Wittenberg - Gate Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
WITTENBERG, by David Davalos, receives its European premiere at the Gate Theatre, where it runs from September 1 (previews from August 24) to October 1, 2011.
Audiences are invited to join the jury as two of history’s most stubborn intellectuals go head-to-head in a highly entertaining battle of reason versus faith.
Philosophy and religion collide in Davalos’ play, which pits the wit of the radical Doctor Faustus against the faith of the conservative Martin Luther, while their student, a troubled Prince Hamlet, is having difficulty deciding what’s best to do.
Christopher Haydon directs a cast that includes Sean Campion (as Faustus), Andrew Frame (Martin Luther), Edward Franklin (Hamlet) and Sophie Brittain, who is making her professional debut as the Eternal Feminine.
Sean Campion was last seen at the Gate in Anna Ledwich’s Lulu. His numerous stage credits include Greyscale’s Theatre Brothel (Almeida Theatre), Death and The Maiden (Salisbury Playhouse), Gambling (Soho Theatre), The Dead School (Tricycle Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Regents Park) and Berlin Hanover Express (Hampstead Theatre).
Edward Franklin‘s stage credits include Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith), Notes for the First Time Astronauts (Theatre 503), Nettles (Contact Theatre) and Halo Boy and The Village of Death (Westminster). On television, he has appeared in Doctors, Being Human and Married, Single, Other.
Andrew Frame‘s theatre credits include A Voyage Round My Father and The Winslow Boy (Salisbury Playhouse), Six Characters in Search of An Author (Headlong, Chichester and West End), The English Game and Rough Crossings (Headlong Tour), Market Boy and The Royal Hunt of the Sun (National Theatre), Festen (Lyric Theatre) and The Crucible (Sheffield Crucible).
Christopher Haydon has recently been appointed the new Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, succeeding Natalie Abrahami and Carrie Cracknell, and will take up the post in January 2012. He is currently the Associate Director of On Theatre and an Associate Artist at the Bush Theatre.
His directing credits include In The Beginning (Westminster Abbey), Pressure Drop (On Theatre/Welcome Collection), Deep Cut (Sherman Cymru/National Tour), Monsters and Notes from the Underground (Arcola Theatre), A Number (Salisbury Playhouse) and Grace (British Council/On Theatre).
David Davalos is an American born playwright who lives in Colorado. His plays include Daedalus: A Fantasia of Leonardo da Vinci; The Tragedie of Johnnius Caerson, a comedy in blank verse chronicling the Late Night TV Wars; and Darkfall, a modern follow-up to Paradise Lost.
Wittenberg is his latest play and has received an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, the 2008 Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, and the National Theatre Conference’s 2008 Stavis Playwriting Award.
The Gate production of Wittenberg is designed by Oliver Townsend, with lighting by Mark Howland and sound and composition by Tom Mills.
Tickets: £20 Full, £15 Discounts for students, over 60s, Equity members and unwaged (subject to availability), £10 GATECRASHER TICKETS – all tickets are only £10 for preview performances, plus Saturday 3pm matinees. Tickets are available on 020 7229 0706 or online at www.gatetheatre.co.uk
Times: Monday to Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday matinee at 3pm.