Following the critically acclaimed success of theatre company Defibrillator’s site-specific The Hotel Plays in 2012, the innovative company will bring Tennessee Williams to London’s Langham Hotel next February for a limited season.
Reprising two of the pieces seen in 2012’s theatrical event staged at Holborn’s Grange Hotel, Williams’ one act plays Green Eyes and Sunburst will be joined by a new offering, The Pink Bedroom, for 2014’s triptych production. Each play will be performed in a suite at the luxury hotel as audiences journey from the lobby to each of the rooms in a voyeuristic experience.
Taking inspiration from Williams’ own life, which saw the legendary playwright spend much of his later years living in hotel rooms and set many works within such spaces, The Hotel Plays were described by The Telegraph in its four star review as “tremendous fun”, surmising that, due to its intimate setting, “The invisible wall that divides spectacle from spectator never feels so strong as when it is close to being breached.”
Playing at the Grade II listed Portland Place-based hotel from 11 February (press night 12 February) to 8 March, Defibrillator’s Artistic Director James Hillier will return to the production to direct Green Eyes, Williams’ little-known thriller that reveals the impact of war through the sexual fantasies of a newly-wed couple in New Orleans.
Jonathan Humphreys, who received critical acclaim for his West End debut Mojo Mickybo at the Trafalgar Studios and has since directed The Village Bike, Happy Days and the forthcoming comedy Boeing Boeing at Sheffield’s Crucible theatre, will direct Sunburst, which centres on the hostage attempt of retired actress Miss Sails.
Lastly, Anthony Banks, whose credits include More Light, Prince Of Denmark and The Eternal Not at the National Theatre, will direct The Pink Bedroom, a tale of a married man who keeps a younger woman in a pink bedroom for eight blissful years until the inevitable day when their precarious balance of needs topples into mid-life calamity.
The Hotel Plays are recommended for audiences aged 16+. Full information and details of how to buy tickets can be found at www.thehotelplays.co.uk