Award-winning actress Janie Dee will be joined by Vincent Franklin, Rebecca Lacey, Michelle Asante, Charlie Maher and Lukwesa Mwamba in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike when it opens at Charing Cross Theatre later this month. Time to book your tickets!
Christopher Durang‘s Tony Award-winning comedy runs from 21 March to 16 May 2020.
Vanya and his sister Sonia live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up. But their sister Masha escaped many years ago and became a famous movie star. When Masha returns unannounced with her twenty-something boy toy, Spike, so begins a rollicking weekend of rivalry, regret and all-too true premonitions.
Durang’s irresistible comedy is one of the most lauded and beloved Broadway plays of recent years. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike blends Chekhov’s famous ennui with the modern-day concerns of celebrity, social networking and the troubling onset of middle age, into a laugh-out loud comedy. After initial runs at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre and off-Broadway, the Broadway production, which starred David Hyde-Pierce and Sigourney Weaver, opened in 2013 and went on to win the Tony Award for Best New Play.
Janie Dee
Dee is one of the UK’s most celebrated stage performers. Her metaphorical trophy cabinet includes the Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Comic Potential, another Olivier for her performance in Carousel and a UK Theatre Award for the title role in Hello, Dolly. Her recent stage roles include Mme Dubonnet in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of The Boyfriend, the acclaimed production of Follies at the National Theatre and the title role in Penelope Skinner‘s Linda in New York.
Franklin boast stage credits including the Almeida Theatre’s Mary Stuart and National Theatre’s This House and was also a regular in TV hits Gentleman Jack, Bodyguard and The Thick of It, while Lacey is well known for her roles in Monarch of the Glen, Casualty and May to December.
Asante recently finished leading the cast of Our Lady of Kibheo at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and has previously appeared at the Royal Court, Young Vic and Donmar Warehouse, Maher last London stage credit came in The Glass Menagerie at the Arcola Theatre, and Mwamba is best known as Amazon TV series Carnival Row‘s Callie.
The six-strong cast is directed by performer-turned-director Walter Bobbie whose productions include Footloose, Twentieth Century, Sweet Charity, High Fidelity and the iconic Chicago.
Bobbie is joined in the creative team by set designer David Korins, costume designer Emily Rebholz and sound designer Mark Bennett.
Playwright Durang’s plays include the Obie Award-winning trio Sister Mary Ignatious Explains It All For You, The Marriage of Bette and Boo and Betty’s Summer Vacation, The Actor’s Nightmare and Beyond Therapy. He also wrote the Tony-nominated book for musical A History of American Film.
During the run of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Charing Cross Theatre will also hold the first London Climate Change Festival. Contributors from the arts, science and business will come together before and after performances to talk, entertain and explore ways to live in better harmony with our planet. Proceeds from the events will be split between City to Sea,Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and to put towards further activities for the London Climate Change Festival.
About Charing Cross Theatre
Previously known as Gattis-in-The-Arches, The Players Theatre and the New Players Theatre, there has been a theatre under the arches of Charing Cross Station since 1864. The venue was renamed Charing Cross Theatre in January 2011 when it was taken over by new owners. Led by Chairman Vaughan Williams, Managing Director Steven M Levy, Operations Director Sean Sweeney and Artistic Director Thom Southerland, Charing Cross Theatre is committed to presenting affordable theatrical productions of the highest standards, while maintaining a collaborative atmosphere where seasoned professionals can work with emerging young talent. Recent productions include Harold and Maude (starring Sheila Hancock), The Knowledge (directed by Maureen Lipman), and musicals The Woman in White, Death Takes a Holiday, Ragtime and Titanic.
