Mendes' transatlantic venture becomes a reality
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
SAM Mendes’ long-awaited transatlantic theatre venture linking London’s Old Vic Theatre with New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The Bridge Project, will launch in January 2009.
The first two productions – The Winter’s Tale and Tom Stoppard’s new version of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard – will open in New York ahead of international dates and a Summer 2009 season at the Old Vic.
The cross-cast productions will be directed by Mendes, the former artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse. Stars from both sides of the Atlantic will include Brits Simon Russell Beale (picured as Spamalot‘s King Arthur), Sinead Cusack who is currently appearing on Broadway in Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Rebecca Hall; and Americans Ethan Hawke, Josh Hamilton and Richard Easton.
All three Americans have appeared on Broadway in Stoppard’s multi award-winning trilogy The Coast of Utopia. Hawke, who also co-founded the Malaparte Theatre Company with Hamilton, is probably best known for his numerous films which include Dead Poet’s Society, Alive, Great Expectations, Reality Bites and Training Day for which he was Oscar nominated.
Rehearsals begin in New York in October, with the productions running at BAM from January to March 2009, prior to an internation tour that will include Singapore, New Zealand, Spain and Germany. The productions will finally play in rep at the Old Vic in Summer 2009 (dates to be confirmed).
According to press information, The Bridge Project “places the exchange of ideas, talent and creativity between London and New York at the heart of the process, and is borne out of Sam Mendes, Joseph V Melillo and Kevin Spacey’s shared desire to produce large-scale classical theatre for international audiences”.
It was originally due to launch this year – with Hamlet and The Tempest – but was postponed after lead actor Stephen Dillane withdrew from the project due to family illness.
Mendes’ collaboration with BAM and its Executive Producer Joseph V Melillo began in 2003 when the Mendes double-bill of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya (which also starred Russell Beale) transferred from the Donmar to BAM’s Harvey Theater. The productions not only won two Olivier Awards, including Best Director for Mendes, but also two Obie Awards, one of which was for Russell Beale’s performance in Uncle Vanya.
Mendes, of course, directed the Old Vic’s Artistic Director Kevin Spacey in the 1999 film American Beauty which went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Mendes and Best Actor for Spacey.
During his time at the Donmar (1992 – 2002), Mendes also directed Assassins, Cabaret, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Glass Menagerie, True West, The Real Thing, Take Me Out and The Blue Room, some of which transferred to Broadway. His work since leaving the Donmar includes Gypsy and the world premiere of David Hare’s The Vertical Hour on Broadway; as well as the films Road to Perdition and Jarhead.
Pygmalion is currently playing at the Old Vic.
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