South Bank Players present Unoriginal Sin
Friday & Saturday September 10 & 11
7.30pm £5/£4otd
The comedy with a little extra bite, by David Tristram
Eve is twenty-four and never been kissed. Well, not properly. Bill is thirty-five, rich, alcoholic, and with the sex drive of an adolescent bull on steroids. Eve is engaged to Neville. Bill is married to Jenny. Jenny is having an affair with Jeremy, but she remains utterly devoted to her husband's cheque book. Miles is Bill's best friend. Or at least he was, before he discovered Bill's underpants hanging from the lightshade in his bedroom. Then there's Father Tomlin. At least he's taken a lifelong vow of celibacy. Or so his daughter claims. Original Sin? It seems there's nothing very original about it any more.
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The World’s Wife
Thursday September 16 7.30pm £8/£10otd/£5 students
The World’s Wife - adapted from the acclaimed Carol Ann Duffy poetry collection and performed by Linda Marlowe – had a hugely successful Edinburgh festival premiere and during its tour of the UK has regularly attracted full houses and proving a strong draw to general drama audiences and student groups alike.
From Mrs Faust and Frau Freud to Queen Kong and Mrs Midas, this delightful show slices through history and myth, whilst also casting an astute glance over the modern world. Laced with dark humour and acerbic wit, this passionate exposé will enthral lovers of Duffy’s poems and newcomers alike.
Linda Marlowe has enjoyed great acclaim for her previous solo work including Berkoff’s Women, which toured internationally and played West End seasons. In this new show, her virtuoso performance of Duffy’s brilliant and often controversial verse encompasses 18 of the 30 poems from the original collection.
“Joyfully refreshing. Oh, do go and see this: it’s wonderful.” The Observer
“Sometimes shocking, always unpredictable, the poems here are of complex individuals, not misandrist stereotypes. Performed at this level, these dames will have you dashing to the poetry library.” - Metro
www.lindamarlowe.com
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The Rape of Lucrece
Friday October 8 7.30pm £8/ £10otd/£5 for students
William Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece, comes to Ropery Hall following a 5-Star winning run at the Edinburgh 2008 and sell-out performances in London. Nominated for an Olivier award nominee Royal Shakespeare Company actor Gerard Logan now brings his astonishing solo performance of Shakespeare’s brilliant, brutal narrative poem, giving an account of the terrible crime of rape and its dreadful consequences, to Ropery Hall. But Shakespeare goes beyond the obvious, following the ramifications of the crime wherever they take him, shining a light on a band of behaviour encompassing the bestial and the beautiful. A single actor, a bare stage – rapist and victim springs to searing life in this production directed by Gareth Armstrong.
“Sensational!” Sir Trevor Nunn
“Powerful and horrifying....beautifully and excellently delivered by a master of his
craft...” Fringe Review (Brighton 2009)
“Great acting meets classic writing....an engrossing display of Shakespearean acting at its absolute finest....” Three Weeks ( Brighton Festival 2009)
“Gerard Logan musters an astonishing depth of feeling and emotion. His heartfelt, stark one-man enactment of this bleak and brilliant piece is moving, powerful and hugely evocative....” Brighton Source 2009
“Don’t miss this show. You will rarely have the chance to experience great poetry brought to life this well. Faultlessly performed by Gerard Logan, in the pure spirit-filled voice of a master, this performance is one the Royal Shakespeare Company could be proud of having produced…’ Fringe Review (Edinburgh 2008)
“Vividly brought to life by Logan with an intense and unremitting clarity, thiscaptivating tale, brilliantly recounted and eloquently spoken by a consummate story teller, is unmissable for all Shakespeare fans…..” British Theatre Guide (Edinburgh 2008)
“ Logan projects his passion brilliantly....brings to life the genius of Shakespeare like never before....” The Linc (2010)
www.therapeoflucrece.co.uk
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Dear Scherehezade with Gabriella Drake
Saturday October 9 7.30pm £14/£16otd
In an exceptional dramatisation, Dear Scheherazade, actress Gabrielle Drake portrays the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell in her own words.
Gabrielle Drake has played many leading roles on television and on stage. Television roles include Lieutenant Gay Ellis in the cult series UFO, Nicole Freeman in Crossroads, Jill Hammond in The Brothers, and Lady Asharton in the Inspector Lynley series.
On stage, London West End Theatre performances include Mrs Erlynne in Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, Monica in Tom Conti’s production of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, as well as leading roles in Peter Hall’s production of An Absolute Turkey, Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off and John Whiting’s Penny for a Song.
Directed by Richard Digby-Day
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Blood Wedding
Friday October 15 7.30pm £10/£12otd
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A BLOOD WEDDING in WENSLEYDALE! Lorca's famous Spanish tale of feuding families freely adapted and re-set in the farming communities of the Yorkshire Dales by North Country Theatre with a play akin to Cold Comfort Farm meets Carmen with Three Fights, Two Weddings and A Funeral.
When Leonard returns from fighting with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War he finds his childhood sweetheart about to marry an old rival. Custom and tradition demand grim faced acceptance, but Len has been infected by the hot blood of southern Spain and the revolutionary ideas of his comrades in arms.
And he will not let it lie!
Between flamenco dancing sheep, hay making and throwing hay makers and with the Dairy Maid of Doom forever lurking by the Cowshed of Calamity the wedding celebrations soon descend into farce and then tragedy.
www.northcountrytheatre.com
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An Audience with Jonathan Miller
Saturday October 23 7.30pm £15/£17otd
Jonathan Miller’s career has covered many different fields: author, lecturer, television producer and presenter, theatre, opera and film director.
Born in London, the son of a distinguished child psychiatrist, he was educated at St Paul’s School, read natural sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge and qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1959.
Whilst at university, Jonathan Miller appeared as a member of the Cambridge Footlights and subsequently accepted an invitation to co-author and appear in Beyond the Fringe with Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. This now legendary satirical review opened at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960 and later transferred to London and New York.
Jonathan Miller’s involvement in the world of opera began when he was invited to direct the British premiere in 1974 of Arden Must Die by Alexander Goehr. He spent several seasons working closely with Kent Opera, and subsequently with English National Opera for which he directed some of his most enduring successes – The Marriage of Figaro, The Turn of the Screw, Rosenkavalier, Carmen, and The Mikado and Rigoletto, both of which will be revived in Spring 2006.
For over 30 years Jonathan Miller has contributed prolifically to the BBC and independent television. His 1966 film of Alice in Wonderland is regarded as being one of his greatest achievements. Between 1980 and 1982 he produced and directed 11 plays for the BBC’s prestigious Shakespeare series, in 1984, The Beggar’s Opera and in 1985, Cosi Fan Tutte. His semi-staged performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, which was given in London in 1993, and then in Spain and New York, was also filmed for BBC2.
Jonathan Miller was awarded the honorary title Doctor of Letters by Cambridge University and in 1997, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London. In 1998 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. He is also a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In June 2002, he was knighted in The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List.
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