SEAN MATHIAS ANNOUNCED AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF 2009
THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET COMPANY
SEAN MATHIAS TO DIRECT
IAN MCKELLEN AND PATRICK STEWART IN SAMUEL BECKETT’S
WAITING
FOR
GODOT
FIRST UK TOUR FOR THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET COMPANY
LONDON DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET
DAY SEATS AVAILABLE FOR £10
Sean Mathias is to direct Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for
Godot which is his first production as Artistic Director of the 2009 Theatre Royal Haymarket
Company. Waiting for Godot will tour the UK prior to its opening in London in April. Designs are
by Stephen Brimson Lewis and lighting is by Paul Pyant. Waiting for Godot is produced by the
Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in partnership with Duncan C. Weldon Productions Ltd.
Further casting for Waiting for Godot and the subsequent productions in Sean Mathias’ Theatre
Royal Haymarket Season will be announced shortly.
Prior to the Theatre Royal Haymarket run, Waiting for Godot will tour to Malvern Theatres (5 – 14
March), Milton Keynes Theatre (16 – 21 March), Brighton Theatre Royal (23 – 28 March), Bath
Theatre Royal (30 March – 4 April), Norwich Theatre Royal (6 – 11 April), Edinburgh King’s Theatre
(13 – 18 April) and Newcastle Theatre Royal (20 – 25 April).
Waiting for Godot will preview at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 30 April with press night on 6
May 2009 and is booking until 28June 2009 for a strictly limited season.
Waiting for Godot follows two consecutive days in the lives of tramps, Vladimir (Patrick Stewart)
and Estragon (Ian McKellen), who divert themselves by clowning around, joking and arguing,
while waiting expectantly and unsuccessfully for the mysterious Godot. Beckett's Waiting for
Godot exploded on to the London stage over 50 years ago when it shocked as many people as
it delighted.
Waiting for Godot received its world premiere at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris in 1953. The
English-language premiere in 1955, was directed by Peter Hall at the Arts Theatre. Beckett
himself directed the play at the Schiller Theatre, Berlin in 1975. Born in Dublin in 1906, Samuel
31 October 2008
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-2Beckett was an Irish writer, dramatist, critic and poet. He wrote in both French and English and is
best known for his plays including Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape and Happy Days as well as
Waiting for Godot. Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, both renowned Shakespearean actors at Stratford-uponAvon, in the West End and on Broadway, first worked together in Tom Stoppard’s Every Good
Boy Deserves Favour for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977 and more recently in the XMen films, as Magneto and Professor X. Each of them has established their own iconic screen
persona, as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and as Star Trek’s Jean-Luc Picard.
Ian McKellen makes his Beckett debut as Estragon. He will play alongside Patrick Stewart
following their onscreen rivalry in the X-Men films. McKellen has previously collaborated with
Sean Mathias who has directed him as Uncle Vanya, the Captain in Dance of Death and as
Widow Twankey twice. Since he started acting in 1961, he has worked non-stop on stage and
screen. For the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Companies, McKellen has
produced and acted in plays old and new, most recently on the RSC’s world tour as King Lear.
He produced and wrote the screenplay for his Richard III and was nominated for an Oscar for
Gods and Monsters and for Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. He recently played in Coronation
Street and has just completed ITV’s remake of The Prisoner.
Patrick Stewart is currently playing Claudius/Ghost in Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare
Company in Stratford before transferring to the Novello Theatre later this year. Earlier this year
he won an Evening Standard Award, a Critics’ Circle Award, a TMA Theatre Award, a
Theatregoers’ Choice Award nomination, an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, a Laurence
Olivier Award nomination, and a Tony Award nomination for playing the title role in Rupert
Goold’s Chichester Festival Theatre production of Macbeth which subsequently transferred to
the West End and then Broadway. His many other appearances for the RSC include The
Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra both in Stratford and at the Novello Theatre. His other
London theatre credits include A Life in The Theatre and The Masterbuilder and in New York his
credits include Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Ride Down Mount Morgan and The
Tempest. Stewart performed his acclaimed, award winning one-man show, A Christmas Carol,
both in the West End and on Broadway. His many film and television credits include the X-Men
films, Moby Dick, King of Texas and King Lear, as well as his role as Jean-Luc Picard in the Star
Trek series. Stewart was made an OBE in 2001.
Director and writer Sean Mathias most recently directed Triptych at the Market Theatre,
Johannesburg and the Southwark Playhouse and Ring Round the Moon for the Playhouse
Theatre. Previously he has directed Ian McKellen in Uncle Vanya for the National Theatre,
Dance of Death in London, on Broadway and in Australia, and Aladdin for the Old Vic. In
London he has directed plays including Talking Heads for the Theatre Royal Haymarket, A Little
Night Music and Antony and Cleopatra for the National Theatre, Suddenly Last Summer for
Warehouse Productions at the Comedy Theatre, Shoreditch Madonna at the Soho Theatre as
well as Les Parents Terribles for the National and Design For Living at the Donmar, for both of
which he was awarded the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Best Director Award. Mathias
also directed Bent at the Adelphi, National and Garrick Theatres and later directed a film
version, winning the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. His other Broadway
credits include The Elephant Man, Marlene and Indiscretions for which he was nominated Best
Director at the Tony Awards. Also in the US his productions include Company as part of the
Kennedy Centre Sondheim Celebration and a production of The Cherry Orchard at the Mark
Taper Forum starring Annette Bening. As a writer his plays include Cowardice, Infidelities, A
Prayer for Wings, Poor Nanny and Swansea Boys.
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-3THE HAYMARKET THEATRE COMPANY DAY SEATS
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is to offer a number of top price tickets at £10 for each
performance of Waiting for Godot. These Day Seats will go on sale on the day of each
performance at 12 noon and need to be purchased from the Theatre Royal Haymarket Box
Office in person.
THE HAYMARKET THEATRE COMPANY
In a new initiative pioneered by the theatre’s producers, Arnold M. Crook and Nigel Everett, the
newly created Theatre Royal Haymarket Company presented their first season of work in
2007/08 under the direction of Jonathan Kent. The season comprised The Country Wife, The Sea
and Marguerite.
The historic Theatre Royal Haymarket, a Grade 1 listed building built in 1821 by John Nash, was
erected on The Haymarket a short distance from the original site which dates back to 1720.
More recently, in 1994, under the direction of Chairman Arnold M Crook and the Board of
Director’s, a £1.3 million investment saw a major overhaul and refurbishment of the theatre,
restoring the building to its original glory as well as the modernisation of facilities for both
theatregoers and theatre practitioners alike.
MASTERCLASS
Created by Haymarket Chairman Arnold M. Crook in1998 to give young people the chance to
work with, learn from and be inspired by leading artists from theatre, film and TV, the
Haymarket’s Masterclass series has now supported over 41, 000 17 – 30 year olds. The yearround programme focuses on all aspects of the theatre industry from acting and directing to
writing and producing. Events are given free of charge and bring together young people from
all walks of life who gain enormous benefit from the interactive, inclusive and inspiring events
and projects. Events take place at least one Friday a month throughout the year at the Theatre
Royal Haymarket. Details of all forthcoming events and projects can be found at
www.masterclass.org.uk
Masterclass, in partnership with the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, will run a unique
apprentice scheme offering young people paid opportunities to work alongside Sean Mathias
and his production team.
Led by Patrons Judi Dench, Peter Hall, David Hare and Maureen Lipman, past Masters have
included Alan Ayckbourn, Cicely Berry, Simon Callow, Dominic Cooke, Brian Cox, Charles
Dance, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Eyre, Michael Frayn, Lee Hall, Peter Hall, Ruthie Henshall,
Patricia Hodge, Thelma Holt, Jonathan Kent, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mike Leigh, Bill Nighy, Rufus
Norris, Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Miller, Helen Mirren, Bill Paterson, Maxine Peake, Paulette
Randall, Alan Rickman, Imelda Staunton, Tom Stoppard, Meera Syal, Deborah Warner and
Richard Wilson.
Masterclass is currently funded by Beechdean’s Dairies, Freixenet and generous individual
private donors as well as the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
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-4LISTINGS INFORMATION
WAITING FOR GODOT
Dates:
30 April – 27 June 2009
Press night:
Wednesday 6 May 2009 at 7pm
Performances:
Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm
Sundays at 3pm
nb there is no Wednesday matinee on 6 May
Ticket prices:
£47.50 - £10.00
Address:
Theatre Royal Haymarket
Haymarket
London
SW1Y 4HT
Box Office:
0845 481 1870
Website:
www.trh.co.uk
www.waitingforgodottheplay.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________
For further press information on The Theatre Royal Haymarket Season
Premier PR Theatre Department 020 7292 8330
Janine.shalom@premierpr.com, emma.holland@premierpr.com,
esther.beaumont@premierpr.com