Rosmersholm - Almeida Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
PAUL Hilton, Helen McCrory and Malcolm Sinclair will lead the cast in Anthony Page’s production of Mike Poulton’s new version of Ibsen’s Rosmersholm, which runs from May 15 to July 5, 2008, at the Almeida Theatre.
For generations the house of Rosmer has been a stronghold of religious and political conservatism, but great changes are taking place at Rosmersholm. The tragic suicide of his wife and the influence of the mysterious Rebecca West bring former clergyman Rosmer’s new libertarian beliefs into the light. But the past won’t easily release him.
Written in 1886, Ibsen’s play charts the struggle between freedom and the cruelty of conscience in an age of political division. Isolated by their beliefs and afraid of the force of their love Rosmer and Rebecca’s journey races them to an astonishing conclusion.
Multi award-winning actress, Helen McCrory, returns to the Almeida to play Rebecca West. Her extensive theatre work includes Five Gold Rings, Platonov and The Triumph of Love (Almeida); as well as Old Times, Twelfth Night, Uncle Vanya and How I Learned to Drive (Donmar Warehouse); As You Like It (Wyndhams Theatre); Fuente Ovejuna and The Seagull (National Theatre); and Les Enfants du Paradis (Royal Shakespeare Company).
Her screen include Casanova, Enduring Love, Charles II, Carla, The Jury, North Square, Anna Karenina, Charlotte Gray and, most recently, Stephen Friers multi-award winning film The Queen in which she portrayed Cherie Blair, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in which she played Victoria Frankenstein.
Paul Hilton, who’ll play Rosmer, has previously appeared on stage in In Celebration (Duke of York’s Theatre), On The Third Day (New Ambassadors Theatre, The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse), The President of an Empty Room, Mourning Becomes Electra and Three Sisters (all at the National), Terrorism and Mountain Language (Royal Court), The Daughter-in-Law (Young Vic), Romeo and Juliet, The Cherry Orchard and Richard III (all for the Royal Shakespeare Company) and The Storm (Almeida).
His screen credits include True Dare Kiss, The Relief of Belsen, Dalziel and Pascoe, Trial and Retribution, The Family Man, Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness and Klimpt.
Malcolm Sinclair, who’ll play Kroll, is currently playing Stephen in Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice at the Menier Chocolate Factory. His other theatre credits include The History Boys, Luther, Racing Demon and Richard III (National Theatre), Journey’s End (Playhouse Theatre), My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Privates on Parade (Donmar Warehouse), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Theatres), Uncle Vanya, The Comedy of Errors and Hamlet (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Heartbreak House and Cressida, (both for the Almeida Theatre Company).
His screen credits include The Young Victoria, Casino Royale, V for Vendetta, The Statement and Secret Passage (film); and Daphne, Foyle’s War, Hustle, Judge John Deed, Victoria and Albert, Anna Karenina and Pie in the Sky (TV).
Between 1964 and 1973, Anthony Page was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre where he directed the premieres of five John Osborne plays; while for the Almeida, he directed Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia which later transferred to the West End.
His other West End productions include Ibsen’s The Master Builder and A Doll’s House, Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Edward Albee’s The Lady from Dubuque, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Three Tall Women and A Delicate Balance. And for the National Theatre he has directed The Rules of the Game, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Absolute Hell and Marriage Play/Finding the Sun.
He has also directed many productions for both British and American television, most recently Middlemarch for the BBC. His films include Inadmissible Evidence, Alpha Bet and Absolution.
Mike Poulton began writing for the theatre in 1995. His first two productions – Uncle Vanya and Fortune’s Fool – were staged by the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1996 and subsequently transferred to Broadway.
Since then his work has included The Canterbury Tales and St Erkenwald (Royal Shakespeare Company), a new version of Strindberg’s The Father (Minerva Theatre, Chichester), a new adaptation of Hedda Gabler (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Three Sisters (Birmingham Repertory Theatre) and Don Carlos (Crucible, Sheffield and West End). In 2001, his adaptation of the York Mystery Plays was performed in York Minster.
Rosmersholm has set designs by Hildegard Bechtler and lighting by Peter Mumford. It is sponsored by Hydro who previously sponsored the Almeida’s reopening production of The Lady From The Sea as well as Hedda Gabler in 2005.