Bergman's SARABAND Premieres In UK At Jermyn Street

Ingmar Bergman’s Saraband will receive its UK première stage production at the Jermyn Street Theatre in central London from Tuesday 28 April to Saturday 16 May 2009.

Jeffrey Kaplow, Eileen Nicholas, Philip Rahm and Augustina Seymour comprise the cast, which is directed by regular Time Out Critics’ Choice director, Derek Bond.

Marianne hasn’t seen her ex-husband Johan in thirty years. Johan’s son Henrik owes him money that he will never be able to pay back. Henrik’s daughter Karin is a talented cellist – more talented than he ever was – who looks more like her late mother with every passing day. Bergman’s masterpiece, by turns funny and moving, expertly weaves love and conflict, the tragedy of growing old and the need to let go.

Ingmar Bergman’s Saraband is underscored by Bach’s suites for cello, from which the play draws its beautifully evocative title. In music, a saraband is a distinctive style of dance in triple time. It became a traditional movement of the suite during the Baroque period, and all of Bach's cello suites include a saraband.

Saraband was the last of Ingmar Bergman’s films to receive a theatrical release, and has never before been performed on stage in English. It is not the only Bergman film to be adapted: Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which has recently transferred to the Garrick Theatre in the West End, is taken from Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, the film that brought Bergman international recognition at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

Also, a recent stage production of Scenes from a Marriage, directed by Trevor Nunn, played to sell-out houses at the Coventry Belgrade Theatre. Johan and Marianne, the two central characters in Saraband, are previously encountered in Scenes from a Marriage.

Jeffry Kaplow (Johan) has previously appeared in numerous fringe productions in London, as well as in Arthur Miller’s The Price in the West End, and Resurrection Blues at the Old Vic.

Eileen Nicholas (Marianne) appeared in All About My Mother at the Old Vic, and her other theatre credits include Samuel Beckett’s End Game at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Katie Mitchell.

Philip Rahm (Henrik) last played the title role in Dr Korczak’s Example at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and Victor in Noel Coward’s Private Lives at the Library Theatre, also in Manchester.

Augustina Seymour (Karin) played the Duchess of Gloucester in the UK tour of Crown Matrimonial last year, alongside Patricia Routledge. Her other theatre credits include Live Like Pigs at the Royal Court.

Derek Bond most recently directed Trying by Joanna McLelland Glass at the Finborough Theatre. His other work includes: Girls and Dolls by Lisa McGee and Colourings by Andrew Keatley (both at the Old Red Lion) and The Wonder! A Woman Keeps A Secret at BAC, all of which were selected for Time Out Critics’ Choice. He has assisted on productions including The History Boys and The Alchemist at The National Theatre, as well as productions at the Almeida, in the West End and on tour.

Produced by Proofs Ltd, Ingmar Bergman’s Saraband is adapted and translated from the Ingmar Bergman film by Ulla Svahnström Kaplow and Jeffrey Kaplow. It is directed by Derek Bond, with design by James Perkins and lighting design by Sally Ferguson.

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