Samuel West and Penelope Wilton will return to the Donmar Warehouse later this year to star in Jeremy Herrin's revival of TS Eliot's drama "The Family Reunion." The production will be the centrepiece of the Donmar's upcoming festival celebrating the work of the 20th-century writer. It will run at the Donmar's Covent Garden home from 25 November 2008 to 10 January 2009.
After eight years absence, Harry (West) returns to the ancestral home to celebrate his mother's birthday. Tormented by a dark secret, he confides in Aunt Agatha (Wilton) only to discover that the family too have its own hidden demons.
T S Eliot (1888-1965) was a poet, playwright and literary critic. An American, he moved to the UK in 1914, and became a British citizen in 1927. His other plays include Sweeney Agonistes (1926), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Cocktail Party (1949) and The Elder Statesman (1958), but he remains best known for his poems including The Waste Land, The Love Song of Alfred J Prufock, Ash Wednesday and his magnum opus Four Quartets. His collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats provided the inspiration for the
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.
In addition to the full-scale revival, the T S Eliot Festival will also include several readings, all performed on The Family Reunion set. They are: Four Quartets, performed by Stephen Dillane and directed by Katie Mitchell (14-17 January); Murder in the Cathedral, directed by Douglas Hodge (2 December); The Cocktail Party, directed by Jamie Lloyd (17 December); and an evening of Eliot verse, including The Waste Land, produced and directed by novelist Josephine Hart (1 December, 5 January).
Comments
To post a comment, you must
register and
login.
