Productions will include a double bill of Rattigan and Chekhov, and a new production of Shaw's The Apple Cart, all directed by Sir Peter; plus David Storey's Home, Michael Frayn's Balmoral and the world premiere of Peter Gill's new play Another Door Closed. Already cast to variously appear in them are Peter Bowles, Janie Dee, David Calder and Rik Mayall.
The season will launch with Terrence Rattigan's The Browing Version, presented in a double bill with Chekhov's Swansong, in a new translation by Stephen Mulrine. Performances will begin June 25, for a run in rep to Aug. 1. Peter Bowles (seen in the West End in Hall's production of Hay Fever opposite Judi Dench, and whose other recent credits include The Old Masers and Sleuth) will star under the direction of Peter Hall. Janie Dee, currently starring in Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind at the West End's Vaudeville Theatre, will star in Hall's new production of George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart, running in rep July 1-Aug. 1. David Storey's Home, which premiered at the Royal Court in 1970, will be revived under the direction of Stephen Unwin, with a cast that includes David Calder, who last year played the title role in King Lear at Shakespeare's Globe. It will run in rep from July 7-Aug. 1. The official opening for these three productions will take place on Aug 13 (The Browning Version/Swansong) and Aug 14 (Home at 2:30 PM and The Apple Cart at 7:30 PM).
Michael Frayn's Balmoral, set in 1937 in the state rooms of the royal residence at the eponymous palace, will be revived under the direction of Alan Strachan for a run from Aug. 5-22, with an official opening on Aug. 11 at 7:30 PM. Rik Mayall, whose stage roles include Simon Gra's Cell Mates and The Common Pursuit as well as Present Laughter, Waiting for Godot and The Government Inspector, will play Skinner, the warden of a writer's commune that Balmoral has been turned into.
Finally, Peter Gill will direct the world premiere of his latest play, Another Door Closed, running in the Ustinov studio from Aug. 4-29, with an official opening on Aug. 11 at 3 PM. In the play, two sisters remember their childhood home. As the memories flood back – some poignant, some happy, some disturbing – a vistor arrives. It appears that, many years before, the sisters' mother had been very kind to him.
To book tickets for the season, contact the box office at 01225 448844 or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk.
