London Hit Festen to Arrive on Broadway Next Season

By Robert Simonson
23 Mar 2005

Luke Mably and Ruth Millar in the West End production of Festen
Luke Mably and Ruth Millar in the West End production of Festen
Photo by Keith Pattison

Festen, the hit London play about a family with a dark secret, will come to Broadway in 2005-06, producer Bill Kenwright told Playbill.com columnist Harry Haun.

The work is currently playing London's Lyric Theatre. The West End company features Jane Asher, Stephen Moore and Rory Kinnear, who have received much acclaim for their performances. Rufus Norris directs. Previous reports had the play coming to Broadway this spring.

Festen is an adaptation of the 1998 movie directed and written by Thomas Vinterberg and is part of the Dogme film movement. It’s co-produced by Marla Rubin, who has said that she wants this to be the first in a series of Dogme stage adaptations.

The show depicts a Danish patriarch, Helge Klingenfelt, who is celebrating his 60th birthday with his family at a beautiful old hotel. With him are his wife Else, daughter Helene, and sons Christian and Michael. All are ready for a regular celebration, until Christian opens the lid on a family secret, and the evening spirals into a night of humor and terror (often both at the same time).

The stage adaptation is by David Eldridge, whose play Under the Blue Sky won the Time Out Live Award 2001 for Best New Play. His other plays include Serving It Up, A Week with Tony, Summer Being and Falling. Young Vic associate Rufus Norris directs, with set designs by Ian MacNeil. Sound is by Paul Arditti and music by Orlando Gough.