HAMLET to Transfer to Harold Pinter Theatre Following Sold-Out Run at Almeida Theatre
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 28, 2017
Olivier Award-winning director, Robert Icke's (Mary Stuart, The Red Barn, Uncle Vanya, Oresteia, Mr Burns and 1984), ground-breaking and electrifying production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, starring BAFTA award-winner Andrew Scott (Moriarty in BBC's Sherlock, Denial, Spectre, Design For Living and Cock) in the title role, will transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre, following a critically acclaimed and sell out run at the Almeida Theatre. Hamlet will run for a limited season only from 9 June to 2 September 2017 with press night on Thursday 15 June.
Hamlet is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group (Sunday In The Park With George, Buried Child, Oresteia), Sonia Friedman Productions and the Almeida Theatre (Chimerica, Ghosts, King Charles III, 1984, Oresteia), who are renowned for introducing groundbreaking, critically acclaimed transfers to the West End.
Rupert Goold, Artistic Director, Almeida Theatre said "We're delighted that with this transfer more people will be able to experience our production of Hamlet. Robert, Andrew, and the entire Hamlet company have created an unforgettable Shakespeare which we're looking forward to sharing even more widely over the summer in partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG."
Robert Icke, Director (and Almeida Theatre Associate Director) said "It has been such a thrill to work with Andrew and the extraordinary company of Hamlet on this play so far, and I'm delighted we're going to continue our work on this play in the West End this summer. I'm also extremely proud to be working with the Almeida and our producers, ATG and Sonia Friedman, to be able to present this play in a way that genuinely throws the doors open to a bigger range of audience members. In an increasingly expensive industry, I can't tell you how brilliant it is for them to commit to having 300 tickets priced at under £30 at every single show."
Andrew Scott, playing Hamlet, "I'm so thrilled and honoured to be playing this extraordinary role with these brilliant actors in Rob's stunning production. We have been overwhelmed with the reaction to our interpretation of Hamlet and I'm so happy that we can share it with a larger audience. This is a play full of heart, compassion and humanity. I'm so happy that we are able to offer 300 tickets for under £30 to every performance in the West End run to allow everybody a chance to see the play."
The confirmed cast for the transfer of Robert Icke's production includes Marty Cruickshank (Player Queen), Jessica Brown Findlay (Ophelia), Calum Finlay (Rosencrantz), Joshua Higgott (Horatio), Daniel Rabin (Reynaldo), David Rintoul (Ghost/Player King), AnDrew Scott (Hamlet) Juliet Stevenson (Gertrude), Luke Thompson (Laertes), Peter Wight (Polonius), Angus Wright (Claudius) and Matthew Wynn (Bernardo/Player 3/Priest). Further cast will be announced in due course.
Hamlet has design by Hildegard Bechtler, with lighting by Natasha Chivers, sound by Tom Gibbons, and video design by Tal Yarden. The Associate Director is Daniel Raggett. Casting is by Julia Horan.
Multi award-winning Director, Robert Icke, has adapted/directed at the Almeida Theatre Mary Stuart, Uncle Vanya, Oresteia (also West End, and for which Icke won the Critics' Circle, Evening Standard and Olivier Award for Best Director) and the multi-award-winning 1984 with Duncan Macmillan (also West End as well as playing several UK and international tours, and a forthcoming Broadway run at the newly opened Hudson Theater).
His work as a director includes The Fever at The May Fair Hotel, Mr Burns at the Almeida, Boys and Romeo and Juliet for Headlong. He made his National Theatre debut directing The Red Barn, at the Lyttelton Theatre in October 2016 starring Mark Strong and Elizabeth Debicki.
CAST BIOGS
Marty Cruickshank's theatre includes Richard II; The Heresy of Love; Hamlet; and Love in a Wood for the RSC and A Midsummer's Night's Dream for the RSC and Garsington Opera; After Electra at the Tricycle Theatre; Exit the King for Theatre Royal, Bath; Early Days; A Fair Quarrel; and The World Turned Upside Down for the National Theatre; Much Ado About Nothing and Two Clouds Over Eden at the Royal Exchange; London Wall at the Finborough Theatre and in the West End; Pygmalion at Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End; Summer Lightning; Habeas Corpus; Quartermaine's Terms at the Royal & Derngate; A Delicate Balance at Nottingham Playhouse; and A Flea in Her Ear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Television includes Babs; Line of Duty; Lewis; Spooks; Kavanagh QC; Faith in the Future; and Unnatural Pursuits. Film includes London Wall; I, Anna; and The Fool. As a writer, Marty's credits include The Princess of Cleves for ICA; A Difficult Age for English Touring Theatre; Why Things Happen for Second Stride; and Bathing Elizabeth for Channel 4/Warner Sisters.
Jessica Brown Findlay has previously appeared in Uncle Vanya at the Almeida and Oresteia at the Almeida/Trafalgar Studios. Her television credits include Harlots, Downton Abbey, The Outcast, Jamaica Inn, Labyrinth and Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits. Her film credits include Albatross (nominated for her performance in the Best Newcomer categories at the 2012 British Independent Film Awards and the Evening Standard Film Awards), Winter's Tale, Lullaby, The Riot Club, Victor Frankenstein, Steven and This Beautiful Fantastic.
Calum Finlay's theatre credits include The Ghost Train and Too Clever By Half at Manchester Royal Exchange; Dunsinane for the RSC and National Theatre of Scotland and The Merry Wives of Windsor; The Mouse and His Child; Macbeth and Jubilee for the RSC; Tartuffe at Birmingham Repertory Theatre; and The Prince of Denmark for the National Theatre.
Joshua Higgott has previously appeared in Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios) and 1984 for The Almeida Theatre and in the West End. Past theatre credits include Shakespeare in Love at the Noël Coward Theatre; The Alchemist for Liverpool Everyman; Regeneration for Royal & DernGate Theatre; Birdsong UK Tour; and Twelfth Night at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. His film credits include Darkest Hour; The Mummy; Juliet Remembered; and The Machine.
Daniel Rabin was last on stage in Mary Stuart at the Almeida and previously appeared in Robert Icke's production of 1984 for the Almeida in the West End. Other theatre includes Pericles; The Winter's Tale; King John; Tis Pity She's a Whore; Anthony and Cleopatra; and Holy Warriors at Shakespeare's Globe; Oedipus for Nottingham Playhouse and the Spoleto Festival; Ignorance at Hampstead Theatre; Blue Remembered Hills at Chichester Festival Theatre; and The Bomb at the Tricycle Theatre. Television includes The Royals; Game of Thrones; Ambassadors; Our Men; Henry - Mind of a Tyrant; The Roman Mysteries; and Money Can't Buy You Love. Film includes Lilac's Laughter; Mind The Gap; and Two's Company.
David Rintoul's theatre credits include Nell Gwynn for Shakespeare's Globe and at the Apollo Theatre; Remembrance of Things Past; The World Turned Upside Down; The Trojan War Will Not Take Place; A Midsummer Night's Dream; and The Rivals at the National Theatre; The Roaring Girl; The White Devil; The Witch of Edmonton; The Taming of the Shrew; Breakfast with Mugabe; The American Pilot; Keepers of the Flame; Henry IV, Parts I & II; Edward III; and Island Princess at the RSC; The Speculator at the Traverse Theatre; As You Like It and Map of the Heart at Shakespeare's Globe; The Big Fella and Anderson's English for Out of Joint; Gaslight and Phaedra for the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh; Dirty Dancing at Aldwych Theatre; Lady Windermere's Fan; The Winslow Boy; and Putting It Together for Chichester Festival Theatre; An Ideal Husband and Macbeth for the Old Vic; and Etta Jenks and Sergeant Ola and his Followers for the Royal Court. Television includes Game of Thrones; Muncie; Silk; Doctor Finlay; The Bible; Injustice; Private Practice; Pride and Prejudice; Taggart; The Cherry Orchard; Hornblower; Poirot; and Sweet Medicine. Film includes The Iron Lady; My Week with Marilyn; Unrelated; and The Ghost Writer.
Andrew Scott is best known for his BAFTA award-winning role, playing Moriarty, in the BBC's Sherlock and was most recently on screen in the film Denial alongside Rachel Weisz.
On stage, he most recently appeared in The Dazzle at Found111. His other theatre credits include Olivier Award-winning performances in c*ckand A Girl in a Car with a Man, as well as Birdland, Dying City, Crave and Playing The Victim at the Royal Court; 50 Years on Stage, Sea Wall, Emperor and Galilean and Aristocrats at the National Theatre; Design for Living and Dublin Carol at the Old Vic; and The Vertical Hour on Broadway. His recent films include Swallows and Amazons; Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass; Spectre, Jimmy's Hall, Victor Frankenstein, Locke, Pride (BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor) and the forthcoming film Handsome Devil. Further television credits include The Hollow Crown, The Town, The Hour, John Adams and Band of Brothers. He has twice won the BBC Audio Drama award for his work on Radio.
Juliet Stevenson was last on stage sharing the role of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I with Lia Williams in Mary Stuart at the Almeida, having previously appeared there in Duet for One. Other theatre credits include Winnie in Beckett's Happy Days at the Young Vic; The Seagull, Private Lives, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Hedda Gabler and Yerma for the National Theatre; Les Liaisons Dangereuses, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the RSC; The Heretic, Alice and Death and The Maiden (Olivier Award for Best Actress) at the Royal Court. Her film credits include Departure, Mona Lisa Smile, Bend it Like Beckham, Emma, Truly Madly Deeply and the upcoming Let Me Go. Her television credits include The Enfield Haunting, The Village, White Heat, The Accused, The Road from Coorain, The Politician's Wife and One of Us. She was awarded a CBE in 1999 for her services to drama.
Luke Thompson previously appeared in Oresteia at the Almeida and at Trafalgar Studios. His other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (shortlisted for the Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer award), Blue Stockings, Julius Caesar and The Broken Heart at Shakespeare's Globe; Tiger Country at Hampstead Theatre. Television credits include The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and In the Club. Film includes Making Noise Quietly.
Peter Wight's theatre credits include The Red Lion; Ivanov; Sleep With Me; Murmuring Judges; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; Black Snow; and Waiting for Godot at the National Theatre; Trelawny of The Wells at the Donmar Warehouse; In Basildon; Otherwise Engaged; Chekhov's Women in the West End; The Spanish Tragedy; Much Ado About Nothing; Barbarians; A Clockwork Orange; and Hamlet for the RSC; Mouth to Mouth, The Seagull (also Broadway) , In The Republic of Happiness; In Basildon (also West End); Face to the Wall; and Not A Game for Boys at the Royal Court; The Caretaker for the Globe Warsaw; Edward II at the Royal Exchange Manchester; Dearly Beloved and Grace for Hampstead Theatre. Television includes Brief Encounters; I Want My Wife Back; Our Zoo; The Mimic; The Paradise; Hit and Miss; Public Enemies; Titanic; Money; Monday Monday; Boy Meets Girl; 10 Days to War; Party Animals; Dalziel and Pascoe; Persuasion; Fantabulosa!; Murder Prevention; Early Doors; Room at the Top; The Security Men; and Uncle Adolf. Film includes The Program; MR Turner; King of Soho; Another Year; Kon-Tiki; Hard Boiled Sweets; Womb; Atonement; Hot Fuzz; Lassie; Babel; Pride and Prejudice; and Vera Drake.
Angus Wright has previously appeared in Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios), 1984 in the West End, and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Almeida, The Cherry Orchard at the Young Vic; Twelfth Night & Richard III for Shakespeare's Globe on Broadway; Privates on Parade in the West End; The Master and Margarita for Complicite; The Cat in The Hat at the National Theatre and Young Vic; Wastwater at the Royal Court; Design for Living at the Old Vic; The Merchant of Venice; Hamlet; Talk of the City; The Theban Plays; The Dybbuk; Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 for the RSC; Measure for Measure for Complicite and the National Theatre, Mrs Affleck; War Horse; Saint Joan; The Seagull; Dream Play; Stuff Happens; Three Sisters; Chips with Everything; and Mother Courage at the National Theatre. Television includes Flowers; Peep Show; Father Brown; Being Human; Breathless; Murder on the Home Front; Above Suspicion; Boudica; Cambridge Spies; The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall; The Way We Live Now; and Between the Lines. Film includes A Little Chaos; Jack Ryan; Maleficent; Closed Circuit; Private Peaceful; The Iron Lady; Affair of the Necklace; Kingdom of Heaven; RKO 281; The Bank Job; Bridget Jones's Diary; Charlotte Gray; Cutthroat Island; First Knight; Labyrinth; and Frankenstein.
Matthew Wynn's theatre credits include Measure for Measure at the Young Vic; Henry V and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton; The Guardsman at the Albery Theatre; and Bouncers for Wakefield Theatre Royal and Hull Truck. Film includes Interview With A Hitman; Leave To Remain; and Aberdeen. Television includes Silent Witness; Spooks; Man Down; Mount Pleasant; The Real Essex Boys; 55 Degrees North; Harry & Cosh and Byker Grove.
PRODUCER BIOGS
AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP PRODUCTIONS
Led by Executive Producer Adam Speers, ATG Productions have an impressive track record as an international, award-winning Production Company.
ATG Productions most recent work includes Sunday in the Park with George starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford at the newly restored Hudson Theatre on Broadway.
ATG productions in the UK have included a series of collaborations with The New Group. Most recently, a production of Sam Shepard's gothic masterpiece Buried Child, has earned Ed Harris a Best Actor Olivier Award nomination. Harris starred alongside real life partner Amy Madigan (Gone Baby Gone), and exciting new faces Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) and Charlotte Hope (Game of Thrones). This production was preceded by acerbic new comedy, The Spoils, written by and starring BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated Jesse Eisenberg, who was joined by a brilliant ensemble cast.
Continuing this commitment to exciting new writing, last year ATG Productions presented Internationally acclaimed actor Matthew Perry (Friends, The Odd Couple) as he starred in the World Premiere of his playwriting debut, The End of Longing. The bittersweet new comedy saw Perry reunited with award-winning director, Lindsay Posner (Speed-the-Plow, Other Desert Cities).
ATG Productions also presented the phenomenally successful Jamie Lloyd Company (JLC) series at Trafalgar Studios, which combined pertinent programming and accessible pricing with the aim of enabling the development of a new, more diverse theatrical audience. The radical reworking's of classic works that were central to this season included Doctor Faustus (Duke of York's) starring Kit Harington; The Maids starring Uzo Aduba, Zawe Ashton and Laura Carmichael; The Homecoming starring John Simm, Gary Kemp and Keith Allen; The Ruling Class and Macbeth starring James McAvoy; East is East starring Jane Horrocks and Richard III starring Martin Freeman; The Pride starring Hayley Atwell; and The Hothouse starring Simon Russell Beale and John Simm.
Other West End productions have included the stage adaptation of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film of the same name by David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane (Playhouse Theatre) and starring Tamsin Greig and Haydn Gwynne. Other co-productions include a collaboration with The Almeida Theatre and Sonia Freidman productions, bringing the critically acclaimed Oresteia to Trafalgar Studios in summer 2015. Directed by Robert Icke (Mr. Burns, 1984), this five star production also featured Lia Williams (Old Times, Earthquakes in London) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey).
In the touring spectrum, ATG Productions also has a commitment to bringing high quality musicals to the regions, which includes Richard O'Brien's hugely successful rock'n'roll musical The Rocky Horror Show. Other touring musicals include Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Monty Python's Spamalot, Jersey Boys and Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 The Musical. ATG Productions has also launched the long awaited UK tour of the Multi-Olivier Award-Winning musical, Sunny Afternoon, with music and lyrics by Ray Davies, book by Joe Penhall and direction by Edward Hall.
A new touring production of the Victorian thriller Gaslight opened in January 2017, starring Kara Tointon, Keith Allen and Rupert Young. Previous touring plays include Noel Cowards' comedy Private Lives, starring Tom Chambers (Top Hat the Musical) and Charlotte Ritchie (Call the Midwife).
Sonia Friedman Productions
Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) is a West End and Broadway Production Company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions in London and New York.
This year Sonia Friedman OBE was awarded 'Producer of the year' at the Stage Awards for the third year in a row as well as taking the number one spot in 'The Stage 100', becoming the first number one in the history of the compilation not to own or operate West End theatres and the first solo woman for almost 20 years.
Since 1990, SFP has developed, initiated and produced over 160 new productions and has won numerous Olivier and Tony awards, winning a record-breaking 14 at the 2014 Olivier Awards, including the quartet of Best New Musical, Best New Play, Best Revival of a Musical and Best Revival of a Play.
West End and Broadway productions include: the UK premiere of The Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the UK premiere of Dreamgirls, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travesties, The Glass Menagerie, Nice Fish, A Christmas Carol, Funny Girl West End and UK tour, Farinelli and The King, Hamlet, 1984, Sunny Afternoon West End and UK tour, Bend It Like Beckham, The Nether, The River, Electra, King Charles III, Shakespeare in Love, Ghosts, Mojo, Chimerica, Merrily We Roll Along, Old Times, Twelfth Night and Richard III, A Chorus of Disapproval, The Sunshine Boys, Hay Fever, Absent Friends, Top Girls, Betrayal, Much Ado About Nothing, Clybourne Park, The Children's Hour, A Flea in Her Ear, La Bête, All My Sons, Private Lives, Jerusalem, A Little Night Music, Legally Blonde, Othello, Arcadia, The Mountaintop, The Norman Conquests, A View From the Bridge, Dancing at Lughnasa, Maria Friedman: Re-Arranged, La Cage aux Folles, No Man's Land, The Seagull, Under the Blue Sky, That Face, Dealer's Choice, Hergés Adventures of Tintin, In Celebration, Boeing-Boeing, The Dumb Waiter, Rock 'n' Roll, Love Song, Faith Healer, Bent, Eh Joe, Donkeys' Years, Otherwise Engaged, Celebration, Shoot the Crow, As You Like It, The Home Place, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, By the Bog of Cats, The Woman in White, Guantanamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom', Endgame, Jumpers, See You Next Tuesday, Hitchcock Blonde, Absolutely! {Perhaps}, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Ragtime, Macbeth, What the Night Is For, Afterplay, Up for Grabs, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Noises Off, On an Average Day, A Servant to Two Masters, Port Authority, Spoonface Steinberg and Speed-The-Plow.
Forthcoming productions include: The Ferryman at the Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) and the Gielgud Theatre, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the Duke of York's Theatre and 1984 at the Hudson Theatre, New York.
For a full list of SFP's theatre credits, please visit soniafriedman.com.
ALMEIDA THEATRE
The Almeida Theatre exists to launch the next generation of British artists onto the world stage. A small room with an international reputation, the Almeida began life as a literary and scientific society - complete with library, lecture theatre and laboratory. From the beginning, the building existed to investigate the world. Today, the Almeida makes brave new work that asks big questions: of plays, of theatre and of the world around us.
Founded by Pierre Audi in 1980, his successors were Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid in 1990, and Michael Attenborough in 2002. Productions including Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes in 2005, Rufus Norris' Festen, Ruined by Lynn Nottage and most recently Chimerica, Ghosts and King Charles III have given the theatre international renown.
In summer 2013, Rupert Goold joined the Almeida as Artistic Director. His first production was American Psycho: a new musical thriller, which transferred to Broadway in 2016. In 2014 the Almeida productions of Ghosts and Chimerica won eight Olivier Awards including Best Actress, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best New Play, Best Director and Best Revival and enjoyed transfers to the West End and Broadway respectively. This was followed by King Charles III, which transferred to the West End at the Wyndham's Theatre and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2015, transferred to Broadway, and toured the UK and Sydney. Other notable productions as Artistic Director include The Merchant of Venice, Medea and Richard III, which in July 2016 was broadcast to cinemas around the world via Almeida Theatre Live.
In summer 2015, the Almeida presented Almeida Greeks, which included three major new productions of Oresteia, Bakkhai and Medea, the latter of which was directed by Goold, with a festival of events, performances, talks and readings running alongside.
He co-directed The Iliad and The Odyssey with Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke. Involving more than 60 readers, The Iliad reached an audience of over 50,000 people across the world, watching online, or in person at the British Museum and The Almeida Theatre. The Odyssey followed the huge success of The Iliad, and involved an army of artists in various locations around London. As with The lliad, both theatrical events were live streamed throughout and achieved ground-breaking levels of online engagement.
The Almeida is grateful to its Principal Partner Aspen, in its second term as the Almeida's most significant corporate supporter. Aspen was established in 2002 and is a leading global insurance and reinsurance company.
The Almeida is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
For more information, visit www.hamletwestend.com.
Photo credit: Manuel Harlan
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