Principal Partner
In a new production by Christopher Hampton
By Ödön von Horváth
It’s just another normal day at a small town station where a handful of passengers are waiting for the stopping train. Then Thomas Hudetz, the well-liked station master, is momentarily distracted by a young woman and seconds later eighteen people are dead.
Standing in the wreckage of the 405 Express train, can Thomas accept the truth that is hurtling towards him and if not, how long can he postpone the day of judgment?
Ödön von Horváth’s penultimate play is a vividly characterised portrayal of a society that refuses to take responsibility for its actions.
Christopher Hampton is one of Britain’s leading playwrights and translators. His previous adaptations include von Horváth’s Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (for stage and film), the West End hits Art and God of Carnage by Yasmin Reza, and the screenplay for Atonement. His own plays include The Philanthropist, Tales from Hollywood and The Talking Cure.
James Macdonald previously directed The Triumph of Love at the Almeida. He was associate director at the Royal Court for 14 years, premiering works by among others Sarah Kane, Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp; since then he has directed A Number for HBO/BBC, and plays for the National Theatre, the Lincoln Center and Public Theater in New York, in the West End, on Broadway and at the Schaubühne Berlin.
Performances are approx. 1hr 45mins. There is no interval.
Latecomers may not be admitted.
Evening performances 7.30pm
Midweek matinees 2.30pm on 30 Sept and 14 Oct
Saturday matinees 3.00pm from 12 Sept
Alfons
David Annen’s theatre credits include A Disappearing Number for Théâtre de Complicité, Chains of Dew and Suppressed Desires for the Orange Tree, Henry VIII for the RSC, Guantanamo Tricycle Theatre and West End, After Mrs. Rochester for Shared Experience and in the West End, and Andorra and Demons and Dybbuks for the Young Vic. His screen credits include The West Wittering Affair, Something For Nothing, Criminal Justice, The Commander, Tales from the Jungle, The Chatterley Affair, Gideon’s Daughter, Mile High, Doctors, Dream Team, The Bill and Casualty.
Mrs Hudetz
Suzanne last performed at the Almeida as Goneril in King Lear. Other extensive theatre credits include The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse, Macbeth for Chichester Festival Theatre, The Comedy of Errors, Solstice and Les Liaisons Dangereuses for the RSC, as well as many productions for the National Theatre including Hedda Gabler, The Voysey Inheritance and The Shaughraun. Her many television credits include Murphy’s Law, My Family, Life Begins, Between the Lines and The Lost Prince. Her film credits include 1939, The Escort and Strapless
Anna
Laura Donnelly was last on stage inRomeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park. Her television credits include Merlin, Occupation, Be More Ethnic, Sugar Rush and Rough Diamond. On film her credits include Dread, Insatiable and Right Hand Drive.
Kohut / Customer
Ben Fox’s theatre credits include Awaking Beauty, A Trip to Scarborough and Forget-me-not-Lane for the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Laurel and Hardy and Some Like It Hot for the Woolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Troilus and Cressida and Bedroom Farce for Theatre Clwyd. His screen credits include Sweeney Todd, Holby City, Behind Closed Doors and Bubble and Squeak.
Landlord
Tom was last seen at the Almeida in Lulu. Tom Georgeson’s theatre credits include When We Are Married for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Glass Eels for Hampstead Theatre, Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness for the Royal Court and Frozen and Dealer’s Choice for the National Theatre. His screen credits include Ashes to Ashes, Our Mutual Friends, Hancock and Joan, Land Girls, Notes on a Scandal and Morality Play.
Ferdinand
Daniel Hawksford’s theatre credits include King Lear at the Globe, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and Much Ado About Nothing for the National Theatre as well as Memory, Aqua Nero and Troilus and Cressida all for Theatre Clwyd, and The School of Night, Cymberline and The Taming of the Shrew for the RSC. His screen credits include Colditz, Pelican Blood and Flesh and Blood.
Salesman / Detective / Platelayer
Jack recently appeared at the Almeida Theatre in Marianne Dreams. His other theatre credits include Cyrano de Bergerac for Chichester Festival Theatre, Frozen at Riverside Studios and Richard II at the Old Vic, as well as many credits for the National Theatre including The Menu, The Coast of Utopia and The Merchant of Venice. His screen roles include Trial and Retribution, Canary Wharf and Madharasapattanam.
Thomas Hudetz
Joseph Millson’s theatre credits include Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Pillars of the Community for the National Theatre, Fear and Misery for the Royal Court, Cinderella for the Old Vic and numerous productions for the RSC including Much Ado About Nothing, King John and The God in the Manger. Joseph Millson is best known on screen as Sam Morgan in Peak Practice and Jason James in EastEnders. His other screen credits include Ashes to Ashes, Survivors, New Tricks, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Casino Royale and Telstar.
Thomas Hudetz
Joseph Millson’s theatre credits include Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Pillars of the Community for the National Theatre, Fear and Misery for the Royal Court, Cinderella for the Old Vic and numerous productions for the RSC including Much Ado About Nothing, King John and The God in the Manger. Joseph Millson is best known on screen as Sam Morgan in Peak Practice and Jason James in EastEnders. His other screen credits include Ashes to Ashes, Survivors, New Tricks, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Casino Royale and Telstar.
Policeman
Jake Nightingale’s stage credits include Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Palace Theatre, Mr Puntilla and his Man Matti for the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Steptoe and Son at the Comedy Theatre, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads for the National Theatre and many productions for the RSC. His screen credits include Oliver Twist, Consenting Adults, The Vice, Hustle, Gulliver’s Travels and To Kill a King.
Leni
Julie Riley’s theatre credits include Amateur Girl for Hull Truck, Road and Spring and Port Wine for Bolton Octagon, Feed for Oldham Coliseum, Beautiful Thing for Nottingham Playhouse,
Dust to Dust at the Assembly Rooms and Messiah at the Riverside Studios. Her screen credits include Doctors, Holby City, Emmerdale and Donovan.
Woodsman / Inspector
Frau Leimgruber
Sarah Woodward’s theatre credits include Rookery Nook for the Menier Chocolate Factory, Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing for The Globe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, Tom and Clem at the Aldwych and Habeas Corpus and The Real Thing for the Donmar Warehouse. Her screen credits include Bright Young Things, Doctors, Final Demand and New Tricks.
Translator
Christopher Hampton’s version of Yasmina Reza’s Conversations After a Burial was presented by the Almeida in 2000. He has also collaborated with Reza on Art and God of Carnage. He has previously adapted von Horváth’s Tales from the Vienna Woods, Faith Hope and Charity and Don Juan Comes Back from the War. In his own play, Tales from Hollywood, von Horváth features as a major character. Hampton’s other plays include White Chameleon and The Talking Cure both for the National Theatre where his version of An Enemy of the People was also staged. More recently his adaptations of The Seagull and Three Sisters were produced in London. His other theatre work includes Les Liaisons Dangereuses - for which he also wrote the Academy Award winning screenplay, and Sunset Boulevard. His film work includes Carrington, Mary Reilly, The Quiet American and Atonement.
Director
James Macdonald last directed The Triumph of Love for the Almeida. His other more recent directing credits include Top Girls on Broadway with Marisa Tomei and Martha Plimpton, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other for the National Theatre and Glengarry Glen Ross at the Apollo Theatre. His other credits include Drunk Enough to Say I Love You and Dying City, both for the Royal Court, and Exiles for the National Theatre. Previously he has directed Love’s Labour’s Lost and Richard II for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Roberto Zucco and The Tempest for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Blasted, The Changing Room, Cleansed and A Number all for the Royal Court. His opera credits include Eugene Onegin and Rigoletto for Welsh National Opera, Wolf Cub Village/Night Banquet for Almeida Opera and Lives of the Great Poisoners for Second Stride/Riverside Studios. James Macdonald’s production of Caryl Churchill’s A Number, starring Tom Wilkinson and Rhys Ifans, has recently been shown on BBC2.
Design
Miriam trained in costume design at Akademie für Kostüm Design in Hamburg and in theatre design at Central Saint Martins. She was the overall winner of the 1999 Linbury Prize.
For the Almeida: When the Rain Stops Falling.
Other theatre design (set and costume) includes: Everybody Loves A Winner (Manchester International Festival);In the Red and Brown Water; The Good Soul Of Szechuan; Generations(Young Vic); Six Characters In Search Of An Author(Chichester Festival Theatre/West End); The Bacchae (National Theatre of Scotland/Lyric Hammersmith); Realism (National Theatre of Scotland); Relocated; My Child; The Wonderful World of Dissocia; Way to Heaven (Royal Court Theatre); Red Demon(Young Vic/Japan); The Bee(Soho Theatre/Japan); Long Time Dead, pool (no water)(Theatre Royal Plymouth); Unprotected(Traverse/Liverpool Everyman); Trade (RSC/Soho Theatre); Guantanamo;Honor Bound to Defend Freedom (Tricycle Theatre/West End/New York/San Francisco).
Dance (set and costume) includes: Frame Of View (Didy Veldman in New York); Cinderella (Göteborg Opera Ballet Company);Dalston Songs(Royal Opera House);Hartstocht(Introdans, Netherlands);Sacrifice (Welsh National Opera); Tenderhooks (Canadian National Ballet).
Costume Design
Born in Germany, Moritz studied at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, and at the Slade School of Fine Art and was the overall winner of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design in 2001.
Costume designs include Wayne McGregor’s Infra and Chroma (Royal Ballet); Dido, Queen of Carthage and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other (National Theatre); All About My Mother (Old Vic); La Cenerentola (Glyndebourne Festival Opera & Deutsche Oper Berlin); Vivaldi’s Ottone in villa (Kiel Opera); Rigoletto (Hanover State Opera); Die Zauberflöte (Lucerne).
Costumes and co-set designs include the world premiere of Thomas Adès’s The Tempest (Royal Opera House) and set and costumes for the Bater Dance Project (Beirut).
Future projects include costume designs for The Messiah (English National Opera) and Aida (Royal Opera House).
Lighting
Previously for the Almeida:The Homecoming; Marianne Dreams; Dying for It; Tom and Viv; Romance; Macbeth. Other Theatre includes: The Observer; England People Very Nice; Mrs Affleck; Oedipus; Her Naked Skin; Afterlife; The Emperor Jones; Philistines; The Man of Mode; Thérèse Raquin; The Seafarer (also Broadway); Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; Fix Up; The Night Season; A Prayer For Owen Meany; Further Than the Furthest Thing; The Walls - For the National Theatre
Hamlet (also Denmark & Broadway); Madame de Sade; Twelfth Night - Donmar West End
A Streetcar Named Desire; Piaf (also West End & Buenos Aires); Parade; John Gabriel Borkman; Don Juan in Soho; Frost/Nixon (also West End & Broadway); The Cryptogram; The Wild Duck; Caligula; After Miss Julie; Henry IV; World Music; The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman he once Loved in the Former Soviet Union - Donmar Warehouse. King Lear; The Seagull; Much Ado About Nothing; King John; Romeo and Juliet; Julius Caesar; Two Gentlemen of Verona - RSC
No Man’s Land; Dealer’s Choice; A Life in the Theatre; Japes – West End. Dance includes:
Rhapsody - Royal Ballet; The Soldier's Tale - ROH2 at the Royal Opera House & Japanese Tour; The Canterville Ghost - English National Ballet; Pineapple Poll - Birmingham Royal Ballet; Darkness & Light - Miyako Yoshida, Tokyo
Opera includes: Chorus! - Welsh National Opera; The Silent Twins; As I Crossed the Bridge of Dreams; Love Counts; Man and Boy: Dada; The Cricket Recovers; The Embalmer - Almeida Opera; Pulse Shadows - Queen Elizabeth Hall; L’Orfeo - Opera City, Tokyo.
Music
Matthew is an artist, film composer, performer, producer, writer, owner of Accidental Records, remixer, and DJ. He is currently making a record out of a pig, while also remixing Mahler’s 10th Symphony for Deutsche Grammaphon and continuing to produce a number of emerging artists, including the acclaimed Eska. He has worked with the director James Macdonald before on two Caryl Churchill plays for the theatre and also wrote the score for James' HBO film of Churchill's A Number
Music production and co-production includes: Mercury Prize nominated album The Invisible (The Invisible); Jewellery (Micachu); The Bachelor (Patrick Wolf); Butterflies (Finn Peter); The Crying Light Live Show (with Antony Hegarty); Ruby Blue (Roisin Murphy); Hidden Place and Pagan Poetry on Bjork’s album Vespertine.
Film/TV composition: Human Traffic; Le Defi; Vida y Color; Agathe Clery; The Intended; La Confiance Regne; A Number and Gomorrah.
As an artist:Matthew has recorded numerous albums under the names Doctor Rockit, Wishmountain, Radio Boy, Herbert, The Matthew Herbert Big Band and Matthew Herbert. Albums include: Scale; Around The House; Second Hand Sounds; Bodily Functions; There’s Me And There’s You; Goodbye Swingtime; The Mechanics of Destruction; Plat Du Jour; Let’s All Make Mistakes.
Sound
Christopher trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has been Head of Sound at Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Court, and the National Theatre. Theatre includes: War Horse; Burnt by the Sun; Every Good Boy Deserves Favour; Gethsemane; Happy Days (world tour); Coram Boy; Dream Play; Humble Boy; Play Without Words; Albert Speer; Not About Nightingales; Machinal (National Theatre); Disappearing Number; Elephant Vanishes; Mnemonic; Street of Crocodiles; Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol (Complicite); All My Sons; Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; Moon for the Misbegotten; Coram Boy; Elephant Vanishes; Humble Boy (New York); Bacchae; Little Otik (National Theatre of Scotland); Aunt Dan & Lemon; Arsonists (Royal Court); Nocturnal (Gate Theatre);Moon for the Misbegotten; All About My Mother (Old Vic): Much Ado About Nothing; King John; Romeo and Juliet (RSC): Piaf; The Man Who Had All The Luck, Hecuba (Donmar Warehouse). Radio includes : Tennyson’s Maud; A Shropshire Lad. Christopher has won the NY Drama Desk award for Not About Nightingales and Mnemonic, and received Olivier Award nominations for Coram Boy, War Horse, and Piaf.
★★★★ “A gripping moral fable… a fine translation and a stunning production”
The Guardian
★★★★ “A fascinating drama… brought to life in a creepily atmospheric production which powerfully communicates the play’s thriller-like tension, haunted soul, and mordant humour”
The Independent
★★★★ “Measured, atmospheric, and thoroughly hypnotic…a wonderful restoration of a great play”
What's On Stage
★★★★ “James Macdonald’s fine production brings a whole community to vivid detailed life…a moral thriller…superb performances in even minor roles… Joseph Millson, Laura Donnelly and Sarah Woodward shine especially brightly. One leaves the theatre impatient to see more”
The Daily Telegraph
★★★★ Critics’ Choice: “A thought-provoking play… James Macdonald directs with a sure hand… an evening to savour”
Daily Express
David Annen
Suzanne Burden
Laura Donnelly
Patrick Drury
Ben Fox
Tom Georgeson
Daniel Hawksford
Jack James
Joseph Millson
Jake Nightingale
Julie Riley
Andy Williams
Sarah Woodward
Christopher Hampton - Translator
James Macdonald - Director
Miriam Buether - Designer
Moritz Junge - Costume Design
Neil Austin - Lighting
Matthew Herbert - Music
Christopher Shutt - Sound