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Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
IT HAS just been announced that the Donmar Warehouse production
of Mary Stuart will transfer to the Apollo Theatre
in Shaftesbury Avenue this coming autumn.
Schiller's tragedy which focuses on Mary Queen of Scots, Queen
Elizabeth I's cousin and rival for the throne, completes its sell-out
season at the Donmar on September 3, before re-opening at the
Apollo on October 19, 2005, (previews from October 7).
This will be the first Donmar production to transfer to the commercial
West End since Michael Grandage took over from Sam Mendez as artistic
director in 2002.
It will, however, be the second Schiller play to be seen in the
West End this year, after Grandage's own Sheffield Crucible production
of Don Carlos which starred Derek Jacobi and Richard
Coyle - a surprise hit for the Gielgud Theatre.
The majority of the Donmar cast - including Janet McTeer (pictured)
and Harriet Walter who play Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth
I respectively - will reprise their roles.
The Apollo's current production, The Big Life, the West
End's first black musical, will close on October 1, 2005.
Mary Stuart is initially booking to January 14, 2006.
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tickets
Previously Posted: Full casting for Peter Oswald's
adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart
has just been announced. Joining Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter
will be:
Barbara Jefford whose incredible acting career has included over
50 Shakespeare productions, the most recent, Richard III which
was directed by the Donmar's Michael Grandage, who is currently
responsible for the hit musical Guys
and Dolls. Jefford's most recent West End appearance
was in Simon Gray's The Old Master.
David Burke who has appeared in a number of National Theatre
productions - Copenhagen, Pericles, The Crucible, The Voysey
Inheritance and Hamlet.
James Fleet who is probably best-known for his screen roles in
Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral
and, of course, the 'dopey' Hugo Norton from TV's The Vicar
of Dibley. He has, however, appeared on stage in Art.
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Burke and Fleet have, in fact, previously
worked together in Three Sisters at the Playhouse Theatre
in 2003.
David Horovitch whose stage credits include Losing Louise
and for the RSC, Cymbeline and The Tamer Tamed.
Guy Henry who played opposite Dame Judi Dench in the RSC's production
of All's Well That Ends Well. He's also appeared in
King John, Twelfth Night, Volpone, The Coast of Utopia, The School
for Scandal and The Voysey Inheritance.
Rory Kinnear whose stage credits include The Taming of the
Shrew, The Tamer Tamed, The Tempest and The Seagull.
His most recent West End appearance was in the Lyric Theatre's
highly-acclaimed production of Festen.
And finally, Rufus Wright who comes to the production fresh from
playing Hibbert in the revival of
Journey's End.
Previously Posted: Peter Oswald's new version
of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart opens at
the Donmar Warehouse on July 20, 2005 (previews from July 14)
- until September 3, 2005.
The play is an account of the extraordinary relationship between
England's Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.
German playwright Schiller (1759 - 1805) wrote his first play,
The Robbers, in 1782, during his enforced military service.
Discovered and banned from further writing, he deserted, lived
under an assumed name and worked as a court playwright and stage
manager.
His other plays include Intrigue and Love, Don Carlos, Wallenstein's
Camp, Wallenstein's Death, Maid of Orleans and William
Tell.
Schiller's friendship and collaboration with Goethe, made the
Weimer Theatre one of the most prestigious in Germany. He died
in 1805 from tuberculosis.
Mary Stuart will star Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter.
McTeer's London stage credits include A Doll's House at
the Playhouse Theatre in 1996, The Duchess of Malfi at
the National Theatre in 2003 and, in the same year, The Taming
of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe.
Walter has appeared on the London stage many times between 1994
and 2003 - in Dinner, Much Ado About Nothing, Life x 3, The
Royal Family, Macbeth, Old Times and The Children's Hour.
Mary Stuart will be directed by Phyllida Lloyd.
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