Yesterday the Artistic Director of The Almeida Theatre Rupert Gould introduced the Winter 2015-16 season.
He says:
“We follow our Almeida Greeks with a double-header of late nineteenth-century masterpieces by two of the world’s most important and influential playwrights. Written less than five years apart, these plays offer startlingly fresh reflections on our lives and our theatre – and how we can understand them.
First Richard Eyre follows his Hedda Gabler and Ghosts with a new production of Ibsen’s surreal and moving play Little Eyolf. Ibsen’s play is something formally more complex and contemporary than the Victorian naturalism with which he is associated: drawing instead on Norwegian folklore and symbolism, late Ibsen is a stranger, richer playwright than we might expect.
Chekhov hasn’t been performed at the Almeida in over a decade, and though Uncle Vanya was written less than five years after Little Eyolf, its focus on the minutiae of human lives never seems less than surprisingly modern. As his masterful Oresteia transfers to the West End, I’m thrilled that our Associate Director, Robert Icke, will be taking on Chekhov for the first time at the Almeida.”
THE SEASON…
[ezcol_1half]19 November 2015 – 9 January 2016
Little Eyolf
Henrik Ibsen
a new version created by Richard Eyre[/ezcol_1half][ezcol_1half_end]5 February – 26 March 2016
Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov
a new version by Robert Icke[/ezcol_1half_end]
Little Eyolf
Completing a trilogy of revelatory Ibsens, Richard Eyre returns to the Almeida Theatre with a new version of Little Eyolf. Jolyon Coy and Lydia Leonard lead a cast which also includes Sam Hazeldine, Eve Ponsonby and Eileen Walsh.
Adapted and directed by Eyre, Little Eyolf follows the success of Ghosts and Hedda Gabler which he also adapted and directed. Hedda Gabler won great acclaim at the Almeida in 2005 before transferring to the Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End. Ghosts opened at the Almeida in 2013, transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End and won three Olivier awards including Best Revival. The production enjoyed a successful run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York earlier this year.
How is a life well-lived? Alfred Allmers comes home to his wife, Rita, and makes a decision. Casting aside his writing, he dedicates himself to raising his son. But one event is about to change his life forever.
Ibsen’s Little Eyolf is a forensic examination of a marriage as it explosively falls apart.
Design is by Tim Hatley with light by Peter Mumford, sound by John Leonard and video by Jon Driscoll. Casting is by Cara Beckinsale.
Uncle Vanya
Following his bold reimagining of Oresteia, currently running in the West End, Almeida
Associate Director Robert Icke directs a new production of Chekhov’s greatest play. Paul Rhys makes his Almeida debut in the title role.
Chekhov’s late masterpiece examines human behaviour in all of its beautiful, terrible, laughable contradiction.
Booking Information
Tickets for the new productions will first go on sale to Almeida Members on Tuesday 8 September and to the public on Tuesday 15 September.
Almeida Theatre,
Almeida Street, London, N1 1TA
Box Office
Phone 020 7359 4404 (10am – 7.30pm Monday – Saturday)
Online almeida.co.uk
In person 10am – 7.30pm, Monday – Saturday (10am – 8pm until 14 November.