Almeida Theatre Company heads to Sweden
Lizzie Guilfoyle
ON MAY 28 and May 29, 2009, the Almeida Theatre Company will perform a rehearsed reading, script in hand, of Bergman’s Through A Glass Darkly at the Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival in Stockholm.
Andrew Upton’s adaptation, which is currently being developed by Michael Attenborough and Artistic Associate Jenny Worton with a view to a full production at the Almeida Theatre in 2010, will be directed by Attenborough and performed by John Bowe (David), Alex Jennings (Martin), Luke Treadaway (Simon) and Ruth Wilson (Karen).
Its producers are Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Andrew Higgie, Garry McQuinn and Liz Koops.
Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, Through a Glass Darkly was Sweden’s contribution to the Venice Biennale in 1962. In the same year, it won the Academy Award for best Foreign Language Film.
As well as the West End and Broadway, Bowe has performed regularly at the Almeida Theatre, most recently opposite Natasha Richardson in The Lady from the Sea. His television credits include Prime Suspect and Cranford.
Jennings’s theatre credits include The Alchemist, Stuff Happens, His Girl Friday, The Relapse, The Winter’s Tale and Present Laughter (all at the National); My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), for which he won an Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Professor Higgins; Hamlet and Peer Gynt (RSC); and Too Clever By Half (West End).
On screen, he is probably best known for his role as Charles, Prince of Wales in The Queen alongside Helen Mirren.
Treadaway’s film credits include Brothers of the Head, for which he received a British Independent Film Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer.
Wilson, who is currently rehearsing for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse, received both BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in the title role of Jane Eyre. She will be seen shortly in ITV’s remake of The Prisoner.