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Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
AFTER an absence of ten years, former artistic director of the
Royal Court Theatre, William Gaskill, returns to professional
theatre to direct his own adaptation of five stories by the late
American writer, Raymond Carver (pictured).
Entitled simply Carver, it will run at north
London's Arcola Theatre from July 8 to August 6, 2005 (previews
from July 6).
Since his untimely death in 1988, Carver's reputation as a poet
and writer of short stories has continued to grow, aided in part,
by Robert Altman's 1993 film, Shortcuts, which was based
on Carver's work. Some have gone so far as to hail him as the
'American Chekhov'.
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Carver dramatises five short
stories - What's in Alaska? Fat, Cathedral, Intimacy and
Put Yourself in My Shoes. It will be performed at the
Arcola by a cast of ten - five men, five women - including Kathryn
Pogson, Bruce Alexander and Jack Klaff.
Gaskill was artistic director at the Royal Court between 1965
and 1972. As well as directing plays from writers such as David
Hare, John Arden, Edward Bond and Arnold Wesker, he introduced
many of Brecht's works to British theatregoers.
He also worked alongside Sir Laurence Olivier as a founding director
of the National Theatre and later, formed the Joint Stock theatre
group with Max Stafford Clark.
More recently, he has been teaching at RADA (Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art) where, only last year, Carver was developed.
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