This week sees the UK professional première of Noël Coward's play, This Was A Man at London's Finborough Theatre.
The play, written in 1925, remained un–staged in the UK after being banned by the Lord Chamberlain for its facetious and irreverent treatment of adultery, but it was produced in the US and across Europe.
This production is directed by Belinda Lang. Although known for her stage work where her credits include Hands Across The Sea, Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, A Song At Twilight and Present Laughter, Lang has more recently worked as a director where her credits include a national tour of The Reluctant Debutante.
The cast of This Was A Man is comprised of Nicholas Audsley, Alex Corbert Burcher, Jamie De Courcey, Dorothea Myer-Bennett, Robert Portal, Georgina Rylance and Grace Thurgood.
Playing as part of the Theatre's THEGREATWAR100 series is Sommer 14—A Dance of Death which opens in August.
Written by German playwright Rolf Hochhuth, the play looks at the world's descent into war from a German and European perspective, using a Danse Macabre structure of a series of searing vignettes with Death as a guide.
Like Coward, playwright Rolf Hochhuth was no stranger to controversy, his second play Soldiers being banned in England
Sommer 14—A Dance of Death is also a UK première, in a new translation commissioned by the Finborough Theatre from Gwynne Edwards from a literal translation by Jennifer Bakst with additional material by Mhairi Grealis and music by Ermo Frankevyle, directed by Christopher Loscher.
In the cast are Dean Bray, Sarah-Jayne Butler, Peter Cadden, Nick Danan, Edmund Dehn, Reginald Edwards, Tim Faulkner, Andrea Hart, Kirby Hughes, David Meyer, Stephen Omer and Henry Proffit.
Later in the year is a chance to see the European première of the first play by an African American woman to be produced professionally.
Playwright Angelina Weld Grimké was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1880 into an unusual and distinguished mixed-race family. She was a poet, dramatist, journalist, teacher, essayist, radical feminist and lesbian icon.
Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké will be directed by Ola Ince as part of Black History Month. It tells the story of Rachel, born into an African-American family in the early 20th century as a young, educated, middle-class woman facing the harsh reality of a racist world.
Emerging directors interested in text-based work, especially new writing, have a short while left in which to apply for a six-month paid working opportunity at the Finborough starting in August.
Each resident assistant director will assist on at least two productions gaining valuable experience on new writing projects, music theatre and innovative revivals of neglected classic texts whilst learning relevant administrative skills.
Interested applicants should visit Finborough Theatre web site for further information, where booking details for the upcoming productions are also available.
- This Was A Man plays from 15 July to 2 August
- Sommer 14—A Dance of Death plays from 5 to 30 August
- Rachel plays from 30 September to 25 October