Back to News & Press Putting 'The Juice In Jerusalem' - The New York Times Wednesday, 6 April 2011 DURING rehearsals in 2009 for the London production of “Jerusalem,” Jez Butterworth’s play about outcasts in modern England, the actor Mark Rylance drove one Sunday to the rural village of Pewsey to look up Micky Lay, a retired builder who was the inspiration for Rooster Byron, Mr. Rylance’s drug-dealing, authority-defying character. The encounter did not go well. Mr. Rylance walked past the wrecked cars in Mr. Lay’s yard and knocked on his front door, where wood had been nailed over shattered glass. Mr. Lay answered with an “Awww what’a ye want?” said Mr. Rylance, who identified himself and asked for a word. In colorful profanity, Mr. Lay told him to go away. “But I’d learned a lot from Robert Bly about how you approach monster-sized men, and one idea was to take gifts,” Mr. Rylance said, referring to the poet and translator. “Two Sundays later I went again, this time with a bottle of whiskey, and he was very nice.” Inside the house were three teenagers smoking joints and celebrating the birthday of a raven-haired, 17-year-old beauty whom Mr. Lay had given a bedroom because she didn’t get on well with her mother. After three hours Mr. Rylance came away understanding Mr. Lay’s own, unexplained desire to surround himself with young people. “Sometimes your parents can’t see what’s special in you, can’t see the gold within the mud of your life, but another adult can,” Mr. Rylance said during an interview as he prepared for the Broadway run of “Jerusalem,” now in previews. “That’s Rooster’s great gift. He eats the truth about people the way we eat bread. He wants to see the kids around him burn on their full gas, to connect to oil fields inside themselves and be flaring.” Mr. Rylance is too modest to describe himself as on full burn, but New York theatergoers know otherwise. Three months after he concluded the Broadway revival of “La Bête” at the Music Box Theater, best remembered for his antic, 25-minute monologue as the street performer Valere, Mr. Rylance is accomplishing the rare feat of returning in the same season (and at the same theater) in another leading role. As a result many Broadway insiders believe he could end up with two of the five Tony nominations for best actor next month. He won that Tony in 2008 for his first and only other performance on Broadway, in the revival of “Boeing-Boeing,” and his work in “Jerusalem” was praised with virtually every superlative imaginable by theater critics in London, where Mr. Rylance, at 51, is frequently described as the best stage actor of his generation. As well as one of the more eccentric. As a boy he did not speak in full sentences until he was 6 because he had trouble sounding out words; instead he began a lifelong immersion in fantasy and make-believe acting games with other children that helped him learn how to speak. Accepting the Tony in 2008, he baffled many watching the CBS telecast by reciting an obscure poem about conformity by the Midwestern American writer Louis Jenkins. Mr. Rylance has questioned the authorship of Shakespeare’s work and even wrote a play about those doubts, titled “The BIG Secret Live — I Am Shakespeare — Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show.” And during a two-hour interview, he read at length from Paul Kingsnorth’s book “Real England: The Battle Against the Bland,” and seemed almost giddy explaining how brewery corporations had taken over local pub after local pub where people once spent nights enjoying their meals and sharing stories beside roaring hearths. Enter Rooster Byron. He is the tragically Falstaffian heart of Mr. Butterworth’s three-hour elegy to old England, where forests were the dominion of fairies like Shakespeare’s Oberon and Titania, of rascals like Robin Hood and, now, of Mr. Rylance’s antihero. “Jerusalem,” in other words, is about very English things, yet the play may well resonate with American audiences. At least Mr. Rylance and his producers hope so, given that — Broadway’s substantial Anglophilia notwithstanding — a full appreciation of “Jerusalem” depends on understanding the socioeconomic trends that Mr. Kingsnorth laid out in “Real England.” “Every one of us is worried about how ‘Jerusalem’ will fare on Broadway,” Mr. Rylance said as he curled up in an Edwardian armchair in the lounge of the Algonquin Hotel, taking off his shoes and tucking his socked feet beneath his underside. “Will people understand the dialects? Will people understand that it’s not about Palestine and Israel? “I just wish audiences could come without needing to be told what they’re going to experience, without the producers’ worrying about whether we have the right poster and words outside the theater. But the financial risk is so much greater here than in London.” As seen through an American lens “Jerusalem” is on one level a classic libertarian showdown. A retired Evel Knievel-like daredevil, Rooster has been living for 29 years in a mobile home in a Wiltshire wood in southeast England, but the town council is moving to evict him because well-to-do homeowners are sick of his patch. Rooster is a kind of Pied Piper, drawing the young and the old to his clearing — in part for his drugs, but also because he is a romanticized embodiment of the William Blake poem used in the defiantly patriotic song that provides the play’s title: Bring me my bow of burning gold, Bring me my arrows of desire, Bring me my spears o’clouds unfold, Bring me my chariot of fire. I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand ’Til we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant land. Rooster is the sort of meaty role that might normally go to household-name stars who are the insurance policy for commercial Broadway these days. But the producers of “Jerusalem” said there was no way they would have brought over the play without Mr. Rylance, for whom Mr. Butterworth wrote the role. “It wasn’t even a discussion,” said Sonia Friedman, the prolific British producer of plays in the West End and on Broadway, including “Boeing-Boeing” and “La Bête. “I’m of a generation that didn’t see Scofield’s Lear, Peter O’Toole’s Hamlet. I’m of a generation that will say, I saw Mark Rylance’s Rooster.” Mr. Rylance’s late bloom on Broadway was a long time coming. Born in Ashford in southwestern England, he was 2 when his family moved to Connecticut, where his father took a teaching job; his parents later both taught in Wisconsin, where they flew the Union Jack and gave tea parties on the Fourth of July. There Mr. Rylance performed in his first major Shakespearean production, as a 16-year-old Hamlet, with his father playing the First Gravedigger. At 18 he left the United States for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London, where he arrived, he said, with “a Midwest accent, a Midwest hairstyle and a Midwest sense of humor.” (In conversation the soft-spoken Mr. Rylance can betray the flat accent and overstressed vowels of the region.) By 1982 he had joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his long career in Elizabethan drama took off. During his company debut in one such play, “Arden of Faversham,” a hallmark of Mr. Rylance’s aesthetic also took hold. He is known as a born improviser, relishing every chance to play with tone, pauses and body language in the pursuit of bringing a performance to fresh life. But this landed him in trouble one night when, playing a manservant in “Faversham,” he stood up during a scene and confronted his character’s master — taking the other actor by surprise, since usually Mr. Rylance would lie cowering on the floor in that moment. “As we were walking around to the next scene backstage, the actor — who I shall not name, but who was a big man — threw me up against a wall and said, ‘We’re not all [expletive] improvisers,’ ” Mr. Rylance said. “‘This notion that a performance is ‘frozen,’ it’s a horrible phrase, like a frozen dinner or something,” he added, referring to a theatrical term used by directors and producers. “I’m comfortable acting in a particular key, but I benefit by mixing up the notes within that key.” Blending carefully constructed verse with a freeing sense of “play,” a word dear to Mr. Rylance, has paid off in a slew of critically acclaimed performances, including his gleeful turn, at 33, as Benedick in Matthew Warchus’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” which won Mr. Rylance an Olivier Award (London’s answer to the Tonys). Two years later he became the first artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, where he was known for bringing Shakespeare back to his roots with all-male productions, including his own memorable turn as Olivia in “Twelfth Night.” For “Jerusalem” Mr. Rylance found a soulmate in the director Ian Rickson. Late one night in a rehearsal room of the Royal Court Theater, Mr. Rylance said, the “Jerusalem” cast took part in 90 minutes of “research” by acting out a scene that is only referenced in the play: a barroom celebration after the teenage character Phaedra is crowned queen of the town fair. That party takes place a year before the events in the play, but, in hindsight, sets them in motion. “Amazing stuff was gained,” Mr. Rylance said. “Actors who have less to say in the play than I do learned a lot about their characters. Mackenzie Crook, who plays my best mate, Ginger, was playing at some dance moves that you see now. And I was able to discover things about Rooster’s friendship with Phaedra, about Rooster’s feelings for her stepfather, Troy. Now one word or one gesture during the play can set off a memory of that improvisation, and it feels like new life running through you.” No question that, for all its length, “Jerusalem” has Mr. Rylance energized. He has not performed Shakespeare since leaving the Globe in 2005, but he is planning to act in a double bill of “Richard III” and “Much Ado About Nothing” in 2012 there and then in New York, as well as new projects on Shakespeare with his wife, the composer Claire van Kampen. (He has two stepdaughters, one of whom is the admired Shakespearean Juliet Rylance.) For the last six years he has also been writing a play about the industrialists Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, which he wants to finish; he hopes to play Frick. Yet what makes Mr. Rylance’s wide, expressive eyes truly leap is the idea that “Jerusalem” might find an audience on Broadway, which “Boeing-Boeing” enjoyed but “La Bête” did not. “In this play I’ve got to smoke four joints, drink half a bottle of whiskey, take a lot of speed, put my head upside down in water, but the hardest thing for me is thinking about whether audiences will be as excited about ‘Jerusalem’ as we are,” Mr. Rylance said. “But really, I have to put it out of my mind. It’s the same reason why I don’t read reviews. If I start focusing on the feedback, it’ll lock me in a cage.” Up Up

Back to News & Press Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Further Tickets released Monday, 9 January 2017 Tickets are priced from £15 per part and for every performance there will be over 300 tickets at £20 or less per part. This will be followed by regular ticket releases throughout the year, details of which will be announced via the official Harry Potter and the Cursed Child website, social media channels and the official newsletter. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage, began previews in June 2016 in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre. In November last year the critically acclaimed production went on to receive the 2016 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany with movement by Steven Hoggett, set by Christine Jones, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, music & arrangements by Imogen Heap, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Gareth Fry, illusions & magic by Jamie Harrison, music supervision & arrangements by Martin Lowe and casting by Julia Horan. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is one play presented in two parts. Both parts are intended to be seen in order on the same day (matinee and evening) or on two consecutive evenings. On Thursdays there is an evening performance of Part One and on Fridays an evening performance of Part Two. On those days tickets to each part can be bought together or separately. Tickets for Wednesday matinee and Wednesday evening performances can also be bought together or separately. The regular performance schedule is as follows - Monday – no performance, Tuesday – no performance, Wednesday - 2pm Part One & 7.30pm Part Two, Thursday – 7.30pm Part One, Friday – 7.30pm Part Two, Saturday – 2pm Part One & 7.30pm Part Two, Sunday – 1pm Part One & 6.30pm Part Two. A further set of access performances are also announced - on Wednesday 28 March 2018 both the matinee (Part One) and the evening performance (Part Two) will be captioned and on Wednesday 4 April 2018 the matinee (Part One) and evening performance (Part Two) will be audio described. For patrons with physical access needs call 0330 333 4410 (please note there are no general ticket sales on this number) or email CursedChildAccess@nimaxtheatres.com Every Friday, The Friday Forty takes place at 1pm when 40 tickets are released for every performance the following week for some of the very best seats in the theatre. Subsequent ticket releases take place each Friday for performances the following week. Priced at £40 (£20 per part) tickets will secure a seat for both Part One and Part Two on consecutive performances. Customers will be selected at random for the opportunity to buy tickets online and will be able to purchase a maximum of two tickets for both Part One and Part Two in one transaction. To ensure that as many people as possible have the chance to access these tickets, they will only be available to buy online. www.harrypottertheplay.com/ticket-information Returned and other late-release tickets may also become available at short notice. These are not guaranteed, but any tickets that do become available will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis, online or in person at the Palace Theatre box office at full price. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions. Up Up

Back to News & Press Summer and Smoke transfers to the Duke of York's Theatre from November Sunday, 10 June 2018 The West End transfer of Tennessee Williams ’ intoxicating and rarely staged classic, Summer and Smoke , follows a sold-out and critically lauded run at the Almeida Theatre. Directed by the Almeida’s Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall with the full cast reprising their roles for the West End run, this innovative new production of Summer and Smoke has a limited run from 10 November 2018 - 19 January 2019 , at the Duke Of York’s Theatre , with press night on Tuesday 20 November at 7pm. Tickets are priced from £15 (£10 in previews) and 25% of all tickets for the West End transfer of Summer & Smoke will be accessibly priced at £25 and under. This includes a special allocation of tickets per performance made exclusively available for young people (aged 25s and under). The full cast returning to this production are; Seb Carrington, Nancy Crane, Patsy Ferran, Eric MacLennan, Forbes Masson, Matthew Needham, Tok Stephen and Anjana Vasan . Summer and Smoke is designed by Tom Scutt , with lighting by Lee Curran , sound by Carolyn Downing , composition by Angus MacRae and casting by Julia Horan . Sonia Friedman Productions is producing the West End transfer of the Almeida Theatre production of Summer and Smoke . The girl who said ‘no’ – she doesn’t exist anymore, she died last summer – suffocated in smoke from something on fire inside her. Trapped between desire and a life of obligation, Alma meets John and her world turns upside down. With ‘spellbinding, stripped-back staging’ (Financial Times), this intoxicating classic about love, loneliness and self-destruction evokes the simmering passions of a sweltering summer in small-town Mississippi. Tennessee Williams , whose plays include The Glass Menagerie , A Streetcar Named Desire , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth , transformed the American stage through his poetic writing and provocative subject matters. Williams was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes and Tony Awards, three Drama Critic Circle Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rebecca Frecknall (Director) is Associate Director at the Almeida Theatre and was previously on the Almeida’s Resident Director Scheme supported by the Eranda Rothschild Foundation. She worked as Resident Director on Ink at the Almeida/Duke of York’s Theatre and Movement Director on Albion . Prior to the Almeida, she was Resident Director at Northern Stage from 2015-2016 after winning the acclaimed RTYDS Bursary. During this time she directed Idomeneus ; What Are They Like?, Educating Rita (for Durham Gala) and Julie by Zinnie Harris. Before taking up this role, she worked as a freelance Director in London and has worked with the National Theatre, RSC and Young Vic. She was the 2012 recipient of the National Theatre Studio’s Resident Director Bursary and was awarded one of the Young Vic’s Jerwood Assistant Director Bursaries in 2011. Seb Carrington plays Archie Kramer. His theatre work includes Ivanov for the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His television work includes Doctors , Father Brown and The Crown. Nancy Crane plays Mrs Winemiller/Mrs Bassett. She previously appeared at the Almeida in Against and Chimerica . Other theatre credits include The Sewing Group, Now or Later, The Sweetest Thing in Baseball and The Strip at the Royal Court; Teddy Ferrara at the Donmar Warehouse; A Lie of The Mind and Next Fall at Southwark Playhouse; The Children’s Hour an the Comedy Theatre; Design For Living at The Old Vic; Love The Sinner and Angels in America at the National Theatre; Chains of Dew and Trifles at the Orange Tree Theatre; The Girl in a Goldfish Bowl and Six Degrees of Separation at the Crucible Theatre; The Price on UK Tour; Habitat at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; and A Wedding Story at Sphinx. Her television work includes Patrick Melrose ; Black Earth Rising ; Genius; Doctors; Nixon’s The One; Upstairs, Downstairs; Law & Order UK; Cambridge Spies; and Strike Force. For film, her work includes The Current War; Leavey; Megan Leavey; Florence Foster Jenkins; The Danish Girl; Woman in Gold ; The Special Relationship ; Batman: The Dark Knight ; The Road to Guantanamo , Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ; and The Machinist . Patsy Ferran plays Alma. Her theatre credits include My Mum’s A Twat at the Royal Court; Speech and Debate at Trafalgar Studios; As You Like It and Treasure Island at the National Theatre; The Merchant Of Venice at the RSC; The Angry Brigade for Paines Plough; and Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre. Patsy’s television credits include Will; Guerrilla; and Jamestown (series regular). Film credits include Darkest Hour; God’s Own Country; Tulip Fever; The National Phobia; Association’s Day Out. She won a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer in 2014, and was nominated for an Emerging Talent Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2015. Eric MacLennan plays Papa Gonzales/Vernon. For theatre his work includes Brave New World ; 1984 at Creation Theatre; A Tale of Two Cities at Chung Ying Theatre; Government Inspector and Annie Get Your Gun at Young Vic; Henry V at Southwark Playhouse; Half-Life at the National Theatre of Scotland; and Cyrano de Bergerac at Manchester Royal Exchange. His television credits include The Night Manager and The Borgias . For film, his work includes Darkest Hour ; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Mindhorn ; Anna Karenina and Tale of Tales . Forbes Masson plays Rev Winemiller/Dr Buchanan. His recent theatre work includes Big Fish at The Other Palace; Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe; Terror a t Lyric Hammersmith; Travesties at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Apollo Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Theatre Royal Bath; Doctor Faustus at the Duke of York’s; Mr Foote’s Other Leg at Hampstead Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket and The Ruling Class, Richard III and Macbeth at Trafalgar Studios. His television work includes Catastrophe; Shetland: Dead Water ; Dead Boss; No Holes Bard; Monarch of the Glen ; Supergirly; EastEnders; Young Person’s Guide to Becoming a Rock Star; and The High Life . Matthew Needham plays John Buchanan. His previous work for the Almeida includes The Twilight Zone and The Treatment . His other theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing, Imogen, The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus and The Knight of the Burning Pestle at Shakespeare’s Globe; Henry IV Parts I and II, Love’s Sacrifice, The Jew of Malta, Candide and Titus Andronicus for the RSC; Our Country’s Good for Out of Joint; There is a War at the National Theatre; Bingo and The Grapes of Wrath for Chichester Festival Theatre; and Shades at the Royal Court. For television, his work includes Endeavour; The Hollow Crown: Part Two; Monroe; and Sherlock . For film, his work includes The Ritual ; and Stutterer . Tok Stephen plays Roger Doremus/Dusty. He recently graduated from RADA and his professional theatre work includes Boudica at Shakespeare’s Globe. Anjana Vasan plays Rosemary/Rosa Gonzales/Nellie. Her theatre work includes King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe; Life of Galileo at the Young Vic; Image of an Unknown Young Woman at the Gate Theatre; Dara and Behind The Beautiful at the National Theatre; and Macbeth at Manchester International Festival/Broadway. For television, her work includes Sex Education ; Hang Ups; Ill Behaviour; Black Mirror; Call the Midwife and Fresh Meat . Her film work includes The Children Act; Cinderella; and Jack Ryan . Up Up

Back to Productions GAGARIN WAY This production began performances on 7th March and closed on 24th April 2002. CAST BILLY MCELHANEY – Gary MICHAEL MORELAND – Tom MICHAEL NARDONE – Eddie JOHN STAHL – Frank CREATIVES GREGORY BURKE – Playwright JOHN TIFFANY – Director NEIL WARMINGTON – Set and Costume Designer CHAHINE YAVROYAN – Lighting Designer MICK SLAVEN – Composer TERRY KING – Fight Director

Back to News & Press 1984 extends run due to unprecedented demand Sunday, 18 May 2014 Due to unprecedented demand, a 5 week extension is announced today for the Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production of 1984, a critically acclaimed adaptation by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan. The production will now run at the West End’s Playhouse Theatre until 23 August 2014 (previously 19th July 2013), prior to a second UK tour in the autumn, as previously announced. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 opened in the West End on 28 April, transferring directly from the Almeida Theatre. 1984 is written and directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, set and costume designed by Chloe Lamford, with lighting designed by Natasha Chivers, sound designed by Tom Gibbons and video designed by Tim Reid. Originally produced by Headlong and Nottingham Playhouse, 1984 had its world premiere at Nottingham Playhouse in September and went on to enjoy a hugely successful UK tour and a 7-week run at the Almeida Theatre. George Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, is one of the most influential novels in recent history, with its chilling depiction of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind-control. Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell’s fiction is often said to be our reality. Filtering the spirit and the ambition of the novel through the lens of contemporary culture, this radical new staging explores surveillance culture, identity and how thinking you can fly might actually be the first step to flying. Up Up

Back to News & Press "All You Got To Do Is Dream" The First-Ever Newly Directed and Choreographed Broadway Revival of DREAMGIRLS Set to Dazzle Audiences in Fall 2026 Monday, 15 September 2025 Producers Sue Wagner , John Johnson , Sonia Friedman Productions , and LaChanze Productions announced today that the seminal, Tony Award®-winning musical Dreamgirls will return to New York in the Fall of 2026 in its first-ever newly directed and choreographed Broadway revival. With a book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger , this new production will be directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown . To cast the central trio, ‘The Dreams’, the production is embarking on a worldwide talent search. Additional details will be revealed in the months ahead. Seeking talented women of all shapes and sizes, the auditions will take place in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, London, Toronto, Mexico City, Amsterdam, Rome and Paris. To sign up for additional news, please click here . Since its original Broadway premiere at the Imperial Theatre in 1981, Dreamgirls has been hailed as a seismic cultural event and one of the most electrifying musicals of all time. Directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett , the original production fused R&B, soul, and showbiz storytelling like never before, introducing now-legendary showstoppers, including “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” “One Night Only,” and the title anthem “Dreamgirls.” That original production garnered 13 Tony Award nominations and won six, including Best Book of a Musical, Best Actor and Actress in Featured Roles, and launched the career of Jennifer Holliday —whose iconic Act I showstopper had audiences leaping to their feet mid-performance. In his rave review for The New York Times , Frank Rich famously declared, “When Broadway history is being made, you can feel it.” Its impact has endured for over four decades, inspiring generations of artists and winning devoted fans around the world through countless productions and the Academy Award®-winning film adaptation. Additional Dreamgirls news will be announced shortly. Up Up

Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman named Broadway Briefing's 2018 Broadway Showperson of the Year Monday, 17 December 2018 Previous winners include Bette Middler and Lin Manuel Miranda. Noma Dumezweni , currently starring in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , said: ‘She doesn't write shows. She doesn't direct them. She doesn't design them. She makes them happen. (That's a proper super power, sheathed in a fabulously shaggy coat, with a touch of glitter thrown in, in lieu of a cape.) Sonia Friedman is a true teller of stories. Because she trusts and follows her gut, when the right stories call, she helps and makes them live. It's a feeling she has.’ Read the full piece here . Up Up

Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman Productions wins four Tony Awards for Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance Sunday, 26 September 2021 At the 74th Tony Awards ceremony last night at the Winter Garden Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions - alongside co-producing partners Tom Kirdahy and Hunter Arnold , won four Tony Awards for The Inheritance – Best Play for Matthew Lopez , Best Direction of a Play for Stephen Daldry , Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Andrew Burnap , and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Lois Smith – becoming the oldest performer to win a Tony Award for acting. This marks the 3rd consecutive win in the Best Play category for SFP, with previous wins for Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2019) and Jack Thorne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018) – mirroring the Olivier Award of each preceding year. Sonia Friedman said today, “Last night’s Tony Awards was an extraordinary event that heralded the return of Broadway and live performance following the devastating 18 month shut down due to the global pandemic. It was an honour and a privilege to share in that moment here in London, with Matthew Lopez’s extraordinary play The Inheritance , which meant so much to so many, winning four Tony Awards – Best Play for Matthew, Best Direction of a Play for Stephen and much deserved acting nods for Lois and Andrew. A big thank you to all who voted for the production, and congratulations to all the fellow nominees for their incredible work. “It also marked a moment for us at SFP with our productions winning the Best Play Award for the 3rd consecutive time following Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Ferryman . The achievement is testament to the hard work, dedication and resilience of our team, and our amazing investors, without whom none of this would be possible.” The Inheritance originally opened at the Young Vic Theatre in March 2018, before transferring to the Noël Coward Theatre in September 2018, winning a host of awards, including the Evening Standard Award, Critics’ Circle Award, WhatsOnStage and Olivier Award for Best New Play, as well as the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. The production opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 17 November 2019, with previews from 27 September, closing on 12 March 2020 when theatres closed in New York, receiving a total of 11 Tony Award nominations. Up Up

Back to Productions HAMLET – BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH This production began performances on 5th August and closed on 31st October 2015. ★★★★ Mr Cumberbatch gives a reminder that he is a top-rank stage actor Daily Mail As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to revenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state. ★★★★ He is a blazing five star Hamlet. The wait has not been in vain. Praise be. The Daily Telegraph Benedict Cumberbatch takes on the title role of Shakespeare ’s great tragedy. Directed by Lyndsey Turner (Posh, Chimerica). ★★★★★ A thrillingly epic production Metro CAST BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH – Hamlet BARRY AIRD – Soldier EDDIE ARNOLD – Danish Captain/Servant LEO BILL – Horatio SIAN BROOKE – Ophelia NIGEL CARRINGTON – Servant/Cornelius RUAIRI CONAGHAN – Player King RUDI DHARMALINGAM – Guildenstern COLIN HAIGH – Priest/Messenger PAUL HAM – Official DIVEEN HENREY – Player Queen/Messenger ANASTASIA HILLE – Gertrude CIARÁN HINDS – Claudius KOBNA HOLDBROOK-SMITH – Laertes KARL JOHNSON – Ghost of Hamlet's Father JIM NORTON – Polonius AMAKA OKAFOR – Official DANIEL PARR – Barnardo JAN SHEPHERD – Courtier MORAG SILLER – Voltemand MATTHEW STEER – Rosencrantz SERGO VARES – Fortinbras DWANE WALCOTT – Marcellus CREATIVES LYNDSEY TURNER – Director ES DEVLIN – Set Designer KATRINA LINDSAY – Costume Designer LUKE HALLS – Video JANE COX – Lighting CHRISTOPHER SHUTT – Sound JON HOPKINS – Music SIDI LARBI CHERKAOUI – Movement BRET YOUNT – Fights

Back to News & Press Shakespeare In Love tickets now on sale Thursday, 30 January 2014 Tickets go on general sale tomorrow, Friday 31 January 2014 for the stage premiere of Shakespeare in Love. The play, which opens at London’s Noël Coward Theatre, previews from 2 July 2014 with opening night on Wednesday 23 July 2014. From the acclaimed Academy Award®-winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, this world premiere has been adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. Featuring a company of over 30 actors and musicians, this new play will be directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod. Shakespeare in Love will be produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions. Promising young playwright Will Shakespeare is tormented by writer’s block until he finds his muse in the form of passionate noblewoman, Viola De Lesseps. Their forbidden love draws many others, including Queen Elizabeth, into the drama and inspires Will to write the greatest love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet. This sweeping romantic comedy will transport you back to Shakespeare’s London, teeming with vibrant colours, characters, music and life. Oh, and there’s a bit with a dog! Up Up

Back to News & Press The multi Olivier Award-winning hit musical Sunny Afternoon returns for a 2025/2026 UK tour Tuesday, 25 March 2025 Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG Productions are delighted to announce that the multi Olivier Award-winning hit musical SUNNY AFTERNOON will return for a 2025/2026 UK tour opening at the Manchester Palace Theatre on 10 October 2025, where it will play until 18 October 2025. thekinksmusical.com/uktour Producer Sonia Friedman said today, “From the moment Ray Davies, Joe Penhall, Ed Hall, and I began developing this musical, I knew it was something extremely special, and it proved to be so as we opened to rave reviews and won many awards. Now, I’m thrilled that we’re bringing back our joyous, celebratory, Olivier Award-winning Best New Musical for a new UK tour. Ray Davies’ music and lyrics capture the poetry and poignancy of everyday life with honesty and wit, and The Kinks’ music, attitude and vibe shaped a generation. Their astonishing legacy continues to resonate, making Sunny Afternoon as exhilarating and relevant today as ever. Whether you’re discovering it for the first time or experiencing it all over again, I can’t wait for audiences across the UK to see it — I’ve truly missed it.” SUNNY AFTERNOON celebrates the raw energy, passion and timeless sound of one of Britain’s most iconic bands, THE KINKS . Charting the euphoric highs and agonising lows, it tells their story through an incredible back catalogue of chart-toppers, including “You Really Got Me,” “Lola,” and “All Day and All of the Night.” SUNNY AFTERNOON was the recipient of four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Ray Davies. Set against the backdrop of Britain on the cusp of the rebellious '60s, SUNNY AFTERNOON  is an exhilarating and moving celebration of the music, life, and the band that changed it all. Following a sell-out run at Hampstead Theatre, SUNNY AFTERNOON opened to critical acclaim at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End where it ran for two years ahead of its sensational sell-out tour of the UK and Ireland throughout 2016/17. SUNNY AFTERNOON has music and lyrics by Ray Davies with a book by Joe Penhall and original story by Ray Davies . It is directed by Edward Hall and designed by Miriam Buether with choreography by Adam Cooper . Lighting design is by Rick Fisher with sound design by Matt McKenzie . Musical and vocal adaptations are by Ray Davies and Elliott Ware based on original Kinks ’ recordings. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Doctor starring Juliet Stevenson touring & coming to the West End in 2022 Monday, 4 April 2022 ★★★★★ The Guardian, The Telegraph, Financial Times, The Sunday Times, WhatsOnStage ★★★★ The Times, Evening Standard, The Observer, Independent, The Stage, Metro Robert Icke ’s (Animal Farm, The Wild Duck, Hamlet, Mary Stuart, Oresteia, 1984 ) sold- out, five-star Almeida Theatre production, The Doctor , will tour to Brighton (5-10 September), Bath (13-17 September) and Richmond (19-24 September) before transferring to the Duke of York’s Theatre from 29 September – 11 December 2022. Olivier Award winner, Juliet Stevenson , ‘ delivering one of the peak performances of the theatrical year’ (The Guardian), will reprise her role as Professor Ruth Wolff. Juliet won a Critics’ Circle Award and was nominated for an Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her performance in this role. Juliet Stevenson said “I am beyond thrilled that The Doctor is travelling to Brighton, Bath and Richmond and then onto the West End. So much has happened in the last two years since we first played the show - I am so excited to share these new resonances and conversations with audiences, everywhere we go. Never has this debate been more needed”. The Doctor , by Robert Icke , very freely adapted from Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler , has been critically lauded since it opened at the Almeida in August 2019. The play headlined the Adelaide Festival in 2020, before it was due to transfer to the West End. This was delayed until 2022 due to the outbreak of Covid-19. This is the third West End transfer for Robert Icke and Juliet Stevenson, following the critical and commercial smash-hit productions of Mary Stuart and Hamlet . She most recently voiced one of the puppets in Robert Icke’s current production of Animal Farm . In a divisive time, in a divided nation, a society takes sides. The latest smash-hit by “Britain’s best director” (Telegraph) is a "provocative, wonderfully upsetting" (Independent) whirlwind of gender, race and questions about identity, "one of the peaks of the theatrical year" (Guardian) and a "devastating play for today" (Financial Times). The production has designs by Hildegard Bechtler , lighting by Natasha Chivers , sound and composition by Tom Gibbons and casting by Julia Horan . Further casting will be announced in due course. 3800 STALLS TICKETS - PRICED AT JUST £25 will be available across the run exclusively for NHS employees and blue light workers (which includes emergency services, those who work in the social care sector and the armed forces). These tickets are available via the official box office ATG Tickets (just select the ‘NHS/Blue Light’ option whilst booking, and present one ID per transaction when you arrive). The Doctor is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions & Almeida Theatre, Gavin Kalin Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions & Wessex Grove . Up Up