Anne Archer to Star in THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA at Park Theatre

Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning actress Anne Archer will return to the UK to star as 'Jane Fonda' in a brand new production of THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA, written by seven-time Emmy award-winner Terry Jastrow, and directed by Joe Harmston, opening at Park Theatre on 13 July until 20 August, with a press night on 14 July.

1972. North Vietnam: Driven to halt the slaughter of young lives, iconic movie star Jane Fonda travels to Vietnam where she is photographed laughing and clapping, astride an anti-aircraft gun, designed to shoot down American planes. Overnight the soldiers' sexy pin-up becomes 'Hanoi Jane'; traitor to her country and betrayer of those very young men. 1988. Waterbury, Connecticut: Bitter demonstrations by veterans halt filming on a movie co-starring Fonda and Robert De Niro. Determined to stop her past dictating her future, Jane requests a meeting and enters a room full of angry men for whom the war still rages. The content of the meeting is never divulged. Having retraced Fonda's steps, interviewed her guides, dozens of veterans and Fonda herself, Terry Jastrow's powerful drama conjectures the battles which were fought in that encounter; battles which are as much to do with the ability of recorded images to dictate our memories as they are to do with truth.

The most famous actress of her time, Jane Fonda was vocal in her opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1972 she went to the capital city of North Vietnam, Hanoi, to call worldwide public attention to the Nixon administration's cover-up of US policy of deliberately bombing the country's vital system of irrigation dikes. During that trip she made radio broadcasts denouncing as a war crime the US use of antipersonnel bombs banned by the Hague Convention, and visited US POWs. On the final day of her trip, she was photographed laughing and clapping astride a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. This activity by Fonda caused enormous controversy and galvanized a huge hate campaign amongst the US military and supporters.

ANNE ARCHER was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and the British (BAFTA) Academy Award for her role opposite Michael Douglas in Adrian Lyne's thriller Fatal Attraction. Other key roles include her Golden Globe-winning performance in the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's Short Cuts and for playing Harrison Ford's beleaguered wife in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. She made her West End debut as 'Mrs Robinson', receiving rave reviews, in The Graduate; other theatrical credits include A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (Off Broadway), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Poison Tree (Mark Taper Forum), and The Vagina Monologues (LA). In 2014 she starred in The Trial of Jane Fonda at the Edinburgh Festival. Throughout her motion picture career, she has starred opposite some of Hollywood's most dynamic and respected leading men, including Gene Hackman in Narrow Margin, Donald Sutherland in Eminent Domain, Sylvester Stallone in Paradise Alley, Tommy Lee Jones In Rules of Engagement and Man of the House and in the romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Mathew McConaughey, and most recently the feature film Lullaby, with a powerful ensemble cast of Garrett Hedlund, Richard Jenkins, Amy Adams, Jessica Brown Finley, Jessica Barden, Jennifer Hudson, and Terrance Howard. Television credits include It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, starring opposite Danny DeVito and Ghost Whisperer on CBS as the mother of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Privileged (The CW) and the Fox Series The Grinder starring Rob Lowe and Fred Savage. In 2013 she co-produced her first feature film The Squeeze, written and directed by Terry Jastrow. In 2006 she founded Artists for Human Rights (AFHR), which brings the full force of artistic expression to bear in the human rights arena by working hand-in-hand with effective human rights advocates and leading organizations worldwide to raise awareness and eradicate the most egregious human rights abuses.

Writer Terry Jastrow has produced and/or directed the television coverage of some of the world's most important sporting events including six Olympic Games, The Super Bowl, 62 major championships of golf including the Open Championship. The plays he has written and directed include As if it Matters at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Eight One Acts over Two Nights at The Acting Center, Hollywood, California, and TheVaginal Lock at the Skylight Theatre, Los Angeles. More recently, Terry wrote and directed a feature film, The Squeeze, which was released in April 2015, and is available on-demand.

Joe Harmston's career began 23 years ago directing the critically-acclaimed King James' Ear by Rod Dungate at The Old Red Lion. Since then highlights have included directing Harold Pinter in his own plays, particularly The Lover and The Collection at The Donmar and his long associations with other writers including Sir Ronald Harwood, Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Sir David Hare and Sir Peter Ustinov. He was Associate Director of Chichester Festival Theatre and Artistic Director of the Agatha Christie Theatre Company and is still a Creative Associate Director of the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. He was last at Park Theatre directing Paul Herzberg's The Dead Wait.

The Trial of Jane Fonda's Set Design is by Sean Cavanagh, Composer & Sound Designer is Matthew Bugg, Video Projection Designer is Louise Rhoades-Brown, Lighting Designer is Tony Simpson and Costume Designer is Roberto Surace.

Photo by Idil Sukan

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