Nottingham Playhouse launches its spring season in truly epic fashion with a stirring adaptation of WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy. The production sees Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company renew its partnership with Shared Experience, one of the UK’s most acclaimed companies, to mount an ambitious new staging divided into two complementary parts. Adapted from the towering novel by Helen Edmundson and co-directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale, WAR AND PEACE is expanded from the celebrated version presented as a single play by Shared Experience at the National Theatre in 1996. Prior to a major national tour, WAR AND PEACE premieres at Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 1 to Sunday 17 February (Box Office: 0115 941 9419 or www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk).
Written in 1868, WAR AND PEACE gives a detailed account of the impact of the Napoleonic Wars on the Russian nation over fifteen years, encompassing every level of society but with particular focus on the lives of the aristocratic Natasha, Pierre and Maria. Painted on a vast canvas of locations, characters and experiences, Helen Edmundson’s rousing and human rendition of Tolstoy’s masterpiece is an intricate saga of family, love and friendship inescapably overshadowed by war. Transporting us from the battlefield of Borodino to the opulent ballrooms of St Petersburg, the production gives new life to this epic tale as we follow the characters’ moral and spiritual journey. Through the audience’s engagement in their plight emerges Tolstoy’s history of a nation and an entire continent in turmoil.
Now revised to accommodate the full sweep of Tolstoy’s story, this renowned production features a versatile cast of 15 actors who between them play a staggering 72 roles. The new cast consists of: Richard Attlee, Marion Bailey, Geoffrey Beevers, Louise Ford, Theo Herdman, Barnaby Kay, Jeffery Kissoon, Des McAleer, Hywel Morgan, Sophie Roberts, Vinette Robinson, David Sturzaker, Simon Thorp, Kate Wimpenny and Jonathan Woolf.
Shared Experience enjoys an international reputation for its captivating productions, including several other bold re-imaginings of classic novels. Among the company’s hallmarks are its championing of adventurous ensemble work, its vivid visual imagery and powerful use of physical theatre. Its recent productions include Jane Eyre, After Mrs Rochester and Kindertransport. Nottingham Playhouse is delighted to co-produce with Shared Experience again following the success of A Passage to India, a major tour in 2004 including a New York run. This new partnership, with Hampstead Theatre as a third co-producer, upholds the Playhouse’s record of presenting first-rate theatre throughout the UK, with recent tours including The Burial at Thebes, The Changeling (with ETT) and Tracy Beaker Gets Real.
Directors of WAR AND PEACE, Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale are joint artistic directors of Shared Experience. Nancy Meckler recently re-mounted her critically acclaimed RSC production of The Comedy of Errors for a national tour. Her directing credits for Shared Experience include Orestes, Anna Karenina, A Passage to India and Mother Courage. Further RSC credits include Romeo and Juliet and House of Desires. Nancy was the first woman to direct at the National Theatre with her production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1981. Polly Teale co-directed the original production of WAR AND PEACE alongside Nancy Meckler. She has also adapted and directed the award-winning After Mrs Rochester, Bronte, Jane Eyre and most recently directed Kindertransport at Hampstead Theatre.
Writer Helen Edmundson scored a major success with her adaptation of Coram Boy for the National Theatre in 2005. Other works for Shared Experience include Orestes, The Mill on the Floss and Anna Karenina, all of which won Time Out Theatre Awards and toured nationally and internationally. Other credits include Mother Theresa (Royal Court). Helen is currently adapting The Mayor of Casterbridge for BBC Radio Four.
The full saga of WAR AND PEACE is played out on a single set resembling a much-faded state room lined with mirrors, perhaps in the Hermitage. The cast creates battles, balls and everything inbetween with little more than a set of chairs and a grand piano. The set is by Angela Simpson and costumes by Yvonne Milnes, both working from original designs by Bunny Christie. Lighting is by Chris Davey, sound by Peter Salem and movement by Liz Ranken.
Following its debut at Nottingham Playhouse, WAR AND PEACE tours to Liverpool Playhouse (21-24 February), Darlington Civic Centre (28 February – 2 March), Bath Theatre Royal (5-9 March), Warwick Arts Centre (13-16 March), Oxford Playhouse (27-30 March), Hall for Cornwall, Truro (3-6 April), Hampstead Theatre (10 April – 11 May) and the Cheltenham Everyman (15-18 May).
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Press Day Double Bill: Nottingham Playhouse, Thursday 7 February - Part I at 1.30pm & Part II at 5.30pm
