-- PRESS RELEASE -
MICHAEL GRANDAGE’S PRODUCTION OF KING LEAR
TOURS TO MILTON KEYNES
An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child's love rejected. As Lear's world descends into
chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question. Following its huge success at the
Donmar Warehouse, Michael Grandage’s King Lear starring legendary Shakespearean
actor Derek Jacobi embarks on an eight week national tour engaging with more regional
venues than ever before and visits Milton Keynes Theatre for one week only from Tuesday 15
March to Saturday 19 March 2011.
Artistic Director Michael Grandage says, "This initiative is born of a desire to share our work with
as many people as possible. I believe Derek Jacobi's King Lear will be an event that deserves
to be seen beyond the Donmar Warehouse and I’m delighted we are expanding our UK touring
programme, as well as going out live to over 300 cinemas worldwide. It means a Donmar
production featuring one of our finest Shakespearean actors will be available to more people
than we could ever hold in our Covent Garden home.”
Derek Jacobi and Michael Grandage renew their collaboration, having previously worked
together on The Tempest, Don Carlos and Twelfth Night. Grandage’s creative team –
Christopher Oram, Neil Austin and Adam Cork are the Tony Award-winning team behind the
company’s recent Broadway smash hit Red.
Pippa Bennett-Warner makes her Donmar debut as Cordelia. Graduating from RADA this
summer, her theatre credits include Crocodile (Riverside Studios and Sky Arts), Ruined
(Almeida Theatre), Victory (Theatre Royal Bath), Caroline or Change (National Theatre) and
The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre).
Ron Cook returns to the Donmar to play the Fool. He previously appeared in Hamlet (Donmar
West End and Broadway), Twelfth Night (Donmar West End), Helpless, Juno and the Paycock
and Glengarry Glen Ross. His many other theatre credits include The Seafarer, Howard Katz
(National Theatre), Singer (Tricycle Theatre), Insignificance (Chichester Festival Theatre), Art
(Wyndham’s) and extensive work for the RSC. For television, his work includes Little Dorrit,
PA’s, The Diary of Anne Frank, Fantabulosa, Funland, He Knew He Was Right, The Other
Boleyn Girl and The Lost Prince; and for film, Hot Fuzz, Confetti, Charlotte Gray, Chocolat,
Quills, Topsy Turvy, Secrets and Lies, and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.
Michael Hadley returns to the Donmar, where he appeared in Piaf (also Vaudeville Theatre),
Othello and The Vortex, to play the Earl of Kent. His other theatre credits include The Tempest
(Oxford Stage Company), Heroes (Watermill Theatre), Coriolanus and The Canterbury Tales
(RSC), The Seagull (Mercury Theatre Colchester), and Don Carlos (Sheffield Crucible and West
End). His television credits include Churchill at War, Strange, Paradise Heights and Rough
Justice; and for film, The Boat That Rocked, Unrelated, Three Blind Mice and An Unsuitable Job
for a Woman.
Donmar Artistic Director Michael Grandage directs. Previous work for the Donmar includes
Red (also Broadway – Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play), The Chalk
Garden (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director), Othello (Evening
Standard Award for Best Director), John Gabriel Borkman, Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also
West End and Broadway), The Cut, The Wild Duck (Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director),
Guys and Dolls (Donmar in the West End – Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production),
Grand Hotel (Evening Standard Award for Best Director, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical
Production), Henry IV, After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award for Best Director) and The
Vortex. As part of the Donmar in the West End season Grandage directed Ivanov - Evening
Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Director, Twelfth Night, Madame de Sade and
Hamlet (also Kronborg Castle and Broadway). Other West End work includes Evita. He was the
Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres 1999 – 2005, where his many productions included Don
Carlos (Evening Standard Award for Best Director).
Designed by Christopher Oram, with lighting by Neil Austin and the composer and sound
designer is Adam Cork.
One of the greatest works in western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human
existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil. Tickets are on sale now at
Milton Keynes Theatre Box Office, call 0844 871 7652 (bkg fee) or visit
www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes (bkg fee).
-ENDS-
LISTINGS
Performances:
Tue 15 - Sat 19 Mar 2011
Tue - Sat eves 7.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm
Tickets:
£10 - £32.50
Box Office:
0844 871 7652 (bkg fee)
Groups Hotline:
01908 547609
Access Booking:
0871 297 5477 (bkg fee)
Online Booking:
www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes (bkg fee)
EDITORS NOTES:
As the Donmar expands its digital and broadcast output to create a platform to enable the public
greater access to the company’s work, it will screen King Lear on 3rd February 2011 as part of
National Theatre Live. Responding to the constantly evolving and exciting changes within the
theatre community, the Donmar is proud to partner with the National Theatre and give a
potentially vast international audience an opportunity to engage with its work.
King Lear will broadcast worldwide to over 22 countries on 3 February 2011. It will be part of
National Theatre Live’s second season which launches this Autumn. National Theatre Live is
the National Theatre’s initiative to broadcast live performances to cinemas worldwide. The first
season, which began in June 2009, was seen by 150,000 people on 320 screens in 22
countries.
The Donmar continues its education work with the schools matinee programme and a project
which rolls out nationwide to complement the company’s touring work.
Further cast include:
Paul Jesson plays the Earl of Gloucester. He previously appeared in Mary Stuart (Donmar),
Sam Mendes’ production of Twelfth Night (also BAM) for the Donmar. His other recent theatre
credits include Cock, The Seagull (Royal Court), The Bridge Project (Old Vic, BAM and
worldwide tour), Awake and Sing (Almeida Theatre), Troilus and Cressida (RSC) and The
Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe). His television work includes The Amazing Mrs Pritchard,
Slave Trader, Rome, Danielle Cable Eyewitness and The Glass; and for film, Coriolanus, Vera
Drake and All or Nothing.
Gina McKee plays Goneril. She previously appeared at the Donmar in Ivanov (Donmar West
End) and Old Times. Her other stage work includes The Lover & The Collection (Comedy
Theatre), The Exonerated (Riverside Studios) and Aristocrats (National Theatre). For television
her work includes The Silence, The Street, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Street, Aftermath, The
Lost Prince, The Forsyte Saga, The Passion and Our Friends in the North (BAFTA Award for
Best Actress & Broadcasting Press Guild Award); and for film, Dive, In the Loop, And When Did
You Last See Your Father?, Atonement, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,
Wonderland, Notting Hill and The Croupier.
Justine Mitchell plays Regan. Her theatre work includes The White Guard, The Hour We Knew
Nothing of Each Other, Philistines, Coram Boy (National Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Young Vic),
Nocturnal, Hedda Gabler (The Gate), The Stone (Royal Court), Three Sisters (Abbey Theatre,
Dublin) and Twelfth Night (RSC). For television, her credits include Your Bad Self, Sleep With
Me and Afterlife; and for film, I Want Candy, A Cock and Bull Story, Imagine Me and You, Inside
I’m Dancing and The Honeymooners.
If you have any questions or require any further information please contact:
Becky Martin
Press & Communications Officer
Milton Keynes Theatre
beckymartin@theambassadors.com
01908 547603
www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes