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IVANOV Donmar West End 12 September - 29 November 2008
IVANOV by Anton Chekhov, in a new version by Tom Stoppard
Cast includes Kenneth Branagh
Director Michael GrandageOnce a man of limitless promise, Ivanov is plunged into debt. His marriage is in crisis, and his evenings are spent negotiating loans, avoiding love affairs and fighting to resist the small town jealousies and intrigues which threaten to engulf his life.
Kenneth Branagh plays the title role in Chekhov’s explosive portrait of a man plagued with self-doubt and despair, which vividly captures the electrifying atmosphere of Russia on the brink of change.
Booking opens on 28th January
Ticket Prices
Stalls & Royal Circle £32.50
Grand Circle & Boxes £25
Balcony £10PRESS Branagh & Law Lead Donmar to West End in 2008
What's On Stage, 10 September 2007
As his first five years at the Donmar Warehouse comes to a close, artistic director Michael Grandage has announced, at a press briefing held in London today, his plans to secure the theatre's long-term future, including the purchase of its Covent Garden base and the launch of a year-long West End residency at Wyndham's Theatre where Kenneth Branagh, Jude Law and Derek Jacobi will be amongst those heading the bill.
Donmar West End
The 'Donmar West End' season will run from September 2008 to August 2009. It launches with Grandage's new production of Chekhov's first play, 1887's "Ivanov", in a new version by Tom Stoppard. Kenneth Branagh - who has previously been directed by Grandage in "Richard III" at Sheffield Crucible, where Grandage was previously in charge, and who won the Whatsonstage.com Best Actor Award for his last London stage appearance, David Mamet's Edmond at the National in 2003 - will take the title role.Branagh was previously due to appear in Ivanov at the Bristol Old Vic this autumn, but when those plans evaporated following the regional theatre's decision to close, he brought the project to the Donmar. Grandage's production will run from 17 September (previews from 12 September) to 29 November 2008.
It will be followed by another Grandage production, of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", from 10 December 2008 (previews from 5 December) to 7 March 2009. Derek Jacobi - who appeared in the Donmar revival of John Mortimer's "A Voyage Round My Father", which transferred to Wyndham's in 2006 - will play Malvolio. Jacobi has also appeared in Grandage's productions of Don Carlos and The Tempest, both originated at Sheffield and transferred to the West End.
Grandage will also direct the third piece in the West End season, Yukio Mishima's 1965 Japanese play "Madame de Sade", translated by Donald Keene and running from 18 March (previews from 13 March) to 23 May 2009. The rarely seen drama centres on five women affected by the debauchery of the Marquis de Sade, including his wife and mother. No casting has yet been announced.
The Wyndham's programme culminates with Kenneth Branagh, who has been named an artistic associate for Donmar West End, taking over directing duties for a "Hamlet" in which British screen star Jude Law will take the title role. Law has had a long association with the Young Vic and its artistic director David Lan, who has directed the actor in his last two stage outings, Doctor Faustus in 2002 and "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" in 1999. He'd previously discussed plans to tackle the prince of Denmark at the Young Vic. Instead, his Hamlet will run at Wyndham's care of the Donmar from 3 June (29 May) to 22 August 2009.
The launch of Donmar West End will coincide with the reopening of Wyndham's following the final phase in the theatre's extensive refurbishment by owner Cameron Mackintosh.
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