All About My Mother - further casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
Joining Diana Rigg and Lesley Manville in the cast of All About My Mother which opens at the Old Vic on September 4, 2007 (previews from August 24), will be Mark Gatiss (as Agrado) and Eleanor Bron.
Although actor and novelist Gatiss is probably best known as one third of The League of Gentlemen, he has also appeared on television in Dr Who and will shortly be seen in Sense and Sensibility.
His other credits include The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, Match Point, Shaun of the Dead and Bright Young Things (film); and Art and The League of Gentlemen (West End stage).
Bron’s theatre credits are extensive and include The Miser, The White Devil, The Cherry Orchard, The Real Inspector Hound and The Duchess of Malfi (National Theatre); Hamlet (Donmar Warehouse); and In Extremis (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Her films include Help (with The Beatles), Alfie (the original 1966 production), Black Beauty, Iris and Wimbledon.
Previously Posted: Diana Rigg and Lesley Manville are to star in the stage adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s Oscar-winning 1999 film, All About My Mother, which opens at London’s Old Vic on September 4, 2007 (previews from August 25) for a limited season – until November 24, 2007.
The world premiere production, which has been five years in the making, will be the first major Almodovar stage adaptation in 20 years and the first time the Spanish filmmaker has consented to his work being produced in English.
Commenting on the casting of Rigg, Almodovar, who has been closely involved with the project, said: I have been a fan of Diana’s for all these years, and I am thrilled that she is playing Huma.”
All About My Mother is the story of single mother Manuela (Manville) who, after her son is killed, goes to Barcelona in search of his father. However, before she can exorcise her guilt, she gets caught up in the lives of three women – Agrado, a long-lost transvestite friend; Rosa, a young nun in search of love; and Huma Rojo (Rigg), the famous actress that Manuela’s son so admired. As Manuela’s life begins to have meaning once more, her son’s father returns and the journey of discovery and forgiveness comes full circle.
All About My Mother – which will feature the film score by Alberto Iglesias, plus new music by Ben and Max Ringham – has been adapted by Samuel Adamson (Southwark Fair, Pillars of the Community) and will be directed by Tom Cairns (Aristocrats, Phaedra).
In the early 1970s, Rigg was part of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company, then based at the Old Vic, where she appeared in The Misanthrope, Macbeth and Jumpers. Her more recent theatre credits include Medea (Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Actress), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Evening Standard Award for Best Actress), Mother Courage, Follies, Humble Boy, Suddenly Last Summer and, only last year, Honour.
Manville’s credits include High Hopes, Secrets and Lies, Topsy-Turvy and Vera Drake (film); and Pillars of the Community, The Alchemist, His Dark Materials and Some Girls (stage).
Of the casting, Kevin Spacey, Artistic Director of the Old Vic, said:
“I’ve always been a huge admirer of Lesley Manville’s work and her remarkable ability to access truth and humanity in the roles she plays. Her extensive experience of working on new writing with Mike Leigh, at the Royal Court and elsewhere, makes her a wonderful asset to this production.
And I couldn’t be more pleased that Diana Rigg, one of the UK’s best-loved actresses, will be playing the role of Huma. Diana’s played an extraordinary range of roles in a distinguished career, and I can’t wait to see her on the Old Vic stage.”
Joining Rigg and Manville will be Colin Morgan (currently starring in the Young Vic’s production of Vernon God Little) as Esteban; Joanne Froggatt as Sister Rosa; and Charlotte Randle as Nina.