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Dateline: 30th September, 2008
Osborne Premiere at the King's Head Never previously given a public performance, John Osborne's A Place Calling Itself Rome is the next in Primavera's latest series of FORGOTTEN CLASSICS rehearsed readings at the King's Head Theatre this autumn. It will be performed for one night only on Sunday 12th October. Osborne's play, which was written in 1972, rewrites Shakespeare's Coriolanus in a modern political and military setting. The Roman intrigues and bloodshed of the original are transposed to a contemporary world in which the old guard patricians continue to manoeuvre against the new force of the 'people's politicians' and the ever-present mob. Osborne also makes more explicit the homoerotic subtext of the Coriolanus - Aufidius relationship. The 50 roles in Osborne's script will be played by twelve actors in the Primavera rehearsed reading. A Place Calling Itself Rome is directed by Primavera's Artistic Director Tom Littler, who directed Charles Wood's Jingo: A Farce of War and Eliot's The Confidential Clerk at the Finborough Theatre, and is currently Associate Director on A Doll's House and Born in the Gardens (Peter Hall Season 2008). Director Tom Littler said, "We're very excited about presenting A Place Calling Itself Rome for the first time. It's a vast play, epic in its range of settings, emotions and character, with a thrilling narrative which feels as fresh as a modern political thriller. It's an incredibly rare chance to see one master playwright's take on a masterpiece." Christopher Ravenscroft (The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Henry V) plays the master politician Menenius. Reading the part of Volumnia, Coriolanus's mother, will be Susan Penhaligon, best known for her roles in A Bouquet of Barbed Wire and A Fine Romance. Joining her to play Coriolanus's nemesis, Tullus Aufidius, is Anthony Howell (Foyle's War), who previously appeared in Primavera's production of Jingo: A Farce of War. Casting for the lead role of Coriolanus is to be announced shortly. Primavera's new FORGOTTEN CLASSICS series runs from September to December 2008. It began with T.S. Eliot's The Elder Statesman, starring Christopher Timothy, and continues with the first Restoration comedy The Adventures of Five Hours by Sir Samuel Tuke (Sunday 16th November), and Wilkie Collins's own stage adaptation of The Woman in White (Sunday 14th December). The first FORGOTTEN CLASSICS took place at the King's Head Theatre in 2007, and included rarely performed plays by Lord Byron, John Lyly, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens.
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