MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH directs World Première of GILES HAVERGAL'S dramatisation of GRAHAM GREENE'S BRIGHTON ROCK with music by JOHN BARRY and lyrics by DON BLACK

 MICHAEL ATTENBOROUGH DIRECTS MUSIC THEATRE PREMIÈRE OF

 B R I G H T O N   R O C K

 Michael Attenborough will direct the world première of Giles Havergal's dramatisation of Graham Greene's classic novel, Brighton Rock.  With original music by John Barry and lyrics by Don Black, Brighton Rock will open at the Almeida on 20 September with press night on Tuesday 5 October and will run until 13 November.  Designs are by Lez Brotherston, with lighting by Tim Mitchell, musical direction and arrangements by Steven Edis, choreography by Karen Bruce, sound by John Leonard and fights by Terry King.

A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of 1930’s Brighton. Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Caught up in the violence of the weekend, the only incriminating witness to the murder is Rose, a 16 year old Catholic girl with a memory for faces and eyes only for Pinkie. A wedding would buy her silence, but Pinkie doesn’t believe in love and marriage.  Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing music hall artiste Ida Arnold, who is determined to see justice done.  Brighton Rock is a thrilling study of gangland rivalry and the psychology of a psychotic seventeen year old Catholic boy.

The cast is Paul Bentall (Spicer), Anthony Clegg (Crab), David Burt (Dallow), Michele Hooper (Molly), Michael Jibson (Pinkie Brown), Nick Lumley (Fred Hale), Neil McCaul (Cubitt), Gary Milner (Phil Corkery), Corinna Powlesland (Judy), Elizabeth Price (Delia), Sophia Ragavelas (Rose), Joshua Richards (Mr Colleoni) and Harriet Thorpe (Ida Arnold) with Andy Durham, Michael Everest, Nina French, Victoria Nadler and Mark Oxtoby and members of the Company.

Michael Jibson plays Pinkie Brown.  His theatre experience includes the leading role - Joe Casey - in Our House at the Cambridge Theatre, Bobby in A Chorus Line for the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, Theo in Pippin at the Bridewell Theatre and Dipper in Oliver! at the London Palladium.  

Sophia Ragavelas plays Rose.  She made her professional music theatre debut in Jesus Christ Superstar.   After joining the cast of The Witches of Eastwick at the Prince of Wales Theatre she performed in The Lion King at the Lyceum.   Most recently she completed a year in Les Miserables playing Eponine.

Harriet Thorpe plays Ida Arnold.  Her more recent theatre work includes A Prayer for Owen Meany and All My Sons for the National Theatre, The Vagina Monologues at the Arts Theatre and Jackie at the Queens Theatre.  Previously her theatre work included Pravda, Futurists and The Government Inspector at the National Theatre, Richard III and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park and West Side Story and Gypsy for director John Doyle.  Her television work includes Absolutely Fabulous, Girls on Top and Murder Most Horrid.  Her film work includes Suzie Gold, Calendar Girls, Life is Sweet and Jack and Sarah.

John Barry was hired to score his first film in 1960 and has since written music for over one hundred films including Born Free (song and score), The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves as well as eleven James Bond scores including Goldfinger and Thunderball.  Barry has written four stage musicals including Billy, which he wrote in collaboration with Don Black.  As well as receiving the OBE in 1999, John Barry has won five Oscars, four Grammy Awards, two Ivor Novello Awards and a Golden Globe. 

Don Black made his West End debut as a lyricist with composer John Barry on the musical Billy, starring Michael Crawford at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
His more recent theatre work includes lyrics for Tell Me on a Sunday, Bombay Dreams and the book and lyrics (with Christopher Hampton) for Sunset Boulevard for which he won two Tony Awards.  He has written over a hundred songs for films including The Italian Job, Out of Africa, five James Bond theme songs and Born Free for which he won an Oscar.  In 1999 he was awarded the OBE.

Giles Havergal was Artistic Director of The Glasgow’s Citizens' Theatre for over 30 years.  Previously he was Director of Watford Palace Theatre.  In 1989 Giles Havergal’s adaptation of Graham Greene's Travels with My Aunt was presented at the Citizens’ Theatre.  The production subsequently transferred to the West End, then to Broadway, and in 2002 toured the UK.  His other adaptations include Summer Lightening, David Copperfield and Death in Venice. 

Michael Attenborough has been Director of the Almeida Theatre Company since 2002.  From 1980-84 he was Artistic Director of the Palace Theatre, Watford and between 1984-89 Artistic Director of the Hampstead Theatre.  At the Royal Shakespeare Company where he was Executive Producer and Resident Director from 1990-96 and Principal Associate Director between

 1996-2002, his productions included Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Henry IV parts 1 & 2 and Anthony and Cleopatra, After Easter by Anne Devlin, Amphibians by Billy Roche, Pentecost and The Prisoner’s Dilemma by David Edgar and The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan which transferred to the West End and then to Broadway.  He is now an Honorary Associate Artist of the RSC. For the Almeida he has directed the British première of Neil LaBute’s The Mercy Seat and the World première of Joanna Laurens’ Five Gold Rings.

 Graham Greene was born in Hertfordshire in 1904. While at Balliol College, Oxford he published his first book of verse. He continued to write throughout his lifetime, and served with the Secret Intelligence Service during the Second World War. He was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour.  He died in 1991.

Brighton Rock is presented at the Almeida in association with Bill Kenwright.

ADDRESS
Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London, N1 1TA      

BOX OFFICE 
Phone (24hr)
020 7359 4404 (24 hour, no booking fee)

In person
10.00am – 7.30pm, Monday - Saturday

Tickets
£6.00 - £27.50, concessions available

PERFORMANCES

Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm, Saturday matinees at 3.00pm, Press Nights at 7.00pm

There will be weekday matinees for Brighton Rock on 20 October and 3 and 10 November, all at 2.30pm

 CAFE-BAR

 The Almeida Cafe-Bar is open from 11.30am - 11.00pm, Monday to Saturday, serving food, drinks and snacks

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