, the Royal Court, in the West End and on Broadway.

A D E L I C A T E B A L A N C E
James MacDonald will direct Penelope Wilton as Agnes in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance which will run at the Almeida from 5 May - 2 July, with press night on 12 May 2011. A Delicate Balance will be designed by Laura Hopkins and further casting will be announced shortly.

Urban socialites Agnes and Tobias appear to inhabit a glamorous world of drinks parties and social clubs. The return home of their recently divorced daughter, the constant presence of Agnes' alcoholic sister and the impromptu late-night arrival of some close friends, begin to peel away this veneer. As their lives become increasingly claustrophobic, the characters battle with their fear of stepping into the real world, opting instead for the undemanding familiarity of their own drawing room.

Penelope Wilton was most recently on stage as Gertrude opposite Jude Law in the Donmar Warehouse production of Hamlet. She was previously at the Almeida in Karel Reisz's production of The Deep Blue Sea. Her extensive theatre credits include The Family Reunion, John Gabriel Borkman and Little Foxes all for the Donmar Warehouse, Women Beware Women, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull for the Royal Shakespeare Company and The House of Bernarda Alba, Piano, The Secret Rapture, Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, Man and Superman, Sisterly Feeling and Betrayal for the National Theatre. Her film credits includes The History Boys, Match Point, Pride and Prejudice, Calendar Girls and Shaun of the Dead, and on television Half Broken Things, Five Days, Celebration, Falling, Doctor Who, Talking Heads, Ever Decreasing Circles, Bob and Rose and The Deep Blue Sea. She can currently be seen on ITV in Julian Fellowes' Downtown Abbey.

James MacDonald returns to the Almeida where he has previously directed Judgment Day andThe Triumph of Love. Most recently he has directed John Gabriel Borkman at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. For the Royal Court his credits include Cock, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, A Number, Dying City and Blasted. For the National Theatre he has directed Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and Exiles and for the Royal Shakespeare Company The Tempest and Roberto Zucco. In the West End his productions include Glengarry Glen Ross and on Broadway The Book of Grace.

Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance received its world premiere on Broadway in 1966, directed by Alan Schneider with a cast led by Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy. In 1973 it was released as a film, directed by Tony Richardson, with a cast including Katherine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Joseph Cotton and Betsy Blair. The Almeida Theatre has previously presented Albee's The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, The Play About The Baby and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which transferred to the West End after a sell-out Almeida run. As well as A Delicate Balance, Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning Albee's other works include The Zoo Story, Seascape, The Lady From Dubuque, Finding the Sun, Three Tall Women, Fragments and Me, Myself & I. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980.

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

The Almeida Theatre is grateful to its Principal Sponsor Coutts & Co., who is currently in their eighth consecutive year of support. The relationship between Coutts and the Almeida, first established when the newly refurbished theatre reopened in 2003, is a unique collaboration which has developed and flourished over the past eight years. www.coutts.com

Arts Council ENGLAND

The Almeida Theatre is supported by Arts Council England

LISTINGS INFORMATION

ACCESS PERFORMANCES

Becky Shaw

Captioned Performances 17 February at 7.30pm and 26 February at 3pm
Audio Described Performance 19 February at 3pm with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm

The Knot of the Heart

Captioned Performances 2 April at 3pm and 12 April at 7.30pm
Audio Described Performance 16 April at 3pm with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm

A Delicate Balance

Captioned Performances 14 June 7.30pm and 25 June at 3pm Audio Described Performance 18 June at 3pm with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm
Speech to Text Talkback 14 June following captioned performance

Almeida Access Line 020 7288 4999 or email access@almeida.co.uk

ADDRESS Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London, N1 1TA

CAFE-BAR The Almeida Cafe-Bar is open from 11.30am -11.00pm, Monday to Saturday, serving food, drinks and snacks.
BOX OFFICE

Phone 020 7359 4404 (24 hour)
In person 10.00am - 7.30pm, Monday - Saturday
On line www.almeida.co.uk
Tickets £32.00 - £8.00, concessions available
Priority Booking opens 18 October 2010 for Becky Shaw,The Knot of the Heart and A Delicate Balance, followed by Public Booking opening on 5 November 2010

PERFORMANCES SCHEDULE

Regular performances are Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinees at 3pm, Press Nights at 7.00pm

Extra matinee Wednesday matinee performances at 2.30pm:

Becky Shaw - 16 February & 2 March
The Knot of the Heart -13 April
A Delicate Balance - 8 & 22 June

First Saturday matinees:

Becky Shaw - 22 January
The Knot of the Heart -19 March
A Delicate Balance - 14 May

WEBSITE www.almeida.co.uk

 

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