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Perview by Paul Nelson
A DANGEROUS Woman, by Paul Webb, is a comedy about the
Duchess of Windsor, set in Paris in 1972. The extraordinary events
of her life come back to haunt her on the eve of her return to
England behind her husband's coffin.
Their relationship, as American socialite Wallis Simpson and
Edward Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, had shocked the
world and rocked the monarchy in the 1930s. Her attempts to reverse
the Abdication of 1936 were to influence the events that led up
to the Second World War.
This is a play with a powerful mix of comedy and pathos. The
behind-the-headlines story of one of the Twentieth Century's most
enduring icons is revealed in the course of a theatrical evening
in which we follow the Duchess's career from Baltimore to Buckingham
Palace, and Berchtesgarten, the country retreat where she meets
Hitler and plots to restore Edward to his throne.
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A Dangerous Woman is the inaugural production of Balcony,
a theatre production company established to present plays from
and about the years 1918-1939. Framed by the two world wars, this
was a fascinating period with an explosion of political, artistic
and cultural movements that still resonate with us today.
Paul Webb is a playwright (A Dangerous Woman, The Lodger),
author (A Buchan Companion, Ivor Novello: A Portrait of a Star),
and theatre journalist. Pip Pickering, the director, is an Edinburgh
Fringe First award winner (Who's
Harry?) and was dramaturge at the Pleasance Theatre from 2000
to 2003.
A Dangerous Woman by Paul Webb, Directed by Pip Pickering,
Presented by Balcony at the Jermyn Street Theatre, 16B Jermyn
Street, London SW1 from March 4 to April 19 at 8.00pm, matinees
(Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at 4.00pm. Tickets 020 7287 2875
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