Alfred Molina to Return to RED, Aidan Turner to Lead THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE for Michael Grandage Company
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 27, 2017
With their production of Labour of Love about to complete its run, the Michael Grandage Company (MGC) today announces two new productions for 2018 - Red by John Logan, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, both directed by the company's Artistic Director Michael Grandage.
The plays have over 40,000 seats at just £10 - 25% of the total capacity, continuing the company's unique access policy and its commitment to developing new audiences.
Based on the original Donmar Warehouse production, this new production of Red by John Logan is the first ever UK revival since Grandage originated the première at the Donmar in 2009. The production went on to win six Tony Awards including Best Play.
Award-winning stage and screen actor Alfred Molina reprises his critically acclaimed performance as the American abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. He is joined by rising star Alfred Enoch of US television drama series How To Get Away With Murder. The production opens at the Wyndham's Theatre on 15 May, with previews from 4 May, and runs until 28 July.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh receives a rare revival in the West End, opening at the Noel Coward Theatre on 4 July, with previews from 23 June, and running until 8 September. It follows Michael Grandage's award-winning production of McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan at the same address in 2013, which later transferred to Broadway. Aidan Turner stars as Mad Padraic, a terrorist deemed too violent to be a member of the IRA. The play, which premiered at the RSC in 2001, is a brilliant satire on terrorism, an acute observation of violence in contemporary culture and a hilarious farce.
Since Michael Grandage formed MGC in 2012, it has produced ten plays including several new plays directly into the West End. The company continues their commitment to offer over 40,000 tickets at £10 (including booking fee and restoration levy), which is 25% of the tickets for both productions, across all levels of the auditorium. In addition, they will stage both captioned and audio described performances.
Michael Grandage said today "This announcement continues our commitment to producing great plays in the West End with accessible pricing at the core of everything we do. I am looking forward to working with these exciting actors on two brilliant plays in two of the most beautiful playhouses in London."
WYNDHAM'S THEATRE
RED
By John Logan
4 May - 28 July
Press night: 15 May at 7pm
RED runs 4 May - 28 July with Press night: 15 May at 7pm at Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0DA. Box Office: 0844 482 5120. Personal callers Mon-Sat 10am-curtain up (No booking fee). Telephone Mon-Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 10am-8pm. Performances run Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm; Thursday and Saturday matinees at 3pm; First Saturday matinee 12 May, first Thursday matinee 17 May.
Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant, and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Mark Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.
Red reunites John Logan and Michael Grandage following Peter and Alice with Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw which formed part of MGC's inaugural season in the West End in 2013, and their feature film Genius.
John Logan is a playwright and screenwriter. His numerous plays include Peter and Alice, Never the Sinner, Hauptmann, Speaking in Tongues, Scorched Earth and Riverview. His adaptation of The Master Builder was in the West End in 2003. For television, his work includes Penny Dreadful. As a three-time Academy Award nominated screenwriter, his work includes Alien Covenant, Spectre, Genius, Noah, Lincoln, Skyfall, Hugo, Rango, Coriolanus, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Golden Globe Award), The Aviator, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Any Given Sunday and RKO 281 (WGA Award).
Alfred Enoch plays Ken. For theatre his work includes King Lear (Royal Exchange Manchester), Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse), Timon of Athens, Antigone (National Theatre). For television, his credits include Troy, How To Get Away with Murder, Sherlock and Broadchurch; and for film, Enoch played Dean Thomas across seven of the eight Harry Potter films.
Alfred Molina plays Mark Rothko. His most recent theatre work includes A Long Day's Journey into Night (Geffen Playhouse) and No More Shall We Part (Williamstown Theatre Festival). He first starred in Red at The Donmar Warehouse in 2009, which later transferred to Broadway and for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play. His other theatre work includes Fiddler on The Roof (Minskoff Theatre - Tony Award nomination), Art (Royale Theatre - Tony Award nomination), Molly Sweeney (Roundabout Theater - Outer Circle Critics' Award for Most Outstanding Debut Performance), The Cherry Orchard (Mark Taper Forum), The Night of Iguana, Speed the Plow (National Theatre), Serious Money (Royal Court Theatre), Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (Criterion Theatre), Oklahoma! (Palace Theatre) and The Taming of the Shrew (RSC). For television, his work includes I'm Dying Up Here, Angie Tribeca, Bette and Joan (Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor), Close to the Enemy, Sister Cities, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, The Normal Heart (Emmy nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor), Show Me a Hero, Monday Mornings, Roger and Val Have Just Got In, Law and Order: LA and The Life and Times of Tim; and for film, Love is Strange, The Pink Panther 2, An Education, The Lodger, Spider-Man 2, The Da Vinci Code, Silk, Frida, Chocolat, Magnolia, As You Like It, The Hoax, Anna Karenina, Boogie Nights, Species, Maverick, The Perez Family, Hideaway and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Noel Coward THEATRE
THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE
23 June - 8 September
Press night: 4 July at 7pm
Who knocked Mad Padraic's cat over on a lonely road on the island of Inishmore and was it an accident? He'll want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip-shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves that cat more than life itself.
THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE runs 23 June - 8 September with Press night: 4 July at 7pm at the Noel Coward Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9LX. Box Office: 0844 482 5141 (no booking fee). Personal callers Mon-Sat 10am-curtain up (No booking fee). Telephone Mon-Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 10am-8pm. Performances run Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm; Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 3pm; nad First Saturday matinee 30 June, first Wednesday matinee 4 July.
Martin McDonagh is an award-winning writer and director. His plays are The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, The Lonesome West, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Pillowman, A Behanding in Spokane, Hangmen and the upcoming A Very Very Very Dark Matter. As a writer and director for film his credits are Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges, Six Shooter as well as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which won Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, the Grolsch People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and was the closing film at this year's BFI London Film Festival.
Aidan Turner plays Padraic. His theatre work includes The Plough and The Stars, Romeo and Juliet and A Cry from Heaven (Abbey Theatre Dublin), Cyrano and Titus Andronicus (Project Arts Centre). For television, his work includes The Clinic, Being Human, Desperate Romantics, Hattie and as the title role in Poldark, now in its 4th series; and for film, The Hobbit trilogy of films, The Mortal Instruments, The Secret Scripture, Loving Vincent and the forthcoming Look Away and The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot. He was named GQ Actor of the Year for 2016 and Radio Times's Most Popular UK Actor in 2015 and 2016.
Seat Prices: £10, £42, £69.00 (no booking fee when booked via DMT). A limited number of tickets at £10 each available daily from 10.30am, to be purchased in person, from the Box Office. Maximum 2 tickets per person. Excludes certain performances. Standing £10 tickets available on the day once the performance is sold out. Groups - subject to availability for schools groups of 10+ and groups 12+. Tel for groups: 0844 482 5100 / Tel for schools: 0844 482 5165. For more information, visit www.michaelgrandagecompany.com.
Michael Grandage is Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company in London. For the company he directed Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Peter and Alice and Privates on Parade, Dawn French: 30 Million Minutes Photograph 51, and the feature film Genius with Colin Firth. He was Artistic Director of The Donmar Warehouse (2002-2012) and Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres (2000-05). He is the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Awards. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of London, Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University and is President of Central School of Speech and Drama. He was appointed CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011. His book, A Decade At The Donmar, was published by Constable & Robins in 2012. His work for The Donmar Warehouse includes directing Eddie Redmayne in Richard II, Felicity Jones in Luise Miller, Derek Jacobi in King Lear, Red (also New York, Tony and Drama Desk Awards Best Director), Jude Law in Hamlet (also Elsinore and New York), Ivanov (Evening Standard and Critics Circle Award Best Director), Madame de Sade, Twelfth Night, The Chalk Garden (Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards Best Director), Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also Gielgud, New York, USA tour, Tony Nomination Award for Best Director), Othello (Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Director), The Wild Duck (Critics Circle Award Best Director), Guys and Dolls (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Grand Hotel (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and Evening Standard Award Best Director), The Cut, After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award Best Director), Merrily We Roll Along (Evening Standard Award Best Director), Passion Play (Evening Standard Award and Critics Circle Award for Best Director). For Sheffield Theatres he directed many productions including Don Carlos (Evening Standard Award Best Director). He mostly recently directed Disney's Frozen at Buell Theatre, Denver, ahead of opening on Broadway in the Spring.
MGC is a London-based Production Company that produces work across all media, nationally and internationally. The company has also established a general management service and looks after a select group of creative practitioners.
Since launching in 2012 their work includes Privates on Parade with Simon Russell Beale, Peter and Alice with Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, The Cripple of Inishmaan with Daniel Radcliffe, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Sheridan Smith and David Walliams and Henry V with Jude Law as part of a year long season at the Noel Coward Theatre, Dawn French: 30 Million Minutes (national and international tour and West End), The Dazzle with Andrew Scott (Found111), Photograph 51 with Nicole Kidman (Noel Coward Theatre), Hughie with Forest Whitaker (Broadway) and currently Labour of Love with Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig (Noel Coward Theatre); and the feature film Genius with Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.
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