Theatre Royal Bath Announces Season of Premieres from the Americas

Theatre Royal Bath today announces A Season of UK Premieres from the Americas at the Ustinov Studio opening next month. The Model Apartment by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies, directed by Laurence Boswell will run from 22 November to 22 December with opening night for press on 28 November. This will be followed by Tanya Barfield's play with music, Blue Door, directed by Eleanor Rhode from 7 February to 9 March 2019, and a third production, to be announced, will complete the season.


THE MODEL APARTMENT
Thursday 22 November - Saturday 22 December 2018
Press night: Wednesday 28 November, 7pm

Donald Margulies' critically acclaimed and award-winning black comedy The Model Apartment will have its UK premiere in the Ustinov Studio this autumn, starring Diana Quick, Ian Gelder, Emily Bruni and Enyi Okoronkwo, directed by Laurence Boswell.

1980s. Max and Lola, two elderly Holocaust survivors, are retiring to Florida from Brooklyn, finally able to escape their difficult daughter and life's stresses and strains. But their new life in the Sunshine State turns dark very quickly. Their deluxe condo is not ready to live in, they've been asked to stay temporarily in a 'model apartment', and then history begins to catch up with them in the most devastating way.

In this brilliant black comedy, Max and Lola discover that if they are ever truly going to be able to retire, they must first confront the demons of their past.

Donald Margulies is one of America's most respected and renowned playwrights whose works have been performed at major theatres across the US and around the world. Plays include The Country House, Time Stands Still, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Collected Stories and the Pulitzer Prize winning Dinner with Friends. He has received numerous awards including the 1995-96 OBIE Award for Playwriting for The Model Apartment, the Lucille Lortel Award as well as a Tony Award nomination and five Drama Desk Award nominations.

Laurence Boswell is an Olivier Award winner, Artistic Director of the Ustinov Studio and an Associate Artist of the RSC. His recent productions include The Whale,The Mentor, Trouble in Mind, The Mother, Intimate Apparel and The Spanish Golden Age Season in the Ustinov Studio and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Theatre Royal Bath's Main House.

Emily Bruni's stage credits include Lunch / Bow of Ulysees, Before You Were Born, Donkey Heart and Yes Prime Minister at Trafalgar Studios. Other credits include King Lear (The Globe), City Stories (St James Theatre) and Ring Around the Moon (Playhouse Theatre). Emily has been seen on screen in Tamara Drewe, Peep Show, Wallander and Lewis.

Ian Gelder has appeared on television in Game of Thrones, Ripper Street, EastEnders, Mr Selfridge and Silent Witness. His extensive stage credits include Racing Demon (Theatre Royal Bath), The Treatment (Almeida Theatre), Human Animals (Royal Court), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare's Globe), Roots (Donmar Warehouse) and The Power of Yes (National Theatre).

Diana Quick's stage credits include Phedra Brittanica, Plynder, Trolius and Cressida and A Map of the World (National Theatre), The Woman (Old Vic), Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead Theatre) and The Sea (Bristol Old Vic), as well as RSC productions The Woman Pirates and The Changeling. She has also been seen in films Ordeal By Innocence and Saving Grace.

Enyi Okoronkwo has been seen on stage in Junkyard and The Cherry Orchard at Bristol Old Vic as well as Wonder.land with The National Theatre. He also performed in BBC radio dramas From a Great Height and Brother of Mine.


BLUE DOOR
Thursday 7 February - Saturday 9 March 2019
Press night: Wednesday 13 February 2019

Tanya Barfield's Blue Door will receive its first ever UK staging at the Ustinov Studio in 2019. The play, with original songs, portrays a searing examination of family, identity and the African-American male experience. It will be directed by Eleanor Rhode (Boudica, Shakespeare's Globe) and will star Ray Fearon and Fehinti Balogun.

Lewis, a prominent African-American professor of mathematics is just trying to lead a normal, quiet and successful existence. But when he refuses to attend the Million Man March, his wife of twenty-five years suddenly leaves him, and his life is thrown into turmoil. Finding himself suffering from a disorientating insomnia, he inadvertently conjures three generations of his ancestors, who each reveal the hardships and victories that have shaped their lives. Lyrical, funny and poignant, Lewis's journey grappling at the intersection of his own identity, race and culture, encapsulates more than a hundred years of American history.

Tanya Barfield's plays include Bright Half Life (Time Out New York Critics' Pick), The Call (New York Times Critics' Pick), Of Equal Measure (Center Theatre Group), Chat (New Dramatists' PlayTime Festival), and The Quick (New York Stage and Film). In 2016, the Profile Theatre devoted an entire season to Barfield's work. Tanya is the winner of a LAMDA Literary Award, a Lilly Award and Helen Merrill Playwriting Award. She has written for numerous television shows, including FX's award-winning The Americans.

Eleanor Rhode's recent work includes the critically acclaimed world premiere of Boudica (Shakespeare's Globe). She co-founded Snapdragon Productions where directing credits include Toast (UK Tour and New York) and the world premiere of Teddy. Other recent work includes Frankenstein (The Watermill and Wilton's Music Hall), Beauty and the Beast (Watford Palace), Terrorism (Bush Theatre), When We Were Women (Orange Tree Theatre), Toast and Thark (Park Theatre), two Generous, The Drawer Boy, and A Life by Hugh Leonard (Finborough Theatre) and the world premiere of For All That (Centerstage Theater, Seattle).

Ray Fearon has appeared across stage, film and television. His theatre credits include the title role of Macbeth (Shakespeare's Globe), Hecuba (RSC), The Lower Ninth(Donmar Warehouse), A Raisin in the Sun (Royal Exchange), The Soldiers Fortune (Young Vic), Guys and Dolls (Detroit). For television he has starred in Snatch, New Blood, Da Vinci Demons, Suspects, Silk and Coronation Street, and film appearances include Origin Unknown, The Foreigner, Beauty and the Beast, The Yellow Birds, The Hooligan Factory.

Fehinti Balogun recently graduated from RADA. He has appeared on stage in Against (Almeida), Myth (RSC) and King Lear (Old Vic) and for film in Juliet, Naked.

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