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Before NYC, Cumming Will Return to Bacchae in Scotland
By Mark Shenton
27 Mar 2008
Alan Cumming will return to the role of icon and hedonist god Dionsysus in The Bacchae for the National Theatre of Scotland, which will revive the Euripides adaptation in Aberdeen and Iverness in June.
The run in Scotland comes before a transfer to New York where it will play at The Rose Theater as part of this year's Lincoln Center Festival July 2-13. ?
The production, first seen at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2007 — when it brought its star back home to Scotland for the first time in over 15 years — subsequently played at London's Lyric Hammersmith. Directed by John Tiffany (whose credits include another Edinburgh success, Black Watch, that has also already played in New York at St Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, and will finally come to London's Barbican Theatre this summer), the production uses a new version of the play by Scottish playwright David Greig that re-imagines Euripides' ancient tragedy as a colorful piece of contemporary theatre, in which Cumming's Dionysus is accompanied by his chorus of Bacchae, a high-octane line-up of scarlet-clad, diva soul singers. They are played here by Sally Amaka Okafor, Sharon Duncan Brewster, Hazel Holder, Melissa Keyes, Lisa Davina Phillip, Sarah Quist, Ann-Marie Roberts, Jessika Williams and Emi Wokoma.
The cast also features Paola Dionositti as Agave, Ewan Hooper as Cadmus, Cal MacAninch as Pentheus and John Bett as Tiresias.
The Bacchae will run at Aberdeen's His Majesty's Theatre for four performances June 19-21, then at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness June 25-28. It will then play at the Rose Theater in Manhattan July 2-13.
Prior to The Bacchae, Cumming was last seen in London when he starred in a revival of Martin Sherman's Bent at the Trafalgar Studios in 2006. His other London roles include the title role of Hamlet and the Emcee in Cabaret (both at the Donmar Warehouse), subsequently recreating the latter role in the show's most recent Broadway revival, first at Henry Miller's Theatre and subsequently at Studio 54. His films include "X Men 2," the "Spy Kids" trilogy, "Eyes Wide Shut," "Emma,
"Urbania," "Nicholas Nickleby," "Titus," "Goldeneye" and "Circle of Friends."
He is currently starring as Trigorin in Chekhov's The Seagull with Dianne Wiest at Off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company. His latest film as director and star is "Suffering Man's Charity," and he won an Independent Spirit Award last year for the film "Sweet Land," which he produced and starred in.
To book tickets, call the respective box offices: for His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, 01224 641 122; for Eden Court Theatre, 01463 234 234; for Lincoln Center Festival, (212) 721 6500 (on sale to general public from March 28). For more information, visit www.nationaltheatrescotland.com.
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