Joanna Lumley and Andrew Scott will star in two short plays by Harold Pinter as part of an exciting programme of platform events announced today in conjunction with Jamie Lloyd’s Trafalgar Transformed season.
Directed by Trafalgar Transformed Associate Director Edward Stambolluian, the Absolutely Fabulous star and Olivier Award-winning actor will appear in three performances of Family Voices and Victoria Station – the first about a mother, a son and his dead father and the second a conversation between a mini cab dispatcher and driver – on the set of current production The Hothouse from 27 to 29 June.
Prior to Family Voices and Victoria Station, there will be a series of Q&A sessions with members of The Hothouse’s cast and creative team, with the opportunity to grill Lloyd and his cast before the show on 20 May, 17 and 24 June and 8 July, and designer Soutra Gilmour answering audience members’ questions before the performance on 3 June.
Lloyd, whose inaugural Trafalgar Transformed production of Macbeth received a nomination for Best Revival at this year’s Olivier Awards with MasterCard, will also host a 90 minute workshop on 17 June followed by a series of panel discussions in June and July that will give Pinter fans an insight into the life and work of the playwright.
The first panel discussion, taking place on 5 June, is entitled Pinteresque: Harold Pinter And British Theatre, and will see Lloyd joined by The Guardian’s theatre critic and author of biography Harold Pinter, Michael Billington, and Constellations playwright Nick Payne to discuss the indisputable impact the Nobel Prize-winning playwright made on British theatre.
The second, Traf Talk: Lady Antonia Fraser In Conversation With Jamie Lloyd on 12 June, will see The Hothouse director talk to the playwright’s wife about their 33 year relationship, offering a rare glimpse into the world they shared and her experience of being married to one of the greatest British playwrights of our time.
The final panel discussion on 2 July will explore the abuse of human rights, questioning what we can do about it, whether it will ever be overpowered and whether the most vulnerable individuals in our society are given the care and support that they need.
In keeping with the Trafalgar Transformed season’s affordable ticketing initiative, many of the tickets are free for those who have booked to see The Hothouse. While many of the platforms are only available to ticket holders, selected events offer stand-alone tickets to the public for up to £10.
Lloyd’s production of Pinter’s tragicomedy, which opens at the Trafalgar Studio 1 tonight, features a cast including Simon Russell Beale, John Simm, John Heffernan and Clive Rowe, and tells the story of a self-obsessed leader of a mental institution who breeds a contagion of hierarchical savagery amongst his staff.