Warehouse welcomes West and Wilton

Warehouse welcomes West and Wilton

Reporter: Caroline Bishop, first published Fri 18 Jul 2008 11:46

Samuel West and Penelope Wilton return to the Donmar Warehouse to star in T S Eliot’s The Family Reunion, which opens on 25 November, after previews from 20 November.

The play tells of a family haunted by the ghosts of their past. Harry returns to the ancestral home after an eight year absence to celebrate his mother’s birthday. Tormented by a dark secret, he confides in Aunt Agatha only to discover that other family members also have their own hidden demons.

West (Harry) was last seen at the Donmar Warehouse in Pinter’s Betrayal in May 2007. As an actor he has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Sheffield Theatres, where he was also Artistic Director, and has been seen in television dramas including The Long Walk To Finchley, Cambridge Spies and Persuasion. His films include Howard’s End, Notting Hill and Iris, alongside Wilton. He is also a director, and his production of Dealer’s Choice at the Menier Chocolate Factory recently had a successful transfer to Trafalgar Studios.

Wilton (Agatha) is a regular at the Donmar Warehouse, where she is currently starring in Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden, which ends on 2 August. Her other work at the Donmar includes John Gabriel Borkman, The Little Foxes and A Kind Of Alaska, and she has also been seen at the National Theatre in The House Of Bernarda Alba and in Women Beware Women for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her screen work includes Dr Who (as Harriet Jones), Bob And Rose, Victoria And Albert, plus the films The History Boys, Shaun Of The Dead, Pride And Prejudice and Calendar Girls.

The pair is directed by Jeremy Herrin, whose recent directorial credits include The Vertical Hour at the Royal Court, Statement Of Regret at the National and That Face at the Royal Court and Duke of York’s.

The Family Reunion, which plays until 10 January 2009, is the centrepiece of a T S Eliot festival at the Donmar, which includes rehearsed readings of Four Quartets (14-17 January), Murder In The Cathedral (2 December) and The Cocktail Party (17 December), plus two evenings of readings of Eliot’s verse (1 December and 5 January).

CB

Top trio in Betrayal

Top trio in Betrayal

first published Fri 30 Mar 2007 13:25

Dervla Kirwan, Toby Stephens and Samuel West have been cast in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the Donmar Warehouse (31 May-21 July).
Betrayal is the story of a love triangle between a woman, her husband and his best friend, and relates the seven-year affair in reverse, from its poignant end to the illicit first kiss. One of Pinter’s most popular plays, Betrayal premiered at the National in 1978, directed by Peter Hall. In 2003 Hall mounted a new production at Theatre Royal Bath which came to the West End’s Duchess theatre and starred Janie Dee, Hugo Speer and Aden Gillett.
Kirwan is best known for her television roles in Goodnight Sweetheart, Hearts And Bones, Ballykissangel, 55 Degrees North and Casanova. Her London stage credits include Dangerous Corner at the Garrick in 2001, The Aristocrats at the National in 2005 and most recently Exiles, also at the National, last year.
Actor and director Samuel West has frequently performed on the London stage where his credits include A Life In The Theatre, Arcadia, The Sea, Richard II and Hamlet. He has directed several plays and an opera, Cosi Fan Tutte for ENO. On screen he has appeared in many television series such as Waking The Dead, Midsomer Murders and Cambridge Spies, alongside Betrayal co-star Stephens. His film credits include Van Helsing, Iris, Notting Hill and Howard’s End, in which he starred alongside his mother Prunella Scales. Since June 2005 he has been Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres, where last November he appeared with his father Timothy West in A Number. He is due to step down from his post this year.
Stephens’s face is familiar on screen from his roles in the films Possession, Onegin and Die Another Day, plus television series Jane Eyre, Sharpe’s Challenge and Waking The Dead. On stage he has worked for the RSC in productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, which came to the West End in 2004, while other London appearances include A Streetcar Named Desire and The Royal Family.
Betrayal is directed by Roger Michell, who previously directed Pinter’s Old Times at the Donmar. His film work includes the recent Venus, Enduring Love and Notting Hill, while in London he has directed My Night With Reg for the Royal Court, plus The Homecoming, Honour and Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange for the National. He returns to the National next month with another Penhall play, Landscape With Weapon.