Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman Productions named 'Producer of the Year' in The Stage Awards 2019 Friday, 25 January 2019 Sonia Friedman Productions have previously won Prodcuer of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Speaking at The Stage Awards, Sonia Friedman said: “I don’t really know who to thank, as there are so many people. We have produced 14 or 15 shows this year – the point being we do a lot, and work with a lot. I feel so blessed to be able to work with the people I work with, and even more blessed to know I have a lot more to come and to give.” She added: “We are going through tough times, this industry. I hope we can all hold together, particularly in the West End. It feels as though we heading into unknown territory with Brexit. But I believe great art will always thrive and audiences will always follow it.” Read the full article on The Stage here . Up Up

Back to News & Press Shifters, Bush Theatre's smash hit play by Benedict Lombe and directed by Lynette Linton, transfers to the West End this summer Thursday, 20 June 2024 Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Chuchu Nwagu Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions today announce that the Bush Theatre’s production of Shifters , Benedict Lombe’s intoxicating and fierce new romance will transfer to the West End this summer following a sell- out run at the Bush Theatre earlier this year. Heather Agyepong (School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play, Lyric Hammersmith) and Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell, BBC’s Doctor Who ), whose electrifying performances received critical acclaim in the original production, will reprise their roles as young lovers Des and Dre for a strictly limited season of nine weeks at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London directed by BAFTA-nominated and Evening Standard Theatre Award-winner Lynette Linton (Blues for An Alabama Sky , National Theatre; Clyde’s Donmar; August in England , Bush Theatre). Press Night on Wednesday 21 August 2024. Previews are from Monday 12 August and tickets from £20 go on general sale at 9am on Thursday 20 June 2024, with 50% of tickets for the first four weeks available at £40 or under. Audiences will have the opportunity to experience the production from the intimacy of the stage with on-stage seating for every performance. This epic and universal love story is about the enduring power of memory and young love. Meet Dre and Des, they are young, gifted, Black. He stayed. She left. Years later they come crashing back into each other’s lives, carrying new secrets and old scars. Caught in the space between memory and reality, they struggle to navigate the shifting borders that threaten to rewrite their past and reshape their future. Shifters’ transfer to the Duke of York’s Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London marks a ground- breaking moment for Benedict Lombe who follows in the footsteps of Natasha Gordon (Nine Night) and Yasmin Joseph (J’Ouvert ) as the third Black British female playwright to have her play staged in the history of the West End. Benedict Lombe (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winner for Lava , 2022, Bush Theatre) comments: "Shifters’ transfer is a big moment. Our dreamy, tender, unrepentantly romantic show about two lost souls finding a connection that can't be forgotten was a hit with Bush audiences. Now we get to recreate our magic on a bigger stage! I hope what Shifters does – as well as invite new audiences to fall in love with Des and Dre – is accelerate the pace for the next wave of Black British female playwrights in the West End.” Director and Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre Lynette Linton said: ”We're incredibly proud that Shifters is moving from the Bush to the West End - our second transfer this year. At the Bush we’re all about supporting writers to build sustainable careers, and we’ve loved working with Benedict over three commissions. Benedict writes dialogue and romance in a way that no one else can, and it is my privilege to get to direct her words and reunite with Heather and Tosin. We are so excited to tell this story of Black love on such a big platform - I can't wait for audiences to discover the beauty in this tender, funny and relatable show that is the perfect summer romance.” Heather Agyepong comments: “Shows written by Black British women or plays centering two dark skin leads often don’t reach West End stages so it really feels like we’re part of a legacy. Our stories in all their nuance and beauty have always mattered but it’s great to be on a bigger platform to allow them to shine a little brighter.” Tosin Cole adds: “It’s an honour to have Shifters transfer to the West End. I’m really excited for a second chance to tell this amazing story and to work with this group of talented people again.” Set and Costume Design by Alex Berry , Lighting Design by Neil Austin , Sound Design by Tony Gayle , Composition by Xana , Movement and Intimacy Direction by Shelley Maxwell , Production Dramaturg is Deirdre O’Halloran , Voice Coach is Joel Trill and Casting by Heather Basten CDG . Shifters was originally commissioned by Bush Theatre, supported by Jerwood Foundation. For more information and to book, click here. Up Up

Back to News & Press Cast Announced for George Orwell's 1984 Sunday, 2 April 2017 Producers Sonia Friedman and Scott Rudin announced today that Tony® Award nominee Tom Sturridge , Olivia Wilde in her Broadway debut, and Tony® Award winner Reed Birney will lead the cast of the Broadway Premiere of the new stage adaptation of George Orwell ’s dystopian novel 1984 . The trio, who will portray the novel’s classic characters Winston Smith, Julia and O’Brien, respectively, will be joined by Wayne Duvall (Parsons), Carl Hendrick Louis (Martin), Nick Mills (Syme), Michael Potts (Charrington), and Cara Seymour (Mrs. Parsons). Adapted and directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan , 1984 arrives in New York on the heels of four wildly successful U.K. runs. The strictly limited engagement begins performances on May 18, 2017, and will open on June 22, 2017 at Broadway’s new Hudson Theatre (139-141 West 44th Street). One of the most widely referenced and best known fiction titles of all time, 1984 was first published in 1949. Interest in the title has spiked in recent weeks, as the New York Times reported on January 24, 2017 in an article titled “George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Is Suddenly a Best-Seller,” stating, “George Orwell’s classic book ‘1984,’ about a dystopian future where critical thought is suppressed under a totalitarian regime, has seen a surge in sales this month, rising to the top of multiple best-seller lists in the United States and leading its publisher to have tens of thousands of new copies printed.” Having recently spiked again to the #1 spot on Amazon’s bestseller list almost seven decades after its first printing, 1984 has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 65 languages around the globe. Sturridge began his career in Vanity Fair alongside Reese Witherspoon and Being Julia with Annette Bening and Michael Gambon. Tom's film credits also include Far from the Madding Crowd , Junkhearts , On The Road , Like Minds , Effie Gray , The Boat That Rocked , and currently in Terrence Malick’s Song to Song . He recently played Henry VI alongside Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC's “Hollow Crown ” series. Tom made his theatre debut in Simon Stephens’ Punk Rock at the Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and subsequently received the Critics' Circle Best Newcomer Award, along with Best Newcomer at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards. He was also nominated for the Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards and London Newcomer of the Year at the WhatsOnStage Awards. He has since played leading roles at London's Royal Court Theatre, in Simon Stephens' Wastwater and in Polly Stenham's No Quarter . His performance in Orphans on Broadway garnered him a Tony® Award nomination for Best Actor and wins at the Outer Critic's Circle and Theatre World Awards. Most recently, Tom appeared as Bob in American Buffalo at Wyndham’s Theatre for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. Wilde recently wrapped production on two films: A Vigilante ; and Life Itself , directed by Dan Fogelman and starring opposite Oscar Isaac. Last year, Wilde starred in HBO’s rock ‘n’ roll drama “Vinyl ” from creators Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, and Terence Winter. Along with her work in front of the camera, she recently directed the video for “Dark Necessities ”, a five-minute music short for the well-known funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Additionally, she directed the music video “No Love Like Yours,” the first single off of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ sophomore album. Wilde produced and starred in the drama Meadowland , earning rave reviews for her emotionally charged performance. Her past film credits include the Academy Award winning drama Her , the Golden Globe Award nominated Rush , and the critically-acclaimed indie comedy Drinking Buddies , which she also executive produced. Wilde has served as executive producer on several documentary films. Her most recent documentary short, Body Team 12 , premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and won the award for Best Documentary Short, and was nominated for the Academy Award. She previously starred on FOX’s hit medical drama “House .” Birney won 2016 Tony® and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in Stephen Karam’s The Humans . He has also appeared on Broadway in Gemini , Picnic , and Casa Valentina (Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award). Off-Broadway, he appeared in Man From Nebraska , Bug (Obie Award), Blasted (Drama Desk nomination), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie, Drama Desk), Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nomination), Tigers Be Still , The Dream of the Burning Boy (Outer Critics Award nomination), and I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard (Drama Desk nomination). Upcoming: HBO’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ” starring Oprah Winfrey. For television, he has appeared on “House of Cards ,” “The Blacklist ,” and “Girls .” He is the recipient of a 2006 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, a 2011 Special Drama Desk Award honoring his career and the Richard Seff Award from Actors’ Equity. Duvall was last seen by New York theater audiences playing Pap Finn in the City Center’s Encores! production of Big River and Eddie in MCC’s The Legend of Georgia McBride . Films include O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? ; Prisoners ; Lincoln ; Leatherheads ; and Apollo 13 , to name a few. His latest film, American Animals , will be released later this year. On television, he spent 4 years playing Sgt. Phil Brander on the CBS drama “The District ” and has recurred or guest starred on numerous shows such as “Sneaky Pete ,” “Fargo ,” “Madam Secretary ,” “BrainDead ,” “The Leftovers ,” “Hell on Wheels ,” and “Gotham .” Louis has appeared on Broadway in The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout Theatre Company). Off-Broadway: The Emperor Jones (Irish Repertory Theatre); Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout Theatre Company); The Tempest and Marat/Sade (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The King's Whore (Walkerspace Theater); In Fields Where They Lay (Hudson Guild Theatre). Regionally, he has appeared in Sunset Baby (Kitchen Theatre Company). Films include Fan Girl and Unknown Soldier . He received his MFA from NYU and BA from Fordham University. Mills was most recently seen on Broadway in The Humans by Stephen Karam. Off-Broadway: Macbeth (The Public Theater), The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin (Roundabout Theatre Company), R&J (Three Day Hangover), The Steadfast (Slant Theatre Project). On television, he has been seen on “Mr. Robot ,” “Law and Order: SVU ,” “Person of Interest ,” and “Show Me a Hero .” Regional: The Legend of Georgia McBride , Appoggiatura (Denver Center), Lombardi (Cleveland Playhouse), Back Back Back (The Old Globe). MFA: NYU. Potts most recently received critical praise for his role as Turnbo in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of August Wilson’s Jitney , under Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s direction. He is widely recognized for his role as the well-mannered, yet feared assassin Brother Mouzone on HBO’s critically acclaimed series “The Wire ” and as Detective Maynard Gilbough in the Emmy® Award winning HBO drama “True Detective .” On the stage, he is known for originating the roles of Mafala Hatimbi in the Tony® Award winning musical The Book of Mormon and Brooks, Sr. in the Tony® Award winning Grey Gardens . Seymour ’s film credits include: Adaptation ; American Psycho ; An Education ; Gangs of New York ; Hotel Rwanda ; and A Woman, a Part . She played Sister Harriet in Steven Soderbergh's award winning television series “The Knick .” Theatre credits include the Obie Award winning Ecstasy and Goose Pimples , both by Mike Leigh at The New Group; plus Freedom of the City and Gibraltar at The Irish Repertory Theatre and The Village Bike at MCC. Icke won the 2016 Olivier Award as well as the Critics’ Circle and London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Director for his production of Oresteia at London’s Almeida Theatre, where he currently serves as Associate Director. Other works at Almeida include adapting and directing Uncle Vanya and Mary Stuart ; and as director: Mr. Burns , The Fever , The Iliad , and The Odyssey . His current production, Hamlet , stars Andrew Scott and will transfer to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre this summer. From 2010-13, he was the Associate Director of Headlong. Macmillan is an award-winning writer and director. Plays include: People, Places and Things (National Theatre; St. Ann's Warehouse); Every Brilliant Thing (Paines Plough; Pentabus; Barrow Street Theatre; HBO); City of Glass (HOME Manchester); 2071, co-written with Chris Rapley (Royal Court Theatre); The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival; Barbican Centre); Wunschloses Unglück (Burgtheater Vienna); Reise Durch die Nacht (Schauspielhaus Köln; Festival d’Avignon; Teatertreffen); Lungs (Paines Plough; Studio Theatre). He has twice been nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play, and was the inaugural winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Broadway’s 1984 features a creative team that includes Chloe Lamford (Scenic & Costume Design), Natasha Chivers (Lighting Design), Tom Gibbons (Sound Design), and Tim Reid (Video Design). Tickets and info are available at http://www.revisedtruth.com/ . This production of 1984 was originally produced in the U.K. by Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse, and the Almeida Theatre, London; as well as on the West End at Playhouse Theatre London, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Eleanor Lloyd Productions. Up Up

Back to News & Press Ghosts screening - 26 June 2014 - One night only Monday, 23 June 2014 The WEST END THEATRE SERIES is delighted to announce its third title; Richard Eyre’s five-star, multi award-winning revival production of Ibsen’s Ghosts. The Almeida Theatre production will be screened in over 200 cinemas across the UK and Ireland for one night only, Thursday 26 June ‘14 (www.westendtheatreseries.com ) This acclaimed show, starring Lesley Manville, sold out at the Almeida before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios where it played to packed houses, extending its original run due to popular demand. Ghosts is currently nominated for five Olivier Awards; Best Actress, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Lighting Design, Best Director and Best Revival. Reinforcing the calibre of the entire WEST END THEATRE SERIES, previous productions in the series Merrily We Roll Along and Private Lives have both been recognised with a combined eleven Olivier Award nominations. At the 2013 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, Richard Eyre was named Best Director for Ghosts. Lesley Manville won the 2013 Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance as Helene Alving. The universally praised cast of Ghosts also includes Adam Kotz, Jack Lowden, Brian McCardie and Charlene McKenna. Lowden and McKenna were recently nominated for the Ian Charleston Award for their performances in Ghosts. The award recognises outstanding performances by actors under 30 in classic roles. Lowden is now also nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The 2014 Olivier Awards will be presented this Sunday (14 April) at the Royal Opera House. The WEST END THEATRE SERIES is captured live in High Definition by Digital Theatre and distributed by CinemaLive. Helene Alving has spent her life suspended in an emotional void after the death of her cruel but outwardly charming husband. She is determined to escape the ghosts of her past by telling her son, Oswald, the truth about his father. But on his return from his life as a painter in France, Oswald reveals how he has already inherited the legacy of his father’s dissolute life. Up Up

Back to News & Press West End girls: Enter, stage left: The new stars of British theatre... and every one a woman Friday, 27 September 2013 It’s a national phenomenon, stretching from Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow to London’s West End and spanning both small fringe venues and mainstream theatres. No other British producer has taken as many shows across the Atlantic as Sonia Friedman. She can’t remember how many Tony awards she has won. To read the full article click here . Up Up

Back to Productions UNCLE VANYA FILM Following a theatrical cinema release, BBC Arts commissions Uncle Vanya on Film from Sonia Friedman Productions and Angelica Films for BBC 4. ★★★★★ A masterpiece of love, sadness and a very timely air of ennui... Quite a marvel, quite a must-see. The Telegraph This dramatic and darkly humorous adaptation - which sees a conflicted family forced to confront their despair, and each other, while living together on their isolated estate - has even greater resonance following recent world events. ★★★★★ An extraordinary, transfiguring leap from stage to screen… This is not, like the NTLive broadcasts, an attempt to transmit a theatrical event. It is a new thing. The film crackles with fresh intensity – and gains new shadows from the timing of its release… . It is often said that an elderly play is nevertheless a play for today. This one truly is. The Observer BBC Arts has commissioned a breathtaking film of Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson’ s stunning new adaptation of the Anton Chekhov masterpiece, Uncle Vanya from Sonia Friedman Productions and Angelica Films. A specially commissioned version of the original stage production, directed by Olivier Award-nominated Ian Rickson , produced during lockdown, and filmed without an audience, the two-hour film features a superlative cast including Toby Jones , Richard Armitage , Rosalind Eleazar , Aimee Lou Wood , Anna Calder-Marshall , Dearbhla Molloy , Peter Wight and Roger Allam , and is directed for screen by Ross MacGibbon . Uncle Vanya , produced by Sonia Friedman Productions , opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in January 2020 to five-star reviews, heralded by critics as ‘the perfect Chekhov’ (The Guardian ). Despite playing to sold-out audiences from January, and currently nominated for four Olivier Awards, Uncle Vanya ’s success was cut short in March 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 and the abrupt closure of theatres around the world. As the first British theatre production closed by the pandemic to be filmed in situ, the production team adhered to strict protocols to ensure the safety of both cast and crew. This involved the cast being in isolation and on a COVID-19 testing schedule to allow them to perform together, and the crew have worked in protective masks and PPE while remaining socially distanced throughout the entire process. ★★★★★ It is excellent. A great work of art. It will touch your heart and soul. BBC News CAST AMY LOU WOOD – Sonya TOBY JONES – Vanya ROASALIND ELEAZAR – Yelena RICHARD ARMITAGE – Astrov ROGER ALLAM – Serebrayakov ANNA CALDER-MARSHALL – Nana DEARBHLA MOLLOY – Mariya PETER WIGHT – Telegrin CREATIVES ANTON CHEKHOV – Original Playwright CONOR MCPHERSON – Adaptation ROSS MACGIBBON & IAN RICSON – Directors

Back to News & Press Variety: New York Women’s Impact Report 2025 Wednesday, 18 June 2025 Original article by Paula Hendrickson , Carole Horst , Todd Longwell , Brooke Mazurek , Rosemary Rossi . To view full article click here . Sonia Friedman: Theater Producer “It’s been a landmark season on Broadway with a remarkable range of writing and acting talent,” says Friedman. She should know, as her latest, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” just opened, and Sonia Friedman Prods. received 21 Tony Award nominations, taking home five. “The Dead Outlaw” producer loves new voices, but the classics also call to her. When reviving a play like “Oedipus,” she looks to “how the play speaks to now.” Fight the cuts: “We have to hope these cuts aren’t permanent, and we have to fight like hell to make sure they’re not. That means advocacy, yes, but also action.” Up Up

Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman on taking Mean Girls to the stage: ‘It’s women who do things’ Wednesday, 26 June 2024 Interview with The Times. Article by Dominic Maxwell. Original article here. Her latest West End show hasn’t even opened yet but Sonia Friedman is already back in the rehearsal room for the one that comes next. Mind you, this is par for the course for this wildly successful British producer with homes in east London and Manhattan. As her eldest sister, Maria, once said of her: “She can hold ten worlds in her head.” We meet at a theatre in west London, where that day’s world has been Fangirls , a smash-hit musical in its native Australia. She is not long back from Stratford-upon-Avon, where her playwright boyfriend, Joe Murphy, 25 years her junior, has just opened a show for the RSC, Kyoto . Just before that she was in New York, picking up nine Tony awards. Four were for her sister’s revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll A long , including one for its star Daniel Radcliffe. Five were for Stereophonic , an unstarry but talk-of-the-town three-hour play about a Fleetwood Mac-like band recording their new album. She reveals that there are plans for it to come to London. She’s thrilled, but then she has been here before. Her shows have won 48 Tonys and 63 Oliviers. Here in London, where she started out working for the National Theatre in the late 1980s, she has Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , Stranger Things: The First Shadow , The Book of Mormon and, opening this week, Tina Fey’s musical version of her 2004 film Mean Girls . Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California will head to Broadway in September. At the same time Friedman has Lesley Manville and Mark Strong coming to the West End in Oedipus , and Mark Rylance and Succession’s J Smith-Cameron in Juno and the Paycock . Mean Girls , which opened on Broadway in 2018, would have opened in London in 2021 had the pandemic not intervened. The break has improved the show, Friedman, 59, says. “They’ve done quite a lot of work to it, it’s almost half an hour shorter, and audiences are really connecting with it.” Fangirls is also heavily revised from the Australian version: new set, some new songs. Both that show and Mean Girls will have a largely female appeal but then ticket-buying is led by women anyway — even, she says, for her more “male” shows such as The Book of Mormon or Stereophonic . She chuckles. “I think it’s women who get on and do things.” She should know. She never takes holidays, has never had a nap. She won’t go to bed until she at least knows that the curtains have gone up safely on her New York shows. I can’t speak for what she is like thrashing out a deal with a theatre owner or handling her staff of 39, but in interview Friedman always manages to be loquaciously straight-talking. Mean Girls and Fangirls tap into young women’s need to find themselves. She knows the feeling. She grew up the youngest of four, who more or less fended for themselves after their violinist father left the family. The siblings were forever making up stories, singing and dancing and playing music. Then, after her siblings left home when she was ten, she had problems at school before a local authority grant sent her to a liberal boarding school. “I had that need to escape, to feel part of a tribe. You’re at an age where you’ve got your own fantasies, you want to grow up, you want to feel valid, and Yve Blake, who wrote Fangirls , is very clear that we should not laugh at girls who have these teenage crushes. We don’t laugh at the boys who have to go to Arsenal every week come what may. It’s the same thing.” Friedman only produces work that she wants to see herself. “But as I get older, it gets harder. I’m trying to stay young and fearless in the decisions I make, because some of the stories I’m interested in aren’t necessarily going to be mainstream. And that’s about my taste and my age.” So she was delighted that Stereophonic took off so stratospherically. “I took a big punt on it, so it’s reassuring when the gut instinct is still there. “If I overthink things, it makes me go, ‘I don’t know how to produce any more.’ There are so many minefields producing now, so many areas that are complicated culturally, I don’t want to go into details, but how do I stay true to who I am as the world changes around me?” She had been due to produce the Father Ted musical until its co-writer, Graham Linehan, became a divisive figure over his abrasive campaigning for women’s rights. She says she won’t stand in the way of it being produced elsewhere. She sees Merrily We Roll Along as another punt. Nonetheless, while its debut in 1981 was a flop, Maria’s revival (first seen in London in 2012) has picked up Harry Potter on its way back to Broadway. How significant was Radcliffe to its success? “Very significant, but he had to be really good for it to be as special as it is. But also … it’s beyond theatre. Every now and then I produce something like that. Jerusalem was beyond theatre.” Butterworth’s play, starring Rylance as a former motorcycle daredevil living in the woods, was “beyond theatre” simply because it was so great. “Seeing it was like a religious experience.” Merrily is more tangled: a show that travels backwards through its characters’ lives, it has made her and Maria look back at their lives; how Maria helped Sonia in their difficult childhoods; how Sonia helped Maria when she got breast cancer. “So as we stand at the back of the theatre now, holding hands … You look at a show like that and you can’t not track your own life through it.” Lest this all make Friedman sound like a full-time dreamer, no, she’s as interested in business as she is in show. “I don’t think you can be a successful producer without understanding the numbers, but the money side of it should never lead the decisions you take. “I’ve never done it for the money. If I want to do a piece of work, though, I have to understand the basics. What theatre should it be in? If you put it in the wrong space because money is dictating things, it can go wrong. So I find numbers creative. I do find all of that quite exciting.” Would that explain, then, why the Netflix spin-off sci-fi spectacular Stranger Things: The First Shadow is playing in the relatively small (970-seat) Phoenix Theatre while Harry Potter is in a 1,400-seater? It’s complicated, she says. The Phoenix was free when they needed a theatre, and it’s in a basement: “We sort of didn’t want a shiny theatre for that piece. But I would probably like 200 more seats.” It’s tight both to make the numbers work; it’s tight even to fit the set in. “So when we go to New York with it [in 2025] we will work on it. It’s definitely the most difficult thing I’ve ever produced, but on Broadway it’s going to be even more complex.” Stranger Things is not easy money, then, but it’s still a substantial success. (Reports that there are plans for stage sequels are “nonsense”.) How is trade in general, though? If I’d asked her at the start of the year, she’d have been bullish. “But I am a bit concerned. May was really tough, and nobody can quite figure out why.” Her shows bounced back in style straight after theatres reopened in earnest in 2021. “Pretty much everything I did sold out, recouped, couldn’t get seats. It was amazing.” Now, though, the cost of living crisis and political uncertainties and months of train strikes “are beginning to have their pinch”. Despite some eye-catching top seat prices that can reach above £200, seat prices have fallen in real terms. Meanwhile, costs have gone up. “More than 20 per cent since the pandemic, which is an alarming number. It can be the difference between a show working and a show not working. So it was great coming back, but we need to play to very high percentages of audiences.” This year the government agreed to extend theatre tax relief, which makes investing in new shows more attractive. The new government, she insists, will keep that. “I mean, they have to, it’s what is making our industry viable, it’s what is making investment possible, without it the whole infrastructure will crumble.” What else would she like from the (we’ll assume) Labour government? She has had meetings with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. “There is no money, we know that. And so it is very hard for the arts to argue for more money. So I ask them, what can you do for us given that we know there is very little money? “Now I don’t work in the subsidised sector, so I am not going to talk about the Arts Council and how appalling that whole system is — it’s outrageous the way the Arts Council is telling people to spend their money. “But the question is, what can make a fundamental change? And for me it’s about schools. It’s about the curriculum, it’s about kids having theatre, music, access to these. Making sure they can see a show a year.” That still costs money. “But I think it’s possible.” And she argues that what she calls the tourism tax — in 2020 Rishi Sunak abolished the “VAT RES” scheme whereby overseas visitors to London could buy goods duty-free — is having a negative impact. “I think we will see its impact this summer. Because of Brexit and how difficult it is get into Britain from the rest of Europe. When you’ve got this tourism tax on top of it … So I will be lobbying to get rid of it.” The last time I sat down to interview Friedman was in 2011, when she expressed a concern that, if she had a Mamma Mia! -style megahit, she might lose her edge. Is the Harry Potter show her Mamma Mia! then? Another chuckle. “It’s not actually because it’s really expensive. It was probably the most expensive show ever … before Stranger Things . It wasn’t the easy path: it’s a five and a half hour play. It’s doing fine. I’m doing fine. But it’s expensive to run and maintain and replicate.” Nonetheless, it’s good for business, for brand Friedman, surely? “Totally. Because people have seen that you can take a piece of work that has a giant mainstream appeal and make a work of art out of it. I think it’s a work of art. And the best thing is we are now doing it in schools.” If Friedman ever wonders why she is still spending 17 hours a day working, she says, seeing a trial version in Hoboken, New Jersey, of the two-hour school version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the answer. “It was one of the most magical evenings of my life. I went, ‘OK, that’s why I’m doing this.’ “Theatre,” she says, “allows you to be OK with being different.” Recently a friend of the family, a girl, has been bullied at school. “Girls can be really mean to each other. And she’s been coming to see Mean Girls . And she feels OK, because she goes, ‘Oh, it’s not just me. It happens.’ So if you can put something on stage that helps the people you love, you go, well, maybe I can help other people as well. And nothing can feel better than that.” The conversations with Labour “have been good so far … Keir Starmer gets it”. What he gets, she thinks, is not just theatre’s financial utility, but its role in a civil society, its ability to foster empathy. “It’s like, ‘Here is this point of view. You don’t have to agree with it but what do you think?’ So I am hoping kids will have access to the arts so they can go, ‘It’s OK if we don’t agree.’” Mean Girls is at the Savoy Theatre, London WC2, to February 16, meangirlsmusical.com . Fangirls is at the Lyric Hammersmith, London W6, July 13 to August 24, lyric.co.uk Up Up

Back to News & Press Rehearsal images released from the world premiere of Lyonesse by Penelope Skinner, directed by Ian Rickson Friday, 29 September 2023 Rehearsal images are released today for the world premiere of Lyonesse by Penelope Skinner, directed by Ian Rickson and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions. This searingly funny and passionate new play stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James alongside James Corrigan , Doon Mackichan and Sara Powell. It will run at Harold Pinter Theatre from 17 October – 23 December 2023 www.lyonesseonstage.com . You can see the new imagery here. £30 tickets will be available for every performance via the TodayTix Group’s Lottery Scheme. Elaine (Kristin Scott Thomas) a reclusive and talented actress, disappears in mysterious circumstances. 30 years later, she finally feels ready to tell her story – summoning Kate (Lily James), a young film executive, to her remote Cornish home to assist with her glorious comeback. But who really controls the stories we tell, and how we get to tell them? Will these women own their narrative, or will it be swept away from them at any given moment? Lyonesse is a powerful story for our times by Penelope Skinner , winner of the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright for The Village Bike, and whose other works for stage include Angry Alan, Meek, Linda, The Ruins of Civilisation, Fred’s Diner, Eigengrau and F*cked . For screen she has created and written, along with her sister Ginny Skinner, TV thriller The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies (Sister/BBC1) currently airing on BBC1. Previously she was a writer on four seasons of Fresh Meat (Channel 4) and wrote the film How I Live Now . Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James join forces for the first time on stage for Lyonesse after appearing together in the Oscar and BAFTA winning film Darkest Hour (Working Title Films/Universal) and screen adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (Netflix/Working Title). The play also reunites long-time collaborators Ian Rickson and Kristin Scott Thomas following their work together on The Seagull (Royal Court/ Broadway – for which Kristin Scott Thomas won an Olivier for her performance), Electra (Old Vic) and West End productions of Betrayal and Old Times (all produced by SFP). This will be Ian Rickson’s twelfth collaboration with SFP including celebrated West End productions such as Jerusalem, Rosmersholm, Uncle Vanya, The Children’s Hour and The Birthday Party . Lily James last appeared on stage in the SFP production of All About Eve (West End). Lyonesse will be designed by Georgia Lowe, with lighting by Jessica Hung Han Yun , music by Stephen Warbeck , sound by Tingying Dong and casting by Amy Ball CDG . Up Up

Back to News & Press Producer counts her ‘Conquests’ Friday, 27 February 2009 With four of her London productions in the running for a collective 13 Olivier Awards and two Broadway transfers likely to figure in the Tony race for play revival, Sonia Friedman might be forgiven for slowing down. But the Brit producer‘s slate tells another story. In addition to prepping the New York move of Matthew Warchus’ glowingly received revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s “The Norman Conquests,” Friedman is readying Anna Mackmin’s staging of Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa” at the Old Vic; Roger Michell’s new take on “Rope” at the Almeida; and a Broadway production, with Roundabout and Bill Haber, of Patrick Marber’s “After Miss Julie,” with Mark Brokaw directing a cast headed by Sienna Miller. In the face of recession, Friedman, 43, is passionate yet realistic, and still surprisingly bullish. Read full article here . Up Up

Back to News & Press La Cage, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Scarlett Johansson triumph at the 2010 Tony Awards Wednesday, 16 June 2010 At Sunday's ceremony, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES was awarded the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Douglas Hodge was also awarded the Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and Terry Johnson received the Tony for Best Director of a Musical. In other acting categories, Catherine Zeta-Jones was awarded the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC) and Scarlett Johansson the Tony for Best Supporting Actress in a Play (A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE). Up Up

Back to News & Press Claire van kampen's new play Farinelli and The King, starring Mark Rylance, to transfer to the west end Friday, 6 March 2015 Shakespeare's Globe and Sonia Friedman Productions are delighted to announce the West End transfer of Claire van Kampen’s critically-acclaimed new play Farinelli and the King, directed by John Dove, designed by Jonathan Fensom and starring Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall, Jerusalem), as King Philippe V of Spain. To register to receive further information on the production including on sale notification visit www.Farinellitheplay.com The West End production will open in September 2015 for a strictly limited run at the Duke of York’s Theatre fresh from the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, which completes its sell-out run on Sunday 8th March. Set in eighteenth-century Spain, Claire van Kampen's moving and mesmerising new play tells the intriguing true story of Farinelli, once the world’s most famous castrato and one of the greatest celebrities of his time, and his decision to trade fame and fortune in the opera-houses of Europe for a life of servitude at the court of King Philippe V. This sumptuous and enchanting play explores the dynamics between Farinelli and the royal couple, featuring many of the exquisite arias first sung by Farinelli in the 1730’s. The Duke of York’s Theatre will be transformed for this beguiling and transporting production, lit almost exclusively by the glow of candle-light and with live music played on Baroque instruments. Mark Rylance last appeared at the Globe in 2012 in Tim Carroll's hugely lauded sell-out productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III, which subsequently enjoyed phenomenally successful West End and Broadway runs, also produced by Sonia Friedman Productions. His other recent theatre credits include Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, (Royal Court, West End, Broadway) and this year he also starred as Thomas Cromwell in the BBC2 adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning novel Wolf Hall. Claire van Kampen, founding Director of Music, Shakespeare’s Globe has created music for over 45 productions there, including The Duchess of Malfi with Gemma Arterton. A theatre specialist on music and text of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, her stage credits also include original scores for Matthew Warchus’ Broadway productions of Boeing-Boeing. La Bete and True West. Claire’s television and film credits include Peter Kosminsky’s Wolf Hall, Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous and Christian Camargo's Days and Nights. Further details will be announced soon. Up Up