The Bridge Project Delayed by a Year; Dillane Withdraws

The Bridge Project will be delayed by a year due to the withdrawal of Tony Award-winner actor Stephen Dillane, according to Variety. 

The industry publication previously described the Bridge Project as "a three-year transatlantic venture forged between Sam Mendes, the Old Vic and New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where the productions will originate in January."  Hamlet and The Tempest, directed by Mendes (Gypsy, Cabaret) and starring Dillane (The Real Thing), were to have been presented at the beginning of next year, with a winter run in New York at BAM, an April engagement at the Piccolo Theatre in Milan and a run at London's Old Vic beginning in May.  Dillane has reportedly withdrawn from the project due to "personal reasons arising from a family illness."  Producers hope that he will be able to join the Bridge Project at a later date.

With Dillane's withdrawal, Hamlet and The Tempest will be replaced by Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard as the debut Bridge Project productions (they were originally slated to be presented in the second year). Simon Russell Beale (Jumpers, Spamalot) will star as Leontes and Lopakhin, respectively, with Mendes at the helm.  Although the involvement of the Piccolo (or another international theatre) is now uncertain, the delayed season will play the same timetable was was originally planned - only beginning in January of 2009 instead of 2008.  Kevin Spacey, the artistic director of the Old Vic, may appear in a subsequent Bridge Project production, although nothing has been confirmed.

Visit www.oldvictheatre.com for more on the Old Vic and www.bam.org for more on BAM.

Photo - Stephen Dillane