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Reza's God of Carnage, With Fiennes and McTeer, Opens in London March 25
By Mark Shenton
25 Mar 2008
The latest play by Yasmina Reza, God of Carnage, premieres at the West End's Gielgud Theatre on March 25 following previews from March 7, with a cast that comprises Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott.
Reza, a Paris-based playwright whose hit play Art became a global success after its first West End production at Wyndham's Theatre in 1996, is reunited with the same creative team that staged that play: producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, translator Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, being revived on Broadway this season) director Matthew Warchus (currently represented in London by his production of The Lord of the Rings and in April transferring his production of Boeing Boeing to Broadway), designer Mark Thompson (Mamma Mia!), lighting designer Hugh Vanstone and sound designer Simon Baker.
The play tells of what happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children. Will it be a calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Or will it turn into a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?
Fiennes is scheduled to appear later this year at the National Theatre in a new production of Sophocles' Oedipus in a new version by Frank McGuinness that will be directed by Jonathan Kent, who also directed him in Hamlet for the Almeida Theatre Company that subsequently transferred to Broadway's Belasco Theatre in May 1995 (for which he won that year's Tony Award for Best Actor), and also directed him in a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer that transferred from Dublin's Gate Theatre to Broadway's Booth Theatre in April 2006. Fiennes has also appeared extensively in other productions for both the RSC and National, including Brand, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Fathers and Sons, King John, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Playing with Trains and The Talking Cure, as well as for the Almeida in a production of Chekhov's Ivanov. His extensive film roles include appearances in "Schindler's List," "The English Patient," "Red Dragon," "The End of the Affair" and "Quiz Show."
Greig, who plays Fiennes' wife, is best known for her TV roles in the Channel 4 series "Black Books" and "Green Wing." On stage, she won the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Beatrice in the RSC's production of Much Ado About Nothing that came to the Novello Theatre in December 2006. She also appeared in the same RSC season in King John.
McTeer and Stott play the other couple. McTeer was last seen in the West End in the title role of the Donmar Warehouse production of Mary Stuart that subsequently transferred to the Apollo in October 2005. She has been seen on Broadway in Ibsen's A Doll's House that transferred from the West End to the Belasco in April 1997, winning her the 1997 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Stott was in the original London cast of Reza's Art, alongside Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. He appeared most recently in the West End in another French written three-hander called Heroes at Wydham's Theatre in October 2005, alongside Richard Griffiths and John Hurt.
To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 482 5130, or for more details, visit www.godofcarnage.com.
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