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By Mark Shenton
15 May 2008

Gisli Orn Gardarsson, the Icelandic director, actor and now playwright, will return to the Lyric Hammersmith with the U.K. premiere of his musical Love, which is scheduled to begin previews May 29 and open June 3 for a run through June 21.

Love, which marks Gardarsson's playwrighting debut, is a love story set in an old people's home. It features a professional cast – including Anna Calder Marshall, Maria Charles, Julian Curry, Jonathan McGuinness, Dudley Sutton and Jeffry Wickham – who are joined by a 15-strong chorus of local senior citizens, aged between 62 and 83, singing songs by The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and others.

Gardarsson, who also directs, has already produced the musical in Iceland, and previously worked in an old people's home in the 1990s. In press materials, he has commented, "It is one of the most important shows I have done because the issues are real. It was all there in front of my eyes. And it celebrates life. What if you experience the greatest love of your life when you're 70? What else can you do but sing about it?" The plot of the show revolves around an 80-year-old man Neville, who falls in love with Margaret, 78, when she arrives at his care home for a short stay.

David Farr, the Lyric's artistic director whose recent credits there include directing the 50th anniversary production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party and Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, adapted Gardarsson's work for the London stage.

Gardarsson previously worked at the Lyric on Metamorphosis with the Lyric's artistic director David Farr, appearing in the original production himself in 2006. It was subsequently revived with a new cast in January 2008. Gardarsson has also appeared in London in his aerial production of Romeo and Juliet (originally at the Young Vic which then transferred to the West End's Playhouse Theatre), Nights at the Circus at the Lyric Hammersmith, and Woyzeck at the Barbican.

For tickets contact the box office at 0871 22 117 22 or visit www.lyric.co.uk.

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