The Almeida theatre’s production of Duet For One is to transfer to the West End’s Vaudeville theatre for 12 weeks from 7 May (press night 12 May).
Matthew Lloyd’s production, which stars Juliet Stevenson and Henry Goodman, ends its critically acclaimed run at the Almeida on 14 March.
Duet For One, a two-hander by Tom Kempinski, centres on Stephanie Abrahams (Stevenson), a brilliant concert violinist who is forced to re-evaluate her life when struck down by an unforeseen tragedy. Faced with a truth too difficult to comprehend, Stephanie consults psychiatrist Dr Feldmann (Goodman), and through a series of highly-charged dramatic encounters is led to examine her deepest feelings and darkest emotions and finally to consider the possibility of a future without music.
Acclaimed stage and screen actress Stevenson won a Laurence Olivier Award for Death And The Maiden in 1992 and has stage credits at the National Theatre, Royal Court, West End and Royal Shakespeare Company. Her numerous appearances on screen have come in films Truly Madly Deeply, Being Julia, Mona Lisa Smile, Bend It Like Beckham, Emma and TV’s The Politician’s Wife.
Multi-award-winning actor Goodman has been acclaimed for his stage performances across drama and musicals, in productions including Fiddler On The Roof, The Birthday Party, Chicago, Guys And Dolls, The Merchant Of Venice, Angels In America, Feelgood, Volpone and – also at the Almeida theatre – The Hypochrondriac.
Duet For One’s transfer to the Vaudeville means that Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind, which is currently playing at the venue, will close four weeks earlier than its scheduled end date of 31 May. Duet For One is booking to 1 August.
In other Almeida news, a cast of Australian and British actors has been announced for the European premiere of Andrew Bovell’s When The Rain Stops Falling, which plays from 14 May to 4 July, directed by Michael Attenborough.
Naomi Bentley, Lisa Dillon, Simon Burke, Jonathan Cullen, Richard Hope, Tom Mison, Phoebe Nicholls, Leah Purcell and Sargon Yelda are to star in this epic play which spans four generations and two continents, weaving together the interconnected stories of seven people across the UK and Australia.
Australian actors Burke – who recently appeared in The Sound Of Music at the London Palladium – and Purcell team up with Almeida regulars Nicholls (Waste), Dillon (Period Of Adjustment, Hedda Gabler) and Bentley (Out Of The Fog). New to the Almeida are Cullen (The Stone at the Royal Court, Equus at the Gielgud theatre), Hope (The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, A Prayer For Owen Meany at the National Theatre), Mison (Hedda at the Gate theatre) and Yelda (The National Theatre/Bush production of Stovepipe).
CB