Original Theatre to Host BEING MR. WICKHAM Talkback with Adrian Lukis and Host Terri Paddock

Original Theatre, the multi award-winning London and Suffolk based theatre company, will return to Brits Off Broadway, 59E59 Theaters' annual celebration of UK theatre, for its 2023 Season, presenting the critically acclaimed productions The Habit of Art from 29 April - 28 May and Being Mr Wickham from 25 May - 11 June.

Adrian Lukis, who starred in the renowned BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, returns to the role of Mr. Wickham this Spring. Written by Adrian Lukis and Catherine Curzon, and directed by Guy Unsworth, Being Mr Wickham heads to New York following a critically acclaimed UK Tour, and a run onboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2. Join Pride and Prejudice's most roguish gentleman, George Wickham, on the eve of his sixtieth birthday, to lift the sheets on what exactly happened thirty years from where we left him and discover his own version of some very famous literary events.

In advance of the 59E59 run, UK and international audiences can join Adrian Lukis and host theatre journalist Terri Paddock live in conversation for Original Talk Backs on Monday 6 March from 6.30pm-7.30pm. Register for FREE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/original-talk-backs-being-mr-wickham-tickets-566212957197.

Brits Off Broadway, which has been running at 59E59 Theaters since 2004, has been described by the New York Times as "a highlight of the theatrical year in New York". Original Theatre previously presented Caroline's Kitchen there in 2019, and Invincible in 2017. The 2023 Brits Off Broadway Season is co-curated with the London-based New Diorama Theatre (David Byrne, Artistic Director), a company dedicated to championing new and emerging theatre companies.

Original Theatre also presents the US premiere of The Habit of Art, by one of Britain's most prolific playwrights Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Madness of King George, Talking Heads), following its previous successful UK stage run. The production is directed by Philip Franks, and it will star Matthew Kelly, Stephen Boxer, Jessica Dennis, Robert Mountford, Veronica Roberts and John Wark. The Habit of Art looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W.H. Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Exploring friendship, rivalry and heartache this multi layered masterpiece examines the joy, pain and emotional cost of creativity.

Operating and touring since 2004, Original Theatre have toured extensively all over the UK. Current stage productions include the premiere of Steven Canny and John Nicholson's adaptation of The Time Machine which has just opened at the New Wolsey Theatre prior to a national tour, and the record-breaking tour of Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd. Forthcoming productions include the stage premiere of Shomit Dutta's Stumped, playing in Bath, Cambridge and at Hampstead Theatre this summer. Since March 2020, Original Theatre have produced 14 digital theatre shows that have been streamed over 54,000 times collectively online and viewed in 60 countries. In February 2023, Original Theatre won The Offie Award for Best Online Production for their production of Into the Night by Frazer Flintham. In 2022, Original Theatre were awarded a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for exceptional theatre-making during the Covid lockdowns.

Alastair Whatley, Artistic Director of Original Theatre, said: "I'm delighted to be returning to New York for this year's Brits Off Broadway season reuniting once again with Val, Brian and the rest of the team at 59E59. Sharing both The Habit of Art, which finally has its New York premiere after being delayed by over three years, and Being Mr Wickham featuring Adrian Lukis's tour de force performance, is hugely exciting. It is thrilling to be able to share these great plays with New York audiences."

For further information, visit Original Theatre: https://www.originaltheatre.com/our-productions or 59E59: https://59e59.org.

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