For the first time in its twenty-five year history Jermyn Street Theatre is able to announce a full year of programming. Artistic Director Tom Littler, today reveals the full 2020 Season, with an array of work that ranges from world premieres to rare revivals, theatre legends to new talent and literary classics to new writing.
Highlights include the world premiere of a new play by
Peter Gill directed by the author, alongside Gill's new version of Three Sisters; a triple bill of
Samuel Beckett plays directed by
Trevor Nunn; and
Michael Pennington playing Prospero in The Tempest in a partnership with
Theatre Royal Bath.
Tom Littler said:
"It has been a pleasure and a privilege to assemble this year of work, bringing together vibrant undiscovered talents with some of the world's most respected directors, actors, and playwrights. Jermyn Street Theatre continues to be an intimate home for drama of the highest quality."
KRAPP'S LAST TAPE / EH JOE / THE OLD TUNE
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Trevor Nunn
15 January - 8 February (press performance - 17 January 2020).
Trevor Nunn directs a triple bill of plays with an all-star cast including
Lisa Dwan,
James Hayes,
Niall Buggy and
David Threlfall. In Krapp's Last Tape,
James Hayes plays the 69-year-old Krapp as he listens and responds to the cassette tapes he recorded in his youth. In Eh Joe,
Niall Buggy interacts with the voice of celebrated Beckett specialist
Lisa Dwan. And in The Old Tune, adapted by Beckett from a radio play by Robert Pinget, receiving its first London production since the 1960s, Buggy and
David Threlfall pass the time by remembering - and misremembering - the past.
Trevor Nunn said: "The focus of these plays is Beckett's fascination with memory. All three are universal but also emphatically Irish."
THE DOG WALKER
By Paul Minx
Directed by Harry Burton
World Premiere
12 February - 7 March (press performance - 14 February).
Harry Burton, best known for his acclaimed productions of
Harold Pinter's work, directs the world premiere of a new comedy by Paul Minx about loneliness and friendship in the big city.
THE TEMPEST
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Tom Littler
11 March - 4 April 2020 (press performance - 13 March 2020).
Michael Pennington, one of the foremost actors of his generation, plays Prospero in a production helmed by the venue's Artistic Director,
Tom Littler, which later moves to
Theatre Royal Bath. This follows Littler's production of All's Well That Ends Well, starring
Hannah Morrish and Gavin Fowler (press performance - 8 November).
Michael Pennington said: "I've declined playing Prospero a few times - it's so often described as Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, and I wouldn't want it to be mine... More seriously, I welcome the chance to play it in the intimacy of Jermyn Street Theatre, and then at
Theatre Royal Bath. When all's said and done it's a great play and part, with layer upon layer of meaning."
RELATIVELY SPEAKING
By Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Robin Herford
21 April - 16 May 2020 (press performance - 22 April 2020).
Co-produced with The Mill at Sonning
Alan Ayckbourn's first major success is directed by his long-term collaborator
Robin Herford (The Woman in Black), in a production transferring from The Mill at Sonning. Relatively Speaking is a comedy of misunderstandings and mistaken identities.
THE MARRIAGE OF ALICE B TOKLAS BY Gertrude Stein
By Edward Einhorn
Directed by Edward Einhorn
Produced by Jermyn Street Theatre by special arrangement with James L. Simon Productions and Untitled Theater Company No. 61
European Premiere
20 May - 20 June 2020 (press performance - 22 May 2020).
When it premiered in 2017
Edward Einhorn's work became a major off-Broadway hit, earning rave reviews. Einhorn directs his own 'marriage farce' about one of the most famous same-sex partnerships of the 20th century, in which he imagines a celebrity wedding populated by all the literary greats of the age.
ORLANDO
By Sarah Ruhl
Adapted from the original novel by Virginia Woolf
Directed by Stella Powell-Jones
24 June - 18 July 2020 (press performance - 26 June 2020)
Virginia Woolf's celebrated time and gender shifting novel is adapted by
Sarah Ruhl (In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, Dear Elizabeth) and directed by the theatre's former Associate Artistic Director,
Stella Powell-Jones.
THREE SISTERS
By Anton Chekhov
New version by Peter Gill
Directed by Tom Littler
World Premiere
9 September - 3 October 2020 (press performance - 11 September 2020).
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
By Peter Gill
Co-directed by Peter Gill and Alice Hamilton
World Premiere
7 - 31 October 2020 (press performance - 9 October 2020).
The autumn opens with two world premieres by the celebrated playwright and director
Peter Gill (The York Realist). The first is his new version of Chekhov's Three Sisters directed by
Tom Littler. Gill has previously adapted Chekhov's The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard. This is followed by Gill's new play Something in the Air, a play about love and memory set in London, co-directed by Gill and
Alice Hamilton.
Peter Gill said: "I am delighted to be co-directing my new play Something in the Air with
Alice Hamilton, and - because Chekhov has always been a big influence on my work as a director and a writer - that my new version of Three Sisters will open in such an intimate studio."
AFTER DARWIN
By Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by Jimmy Walters
Co-produced with Proud Haddock
4 - 28 November 2020 (press performance - 6 November 2020)
After Darwin, Wertenbaker's play about progress, immigration and theatre, was last seen at the
Hampstead Theatre and receives its first revival directed by
Jimmy Walters in a co-production with Proud Haddock.
THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY!
By John Nicholson
2 December 2020 - 16 January 2021 (press performance - 4 December 2020).
The year concludes with the London premiere of the acclaimed Peepolykus work, which was previously seen at the Liverpool Everyman.
The theatre also announces new ticketing, with concessionary prices now available throughout each run. Prices are in three bands - The Half, The Quarter, and Beginners - and are cheaper the earlier you book.
Jermyn Street Theatre is also introducing 5@5 - each day at 5pm, subject to availability, five unsold tickets will be made available to under-30s and Equity members for £5.
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