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Almeida Theatre Announces New Season
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 20, 2018
Artistic Director Rupert Goold today announces the Almeida Theatre's new season:
Simon Russell Beale takes the title role in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins.
For the first time, the Almeida collaborates with National Theatre Live to broadcast The Tragedy of King Richard the Second on Tuesday 15 January 2019 to cinemas in the UK and internationally.
The world premiere of Shipwreck, a new play by Anne Washburn, directed by Rupert Goold.
Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall and Patsy Ferran reunite, following Summer and Smoke, for Chekhov's Three Sisters, in a new version by Cordelia Lynn.
Almeida For Free, the annual free festival for 25s and under, to take place during the run of Three Sisters, following the success of previous festivals during Hamlet and Summer and Smoke.
The world premiere stage adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg's acclaimed film The Hunt, adapted by David Farr and directed by Rupert Goold.
Tinuke Craig directs a new version of Maxim Gorky's Vassa, adapted by Mike Bartlett.
Also announced today, the Almeida's new Youth Advisory Board, a group of young people aged between 18-25 who will advise on key areas of the company's work.
Rupert Goold said, "It is incredibly exciting to be announcing this slate of work today, featuring artists new to the theatre, alongside names more familiar to the Almeida. The season begins with two plays which explore the seduction of power, one written at the end of the 16th century about an English king and one hot-off-the-press digging into the current American political culture. The former sees director Joe Hill-Gibbins return to the theatre, following his compelling production of Little Revolution in 2014, alongside Simon Russell Beale, who played Macbeth here in 2005, in a role that has been waiting for him. The latter brings the fearlessly original Anne Washburn back to the Almeida after Mr Burns and The Twilight Zone.
"Next up, we are thrilled to be reuniting Rebecca Frecknall and Patsy Ferran, following their sensational production of Summer and Smoke earlier this year (and soon to open in the West End), for a new version of Three Sisters written by Cordelia Lynn. The show also will see the return of our annual, essential Almeida For Free festival. The two previous festivals, during Summer and Smoke and Hamlet, saw 2300 people aged 25 and under attend a performance for free, and we can't wait to throw open the theatre doors again to young people for a programme free performances, talks and masterclasses.
"15 years after Festen, one of the Almeida's most celebrated shows, Thomas Vinterberg's work returns to the theatre with The Hunt adapted by David Farr from Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm's 2012 film, Jagten, a terrifying examination of accusation and denial in a world premiere for the stage.
"And concluding the season, we are delighted to welcome exciting director Tinuke Craig to the theatre for the first time to work with Mike Bartlett on a new version of Gorky's darkly comic, family drama Vassa.
"Alongside our work here at the theatre, Summer and Smoke opens at the Duke of York's Theatre in November and Spring 2019 will see our production of James Graham's Ink head across the pond.
"It's also fantastic to be able to announce our new Youth Advisory Board - a group of fiercely intelligent, talented young people who will be offering thoughts, suggestions and guidance to the Almeida management team on all aspects of the theatre's operation."
THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND
Direction: Joe Hill-Gibbins; Design: Ultz
Monday 10 December 2018 - Saturday 2 February 2019
Press night: Tuesday 18 December 7pm
NT Live screening: Tuesday 15 January 2019 (tickets go on sale from Monday 22 October)
Cast includes: Simon Russell Beale.
King. The male ruler of an independent state; one who inherits the position by right of birth.
King of the castle. A children's game in which each child attempts to stand alone on a mound, or sandcastle, by pushing other children off it.
Simon Russell Beale plays King Richard II in a new production about the limits of power, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins (Little Revolution, Absolute Hell).
Joe Hill-Gibbins previously directed Little Revolution for the Almeida Theatre. His other credits include Absolute Hell and Edward II (National Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream; Measure for Measure; The Changeling; The Glass Menagerie; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; A Respectable Wedding (Young Vic); The Girlfriend Experience (Young Vic and Royal Court/Drum Theatre Plymouth); Bliss; The Family Plays and A Girl in a Car with a Man (Royal Court); The Fever (Theatre 503 in association with the Young Vic) and A Thought in Three Acts (BAC). He was previously Associate Director at the Young Vic and Deputy Artistic Director at the Royal Court.
Simon Russell Beale returns to the Almeida for the first time since Macbeth in 2005. His theatre credits include The Lehman Trilogy; King Lear; Timon of Athens; Collaborators; London Assurance; Landscape; Major Barbara; Much Ado About Nothing; The Alchemist; Life of Galileo; Hamlet; Othello; Richard III (National Theatre); The Tempest (RSC); Temple (Donmar Warehouse); Privates on Pirade (Michael Grandage Company/Noel Coward Theatre); The Hothouse (Jamie Lloyd Company/Trafalgar Studios); The Cherry Orchard and The Winter's Tale (Old Vic/Brooklyn Academy/world tour). His television work includes Penny Dreadful; The Hollow Crown (Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; Henry V); Spooks and forthcoming Vanity Fair. For film, his work includes The Death of Stalin; The Legend of Tarzan; Into the Woods; My Week with Marilyn; Deep Blue Sea and the forthcoming Radioactive.
World Premiere
SHIPWRECK
Direction: Rupert Goold; Design: Miriam Buether
Monday 11 February - Saturday 30 March 2019
Press night: Tuesday 19 February 7pm
From across the room I saw the President, torchlight playing across his visage.
And the violins began, and the low rumble of the timpani.
I screamed. I ran.
An old farmhouse upstate. Snow is falling. Mountains are falling. Something is breaking apart.
You are formally invited to dinner with the 45th president of the United States.
Anne Washburn (The Twilight Zone, Mr Burns) returns to the Almeida with a sinister and sensational new play, directed by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold.
Anne Washburn's world premiere adaptation of The Twilight Zone ran at the Almeida in 2017/18 and her play Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play received its European premiere at the Almeida in 2014. Other plays include 10 out of 12 (Premiere: at Soho Rep, NYC), Antlia Pneumatica (Premiere: Playwrights Horizons, NYC), The Communist Dracula Pageant (Premiere: ART, Boston), A Devil at Noon (Premiere: Actors Theater of Louisville, Kentucky), I Have Loved Strangers (Premiere: Clubbed Thumb Summerworks, NYC), The Internationalist (Premiere: 13P, NYC), The Ladies (Premiere: The Civilians, NYC), Little Bunny Foo Foo (Premiere: Actors Theater of Louisville, Kentucky), The Small (Premiere: Clubbed Thumb Summerworks, NYC), and transadaptations of Euripides' Orestes (Premiere: The Folger, Washington D.C.), and Iphigenia In Aulis (Premiere: Classic Stage Company, NYC). Awards include a Guggenheim, an Alpert, and a Laura Pels for an artist in mid-career. She is an associated artist with The Civilians, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, and is an alumna of New Dramatists and 13P.
Rupert Goold is the Almeida's Artistic Director where he has previously directed Albion, Ink (transferred to the West End), Richard III (broadcast live to cinemas around the world), Medea, The Merchant of Venice, King Charles III (West End, Broadway, UK and international tour) and American Psycho (also Broadway). He was Artistic Director of Headlong from 2005 until 2013 where his work included The Effect, ENRON, Earthquakes in London and Decade. Other theatre credits include Made in Dagenham (West End); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida); Macbeth (Chichester Festival Theatre, West End and Broadway) and No Man's Land (The Gate, Dublin and West End). He has twice been the recipient of the Laurence Olivier, Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director. He was Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2009 to 2012 and was Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres from 2002 to 2005. On film, he directed the BAFTA nominated Richard II, part of The Hollow Crown; Macbeth for the BBC; feature film True Story starring James Franco and Jonah Hill; a television adaptation of his production of Mike Bartlett's King Charles III for BBC Two, and the forthcoming feature film Judy. He was awarded a CBE for services to drama in 2017.
THREE SISTERS
in a version by Cordelia Lynn
Direction: Rebecca Frecknall; Design: Hildegard Bechtler
Monday 8 April - Saturday 1 June 2019
Press night: Tuesday 16 April 7pm
Almeida For Free festival: during week commencing 27 May
Cast includes: Patsy Ferran, Pearl Chanda.
We have no happiness and it doesn't exist, we only desire it.
1901. Moscow.
In a drawing room, on a summer day, three sisters look for a new start.
Olga, the eldest. Masha, the middle child. Irina, the youngest.
2019. London.
In a drawing room, on a summer day, three sisters look for a new start.
Olga, the eldest. Masha, the middle child. Irina, the youngest.
The clock strikes. Life is not yet over.
Following her critically acclaimed production of Summer and Smoke, Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall directs Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, in a new adaptation by Cordelia Lynn (One for Sorrow, Lela & Co).
Rebecca Frecknall is Associate Director at the Almeida Theatre and was previously on the Almeida's Resident Director Scheme supported by the Eranda Rothschild Foundation. For the Almeida, she previously directed Summer and Smoke (transferring to the West End in November 2018) and worked as Resident Director on Ink at the Almeida/Duke of York's Theatre and Movement Director on Albion. Her production of Steel by Chris Bush has just opened in the Sheffield Crucible Studio. Prior to the Almeida, she was Resident Director at Northern Stage from 2015-2016 after winning the acclaimed RTYDS Bursary. During this time she directed Idomeneus; What Are They Like?, Educating Rita (for Durham Gala) and Julie by Zinnie Harris. Before taking up this role, she worked as a freelance director in London and has worked with the National Theatre, RSC and Young Vic. She was the 2012 recipient of the National Theatre Studio's Resident Director Bursary and was awarded one of the Young Vic's Jerwood Assistant Director Bursaries in 2011.
Cordelia Lynn's plays include One For Sorrow; Best Served Cold; Lela & Co; Believers Anonymous and After The War. Her opera writing credits include Miranda and other vocal work includes Heave, The White Princess and you'll drown dear. She was the recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission 2017.
Patsy Ferran previously appeared in Summer and Smoke at the Almeida Theatre. Her other theatre credits include My Mum's A Twat (Royal Court); Speech and Debate (Trafalgar Studios); As You Like It and Treasure Island (National Theatre); The Merchant Of Venice (RSC); The Angry Brigade (Paines Plough) and Blithe Spirit (Gielgud Theatre). Her television credits include Guerrilla and Jamestown (series regular). Film credits include Darkest Hour; God's Own Country; Tulip Fever; The National Phobia; Association's Day Out. She won a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 2014.
Pearl Chanda previously appeared at the Almeida in Ink (also West End). Her other credits include One For Sorrow (Royal Court); Julie (Northern Stage Theatre); The Glass Menagerie (Nuffield Southampton Theatres); The Angry Brigade (Bush Theatre); Crave and 4.48 Psychosis (Sheffield Theatres); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC); Godchild (Hampstead Theatre); and The Seagull (Headlong Theatre). Her television credits include Motherland; Endeavour and Arthur and George. For film, her work includes The Final Haunting and Mr Turner.
World Premiere
THE HUNT
by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm
adapted by David Farr
Direction: Rupert Goold
Monday 17 June - Saturday 3 August 2019
Press night: Wednesday 26 June 7pm
We are a small community. The happiness of our children is everything. Our hopes and dreams rest in these tiny souls.
In a small town in northern Denmark, the children celebrate Harvest Festival.
In the forest by the water the men of the lodge stand naked in the cold. This is their country. This is their song.
In the shadows a lonely child gives a strange man her heart.
The hunt begins.
Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold directs The Hunt by David Farr (The Night Manager, Spooks), based on the critically acclaimed Danish film thriller Jagten, by Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm.
David Farr's plays include The Heart of Robin Hood, The UN Inspector, and adaptations of The Odyssey and Kafka's Metamorphosis. His writing for television includes an episode of Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams (also director); The Night Manager; Spooks and the forthcoming series Hanna, based on his 2011 film of the same name. His film writing work includes Hanna and The Ones Below (also director). He has previously been Artistic Director at The Gate Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and he was also Associate Director at the RSC where he directed several Shakespeare plays and Harold Pinter's The Homecoming.
VASSA
by Maxim Gorky
adapted by Mike Bartlett
Direction: Tinuke Craig
Monday 7 October - Saturday 23 November 2019
Press night: Tuesday 15 October 7pm
There are no miracles in this world. Only those we make for ourselves.
It's 8am and a revolt is underway.
The father is dying. The son is spying. The wife is cheating. The uncle is stealing. The mother is scheming. The dynasty is crumbling.
One house. One fortune. One victor.
Tinuke Craig (Genesis Future Directors Award, Random/Generations) makes her Almeida debut with a new production of Maxim Gorky's savagely funny play, adapted by multi award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett (Albion, King Charles III).
Tinuke Craig's directing work includes Random/Generations (Chichester Festival Theatre); I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre) and dirty butterfly (Young Vic). As an Assistant/Associate director, her credits include wonder.land (National Theatre); Hamlet?and All's Well That Ends Well (RSC) and?The Changeling (Young Vic). She was The Gate Theatre's Associate Director from 2015-2016. In 2014 she was the winner of the Genesis Future Director Award. She is an Associate Artist of HighTide, a selector for the National Student Drama Festival, an Associate of the National Youth Theatre, and an Education Associate Practitioner at the RSC. She also regularly directs at Mountview, RADA and LAMDA.
Mike Bartlett's plays for the Almeida include Albion, Game and the multi-award winning King Charles III (Olivier Award - Best New Play) which premiered at the Almeida before West End and Broadway transfers, a UK and international tour. His television adaptation of the play was broadcast on BBC in 2017. Other plays include Wild; An Intervention; Bull (won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); an adaptation of Medea; Chariots of Fire; 13; Decade (co-writer); Earthquakes in London; Love, Love, Love; c*ck(Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre), Contractions and My Child Artefacts. His writing for television includes Press; Trauma; Doctor Foster and King Charles III.
AWAY FROM THE ALMEIDA
SUMMER AND SMOKE IN THE WEST END
As announced earlier this year, Almeida Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall's acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke transfers to the Duke of York's for a limited run from 10 November 2018 - 19 January 2019 (press night: Tuesday 20 November). The Almeida production is produced in the West End by Sonia Freidman Productions.
INK ON BROADWAY
Rupert Goold's production of James Graham's Ink heads to Broadway, presented by Manhattan Theatre Club, the Almeida Theatre and Sonia Friedman Production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. Previews begin Tuesday 2 April 2019 and the production opens on Wednesday 24 April. Casting to be announced.
YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD
The Almeida's new Youth Advisory Board is a group of young people aged between 18-25 who will offer guidance and opinion to the Almeida's management team. The Youth Board exists to provoke, inspire and create positive change at the Almeida and consists of 9 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who are interested in arts leadership. They meet regularly as a group and are in dialogue with the Almeida Board and the senior management team at the Almeida. The Board members are Helen Baldwin, Dipo Baruwa-Etti, Simeon Blake-Hall, Liz Daramola, Chloe Evans, Emma Groome, Kripa Gurung, Sarisha Kumar and Aaron McGregor.
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