Riflemind posts early closing notices
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ANDREW Upton’s new play Riflemind, in which Philip Seymour Hoffman directs John Hannah, has posted early closing notices at Trafalgar Studios. Originally booking until January 3, 2009, it will now close next week – on Saturday October 25, 2008 – after just one month.
Previously Posted: Ruth Gemmell will join John Hannah and Paul Hilton in the cast of Riflemind which opens in Trafalgar Studio 1 on September 18, 2008 (previews from September 15).
Gemmell’s theatre credits include Helter Skelter/Land of the Dead, Coram Boy, Midwinter, Macbeth and The Weir. Her screen credits include Trial and Retribution, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Frost, The Bill (TV); January 2nd, Fever Pitch (film).
Previously Posted: Hollywood actor and theatre director Philip Seymour Hoffman will direct John Hannah in the European premiere of Andrew Upton’s new play Riflemind, which opens in Trafalgar Studio 1 on September 18, 2008 (previews from September 15).
Riflemind is the story of John (Hannah) who was once frontman for Riflemind, one of the world’s biggest bands. Now, 20 years after he walked off stage for good but with a reunion imminent, the band members meet up in John’s country manor. It’s a reunion that fast becomes a test of talent, friendship and loyalty.
Riflemind, directed by Hoffman, received its world premiere in Sydney, Australia in October 2007. The production will be the first in a new creative partnership between Trafalgar Studios and Sydney Theatre Company which has Upton and his wife Cate Blanchett as artistic directors.
Hannah’s stage credits include The Mercy Seat (Almeida Theatre) and Miss Julie (Young Vic). And his screen credits include Four Weddings and A Funeral, Sliding Doors, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire (film); Rebus and New Street Law (TV).
He’s joined in the cast of Riflemind by British actor Paul Hilton (Rosmersholm, The Wild Duck, Mourning Becomes Electra) and original Australian cast members Susan Prior (as John’s wife Lynn), Steve Rodgers and Jeremy Sims.
Hoffman is probably best known internationally as an actor, with films that include The Savages, Charlie Wilson’s War, Cold Mountain, Almost Famous, Magnolia, The Talented Mr Ripley, Boogie Nights and Capote, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. However, he has appeared on stage in the Broadway productions of Long Day’s Journey into Night and True West.
And for many years, he has been the co-artistic director of New York’s LAByrinth Theater Company where his directing credits include the world premieres of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings and Jesus Hopped the A Train.
It was with Jesus Hopped the A Train that Hoffman made his West End directorial debut in 2002. That production received its UK premiere in 2001 at the Edinburgh Festival, where it won a Fringe First before transferring first to the Donmar Warehouse and finally to the Arts Theatre where it received an Olivier nomination.
Upton’s adaptations include Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, Cyrano De Bergerac and Don Juan for Sydney Theatre Company; plus Philistines which ran in the National’s Lyttelton Theatre in May 2007.