Burnt By the Sun - National Theatre (Lyttelton)
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
HOWARD Davies will direct Burnt by the Sun which opens in the National’s Lyttelton Theatre on March 3, 2009 (previews from February 24) before continuing in repertoire.
Colonel Kotov, decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, is spending an idyllic summer in the country with his beloved young wife and family. But on one glorious sunny morning in 1936, his wife’s former lover returns from a long and unexplained absence. Amidst a tangle of sexual jealousy, retribution and remorseless political backstabbing, Kotov feels the full, horrifying reach of Stalin’s rule.
Written by Peter Flannery, from the screenplay by Nikita Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov, Burnt by the Sun is set at the beginning of Stalin’s Great Terror and shows a brutal future encroaching on the last days of a fading world.
The cast includes Ciaran Hinds, Stephanie Jacob, Rory Kinnear and Pamela Merrick.
Hinds last appeared at the National Theatre as Larry in Patrick Marber’s Closer. His other theatre credits include the National’s Broadway transfer of Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, plus extensive work for the RSC, including the title role in Richard III. On screen he has appeared in the BBC/HBO series, Rome (as Caesar), Oscar and Lucinda, Road to Perdition, Calendar Girls, Munich, There Will Be Blood, Hallam Foe, In Bruges and Eclipse.
Kinnear’s National Theatre credits include Philistines, Southwark Fair, The Man of Mode, for which he received an Olivier Award and Ian Charleson Award, and most recently, The Revenger’s Tragedy (as Vindice).
Davies is an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where his recent productions include Gethsemane, Her Naked Skin, Never So Good, Philistines, The Life of Galileo, The House of Bernarda Alba and Mourning Becomes Electra.
Flannery’s plays include Singer, Savage Amusement and Our Friends in the North, which he adapted into a nine-part serial drama for BBC TV and for which he received a Writers Guild Award, BAFTA for Best Drama Serial, BAFTA Dennis Potter Award and RTS Writer of the Year Award.
Burnt by the Sun will be designed by Vicki Mortimer, with lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Ilona Sekacz, choreography by Scarlett Mackmin and sound by Christopher Shutt.