Almeida Theatre - Winter-Spring 2014/15
Season preview
THE ALMEIDA Theatre has announced its Winter-Spring 2014/15 programme, which takes a closer look at money, materialism and what we value.
The season opens with The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. A revival of Rupert Goold’s RSC production, it runs from December 5, 2014 to February 14, 2015.
In this ground-breaking production, the story is relocated to Las Vegas, where a wealthy heiress is looking for a husband. Back at home, a wealthy merchant is looking for a loan. Everyone’s out to make a killing; but everything comes at a price.
The cast, many reprising their roles, includes Jamie Beamish (as Lancelet Gobbo), Rebecca Brewer (Lady), Susannah Fielding (Portia), Scott Handy (Antonio), Caroline Martin (Jessica), Ian McDiarmid (Shylock) and Emily Plumtree (Nerissa).
The Merchant of Venice is followed by another revival – Wallace Shawn’s The Fever. A site specific production, it runs from January 7 to February 7, 2015.
Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke (1984, Mr Burns) directs Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, The Honourable Woman) who performs this searing monologue in an intimate suite of The May Fair Hotel in central London.
Next comes the world premiere of Mike Bartlett’s Game, which runs from February 23 to April 4, 2015.
Described as invasive and unnerving, this provocative new play invites audiences to spy on a family as they explore a dangerous way to live.
The production, which radically reconfigures the Almeida auditorium, reunites Mike Bartlett (King Charles III) with acclaimed Director-Designer duo Sacha Wares and Miriam Buether (Wild Swans, Sucker Punch, My Child).
The season concludes with the UK premiere of Carmen Disruption by Simon Stephens. The Almeida debut of this internationally-renowned writer (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Birdland), it runs from April 10 to May 23, 2015.
Described as a strange and beautiful new play, Carmen Disruption reimagines Bizet’s opera Carmen and the possibility of love in a fractured urban world.
Michael Longhurst (Constellations) directs.
For more information visit www.almeida.co.uk/.
Also at the Almeida: the world premiere of Alecky Blythe’s Little Revolution (until October 4, 2014) and the UK premiere of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (October 10 to November 29, 2014).