Orson’s Shadow - Southwark Playhouse
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ORSON’S Shadow, by Austin Pendleton, receives its European Premiere at Southwark Playhouse, where it runs from Wednesday, July 1 to Saturday, July 25, 2015.
1960. Backstage at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Hollywood giants Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier have been persuaded to work together for the first time – the inspired idea of legendary theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan.
Welles has agreed to direct Olivier and Joan Plowright in a production of Eugène Ionesco’s masterpiece Rhinoceros. But with Olivier’s eccentric wife Vivien Leigh added to the volatile mix, legendary egos collide both on stage and off.
Based on true events, Orson’s Shadow is a critically acclaimed comedy that is a sharp-witted yet tender-hearted expose of the thin skins, hot tempers, and rampaging egos that exist when two titans of the stage and screen come together.
Orson’s Shadow was nominated Outstanding Play of the Year in the Lortel Awards on its New York debut.
Produced by Jagged Fence Productions and Smith & Brant Theatricals, Executive Producers of Memphis, Orson’s Shadow is directed by Alice Hamilton. Casting is still to be announced.
Alice Hamilton is co-artistic director of Up In Arms, for whom she recently directed Linda Bassett in the award-winning Visitors at the Bush and Arcola Theatres and on a UK tour. Her other directing credits include Fear of Music (Up In Arms/Out Of Joint), Missing (Tristan Bates Theatre) and At First Sight (Latitude Festival and on UK tour).
She has also directed shorts for the Miniaturists (Arcola Theatre), Courting Drama (Bush Theatre) and Hatch (Park Theatre). And she was Staff Director on Man and Superman at the National Theatre.
Austin Pendleton is an Obie Award-winning actor who has appeared in more than 120 films and TV shows since the late 1960s. He is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. As a writer, his plays Orson’s Shadow, Uncle Bob and Booth have all premiered Off Broadway. As a director, he was Tony nominated for directing Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes. In 2012, he directed a production of Detroit in London at the National Theatre.
Tickets: £18, £16 concessions. All previews £10 (Wednesday, July 1 to Saturday, July 4, including Saturday matinee). To book, call the box office on 020 7407 0234 or visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/.
Times: Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm; Saturday matinee at 3pm.
Also at Southwark Playhouse: the London premiere of Carrie: The Musical (May 1 to May 30, 2015).