Beginning of summer in England’s capital, lots of shows are still on, even more musicals to be seen and a few new events opening this month.

BRAND
The Royal Shakespeare Company presents Ibsen's play starring Ralph Fiennes at The Swan Theatre in Stratford and The Haymarket Theatre in London.
Play by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Michael Meyer, directed by Adrian Noble.Starring Ralph Fiennes in the title role in Ibsen's passionate portrait of the struggle between faith and human will.
This rarely performed portrait of faith and the search for enlightenment was written by Ibsen in 1866 and is being staged for the very first time at the RSC. Cast from a 'stand alone' company, it performs a six week run in the Swan Theatre before transferring to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Ralph Fiennes was most recently seen in London in Christopher Hampton's new play The Talking Cure which was staged at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre from December 2002 to January 2003. His other credits at the National include Fathers and Sons, Ting Tang Mine and Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1987. Since then he has forged an international stage and screen career; his theatre work includes the title roles in Hamlet, Ivanov, Richard II and Coriolanus (all for the Almeida at venues in London and abroad), Edmund in King Lear and Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost (RSC). His many films include Schindler's List, Quiz Show, The English Patient, Oscar and Lucinda, The End of the Affair, Spider and the forthcoming Uptown Girl and Red Dragon.
Other Ibsen plays in London are: Lady from the Sea starring Natasha Richardson at the Almeida Theatre from 8 May to 28 June 2003 and The Master Builder starring Patrick Stewart at the Albery Theatre from 12 June to 17 August 2003.

CORIOLANUS
In repertory at London's Old Vic: Presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company
Rarely performed, this will be the RSC's first production of arguably Shakespeare's most political play since 1995.
This production plays in repertory and is performed by a cross cast ensemble of 20 actors who are also performing in The Merry Wives.
Cast features Greg Hicks in the title role along with Kate Best, Claire Carrie, Simon Coates, Richard Copestake, Richard Cordery, Lindsay Fawcett, Alison Fiske, Michael Gardiner, Chuk Iwuji, Kieron Jecchinis, Adam Kay, David Killick, Tom Mannion, Ciaran McIntyre, Karl Morgan, James O'Donnell, Oscar Powell, Patrick Romer, Alexander Thompson, Lucy Tregear and Hannah Young.

FALLOUT
At the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs
Play by Roy Williams. Directed by Ian Rickson with designs by Ultz, sound by Ian Dickinson and music by Stephen Warbeck.
A boy is found dead. D.C. Joe Stephens must return to his old neighbourhood to investigate. Shanice is avoiding his questions about her boyfriend, Emile, and his mates. Ronnie saw something, but promised Shanice she'd say nothing. But when a reward is offered, keeping quiet becomes a major test of their street loyalty.
Fallout is Roy Williams third play for the Royal Court. His previous play Clubland won the 2001 Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright, and Lift Off (RCT/NT Studio) was joint winner of the George Devine Award 2000. His other work includes Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (NT), The Gift (Birmingham Rep), Local Boy (Hampstead), Night and Day (Theatre Venture), The No-boys Cricket Club (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Josie's Boys (Red Ladder) and Souls (Theatre Centre). He was the first recipient of the Alfred Fagan Award and winner of both the John Whiting Award 1997 and the EMMA Award 1999 for Starstruck (Tricycle). Cast includes: Lorraine Brunning, Ot Fagbenle, Lennie James, Petra Letang, Marcel McCalla, Michael Obiora, Ony Uhiara and Clive Wedderburn

TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS
At the Olivier Theatre:
Play by Ödön von Horváth, in a new version by David Harrower. Directed by Richard Jones with designs by Nicky Gillibrand and lighting by Mark Henderson.
Set against the sentimental backdrop of the Vienna Woods and to the distant tune of a Strauss Waltz, a community steeped in bigotry concerns itself with love affairs, petty squabbles, jealousies and personal tragedy Meanwhile, society at large, haunted by inflation, goes reeling towards Fascism.
This energetic, hugely entertaining epic premiered in Berlin in 1931 as Nazi forces were gaining in strength.
Cast includes Frances Barber and Karl Johnson. Frances Barber returns to the NT, where she last appeared in The Night of the Iguana and as 'Eliza Doolittle' in Pygamalion; her many theatre credits also include Closer to Heaven (Arts Theatre), Closer (NT production in the West End), Uncle Vanya (Chichester & West End) and Insignificance (Donmar Warehouse). Television includes two series of Real Women and Manchild; films include Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, A Zed and Two Noughts, Shiner and the forthcoming 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman.

At the BARBICAN:
“The Elephant Vanishes” (working title)
Complicite
This event is part of BITE:03
Directed by Simon McBurney
From the collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami 
The Elephant Vanishes (English version) 
Co-produced by Complicite, Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo and BITE:03, Barbican A national celebrity, Murakami’s short stories reveal Japan as experienced from the inside; dislocating realities to uncover the surreal in the everyday and the extraordinary in the ordinary.
In Japanese with English surtitles
1 Jul Post show talk with the company
Venue Title: Barbican Theatre
Venue Location: Level -1
26 June - 6 July, 7.45pm
plus
28 June, 2.30pm matinee
“Cuckoos”
TCH Productions Ltd
This event is part of BITE:03
Written by Giuseppe Manfridi
English version Colin Teevan
Directed by Peter Hall and Joe Hill-Gibbins
Co-produced by BITE:03, Barbican Original London producers: The Gate
Theatre and The National Theatre Studio 
There’s a skeleton in the cupboard,
a doctor in the house and coitus ad infinitum on the living room floor in this revival. A salacious black comedy, Cuckoos is outrageous in its blend of indecency and excess.
Venue Title: The Pit
Venue Location: Level -2
19 June - 12 July, 7.45pm
plus
21 and 28 June, 5 and 12 July, 2.30pm matinees
“Third World Bunfight, iMumboJumbo
The Days of Miracle and Wonder”
 This event is part of BITE:03
 Written and directed by Brett Bailey 
Co-produced by BITE:03, Barbican Bailey returns to BITE with a piece that dramatises the true 1996 quest of Chief Nicholas Tilana Goaleka (diviner, priest, liquor salesman, guru) to Britain to retrieve the skull of his ancestor. Sangomas (priestesses) and gospel choristers join the Bunfight team in their tradition of colourful, confrontational productions, providing a strong new voice in South African theatre. 
Venue Title: Barbican Theatre
Venue Location: Level   
RSC to host a five-day theatre festival in June 
 MUSIC
Eliades Ochoa + support 
This event is part of World & Roots series
 Eliades Ochoa has been one of the seminal figures of Cuban son for the last three decades. Arguably the finest guitar player of his generation it was also he who first introduced Compay Segundo’s song Chan Chan to an international audience in the early nineties. Subsequently he performed the song on the Buena Vista Social Club film and record. Now continuing to front the masterful Cuarteto Patria he returns to the Barbican after a four year absence and with a new album Estoy Como Nunca (Virgin).
Support act: Rodrigo Y Gabriela – Mexican-born Dublin-based virtuoso guitar duo 
 Barbican Hall
Monday 30 June, 7.30 - 10.30pm
CINEMA
Gerry Anderson Season
Season to celebrate the publication of The Complete Gerry Anderson by Chris Bentley featuring a selection of other rare Gerry Anderson films and episodes from classic series.
CALIFORNIA SOUND| CALIFORNIA IMAGE
From Hollywood to San Francisco: The West Coast and the Avant-Garde 
To complement The Poetics Project, 1977-1997 Mike Kelly/Tony Oursler in the Barbican Art Gallery, the Barcican Screen explores the origins of West Coast artists’ film-making in California.  A trip through 70 years of artists’ filmmaking in, on and around the American West Coast, featuring expressionist experiments, pioneering psychodrama, freewheeling Beat Culture and the psychedelic explosion. The post-war avant-garde began in Los Angeles with the revolutionary trance films of Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren and Gregory Markopoulos, but San Francisco soon established itself as a major centre in the 1960s when Bruce Baillie, Chick Strand and Bruce Conner founded Canyon Cinema, organising screenings and distribution. This unique season includes rare works by these filmmakers, and many others including Jordan Belson, Ernie Gehr, George Kuchar and Gunvor Nelson, plus Andy Warhol’s scenario based on the real-life arrest for shoplifting of Ecstasy starlet Hedy Lamarr.
13/06/2003 West Coast Beat 
14/06/2003 Hollywood Be Thy Name 
15/06/2003 Film Time/Film Motion 
17/06/2003 In Between Moments
18/06/2003 Los Angeles in the Forties
19/06/2003 California Consciousness
19/06/2003 California Consciousness  
05/06/2003 Thunderbirds Are Go - An evening with Gerry Anderson
07/06/2003 Thunderbirds: Trapped in the Sky plus Stingray: The Master Plan 
07/06/2003 Supercar - Calling Charlie Queen (*) plus The Secret Service - More Haste, Less Speed (*) plus Space
08/06/2003 Fireball XL5 - Space City Special (*) plus The Protectors - Petard (*) plus The Day After Tomorrow -  

Theatre News:
RSC Theatrefair 2003 - Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th June - Swan Gardens - Stratford-upon-Avon.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's THEATREFAIR '03 is a five-day festival of over 25 events, which will give the public the opportunity to find out what makes the RSC one of the most well-known theatre companies in the world.
Located under canvas in the Swan Theatre gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon, the sessions will introduce the work of various RSC's departments. Many events are totally hands-on, and will give participants the chance to try out a range of theatrical techniques, from packing a punch in a stage combat workshop, to learning how to design the costumes and set for an RSC show.
There are events for people of all ages, including theatre games and storytelling workshops for children, make-up and wig demonstrations, and talks and readings from actors and directors involved in the current season. 
RSC experts will help you get your body and voice in shape for the stage. RSC Movement director and Choreographer, Struan Leslie, will be leading sessions about how to use your body to develop a character. The RSC Voice team will make sure you're not speechless, when they explore the techniques used by actors as part of their vocal training. 
Theatrefair comes hot on the heels of the enormously successful recent Open Day, which saw over 10,000 people pouring through the RSC's doors. 
Tickets are available in advance, either in person from the RSC Box Office in the RST foyer, or by telephone on 01789 403439. There will also be a Box Office open in the foyer of the Swan Theatre each day of the Theatrefair from 10.30am. Each session lasts an hour. Some are free, whilst other cost £2 or £3.A brochure with full details can also be requested on 01789 403439.
Theatrefair is supported by Birmingham International Airport. 
 

For more commentary and articles by Andrea Kapsaski, check the Archives.

© 2003 Andrea Kapsaski

© 2003 Aviar-DKA Ltd. All rights reserved (including authors’ and individual copyrights as indicated). No
part of this material may be reproduced, translated, transmitted, framed or stored in a retrieval system for
public or private use without the written permission of the publisher and the individual copyright holder.
For permissions, contact publishers@scene4.com

.

All articles are archived on this site.
To access the Archives