 |
|
His Girl
Friday
adapted
by John Guare from The Front Page by Ben Hecht and
Charles MacArthur and the Columbia Pictures film
First performance at the
Royal National Theatre: Olivier, London on 29th May
2003; closed 22nd November 2003.
Director: Jack O'Brien
Designer: Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
Music: Neil McArthur and Jonathan Cooper
Sound: Colin Pink
Fights: Paul Benzing
Dialect Coach: Kate Godfrey
Company Voice Work: Patsy Rodenburg
Running time: approx. 165 mins
|
|
Cast
(in
alphabetical order) |
Sam Beazley.....Rev. Peter
Davis
Paul Birchard.....Schwartz
Dermot Crowley.....Murphy
Tim Donoghue.....Wilson
Demetri Goritsas.....Endicott
Mike Grady.....Pinkus
Stephen Greif.....Diamond Louie
Paul Grunert.....Kruger
Tony Haygarth.....Woodenshoes Eichhorn
Alex Jennings.....Walter Burns
Richard Lintern.....Bruce Baldwin
Nathan Osgood.....Bensinger
David Ross.....Sheriff Hartman
Christopher Ryan.....McCue
Kerry Shale.....Earl Holub
Nicola Stephenson.....Mollie Malloy
Russell Tovey.....Ralph Sweeney
Harry Towb.....The Mayor
Margaret Tyzack.....Mrs Baldwin
Zoë Wanamaker.....Hildy Johnson
Company: Helen Anderson-Lee; David Baron; Paul Benzing;
Judith Coke; Kieran Flynn; Jamie Harding; Richard Hollis;
Penelope McGhie; Breffni McKenna; Andrew Westfield. |
Production |
Setting: the press
room of the Criminal Courts Building, Chicago. 7.30 pm,
Thursday 31st August 1939.
Days before Britain declares war on Germany, journalist Walter
Burns is preoccupied by conflicts closer to home. A
notorious murderer has escaped from police custody, and Burns
could be on the verge of the biggest story in his career.
Meanwhile, his ex-wife, star reporter Hildy Johnson, makes an unexpected
return to the press room to deliver some startling news of her
own... As Burns sets about trying to win her back, can Hildy resist chasing one last
scoop? |
Pictures |
| Click
thumbnails to enlarge (images will open in a new window): |
|
|
|
Thanks to Kerrie and to Natalie for some of
these pictures. |
Notes |
| His Girl Friday was
produced as part of the Travelex £10 Season. Two thirds
of tickets were priced at £10 to encourage first-time
theatregoers to attend a performance. |
Zoë, her co-star Alex
Jennings and the production's director, Jack
O'Brien, spoke about their work at a series of special
events organised by the Royal National Theatre. You can
read about what
Zoe had to say in the interviews
section. The National also hosted a discussion
about the history of His Girl Friday on stage and screen. |
During the production's run, Zoe was interviewed
about His Girl Friday on Channel 4's Richard and Judy. |
While Zoë starred in His Girl Friday, Robert Lindsay, who plays
her on-screen husband Ben Harper in BBC sitcom My
Family, also took to the stage at the National. He
played Nicolas Fouquet in
Nick Dear's Power, performed at the
Cottesloe. |
Reviews |
| Gemma, a
member of the fan
group, saw one of the first performances of His Girl
Friday, on 6th June 2003, and kindly agreed to write about her day: |
We set of to go to London at 9.30 am so I had planned to
spend the day there before going to see His Girl Friday.
The weather was miserable so I thought what a great day
this is going to be (sarcastically)! I
arrived in London at 11.06 am I went over to the National
Theatre just to show my Dad it and we ended up staying
in there for a few hours due to the wind and rain!!
Whilst we were there I saw Jack O'Brien the Director!
I
got speaking to him and asked a few questions...
What a
lovely little guy he is! He was telling me how disappointed he
is to have to leave and go back to New York as
he has been nominated a Tony Award for Hairspray! He
really doesn’t want to go but he has to!! He is
such a happy go lucky guy and is a great laugh!! |
So
after that we went out and went over to Covent Gardens
and went into the London Theatre Museum, which I did
thoroughly enjoy looking around and seeing how the make
up is done for various plays! I was going down a hallway
where I noticed many famous handprints and signatures; I
came across Sam Wanamaker’s! I did look for Zoë’s
but it just wasn’t there! We
were ages in the Museum so when we came out we pranced
around a few shops! By this time my feet were
killing me, my hair was soaked, my skirt was
blowing up everywhere and my brolly had snapped! I just
couldn’t wait to get back to the National and sit
down! So we did!! It was 5.30 pm by this time.
We grabbed
a few drinks and sat down for a break, I then needed the
loo and fell down the stairs! I just thought God this is
hell! I just wanted to cry! |
6.00 pm
came and we were allowed into the Auditorium (I thought
to my self mmm, strange considering it doesn’t start
till 7.30 pm). Well we got in and sat down and Jack
O'Brien and some guy who I cant remember the name of
came out and spoke to the audience due to it being the
first night of a full performance (platform night)!
He
told us about how he made the play happen as they had a
very tight budget partly to do with the £10 Travelex
tickets and how the actors and actresses were doing the
production for nearly nothing! He said it was very hard
to portray the way it would be set but he had done it!
I
then felt heavy breathing at the back of my neck so me
being nosy turned around to find Tom Stoppard sitting
behind me!!! I was so shocked lol! |
We
then, when it was finished, got sent out of the theatre
until 7.00 pm then we were allowed back in! I just wanted
it to hurry up and start. I got comfy and it started!
The set was beautiful and you could just feel the
goodness of the play straight away! Within 2 minutes of
it starting I was laughing. About Zoë and Alex:
you could just feel the blend of
warmth in the relationship between them! They made
it happen! They delivered their lines fantastically!
Especially with a full American accent! Zoë played
Hildy Johnson just the way I remember from watching the
movie! I was very very impressed!! It was so funny watching her being so witty and so
laddish, like with the boys, when she really doesn’t
consider herself as being one of 'them'.... With every line she
cracked you could just see her little thin lips trying
to let a smile out which was great! She just knew how to
charm everyone! The play was all very natural just as you could imagine
set way back in 1939; it all came very alive and kicking
- delivering so many words within a minute was
fascinating!! It was so funny yet oh-so-serious!
I didn’t expect it to be half as good as it was! |
I
was so thrilled that my day didn’t end in tatters, as
I thought it would have with having such a bad start!!
Mind you, watching anything starring the best
actress in the world (meaning Zoë) will definitely
cheer you up, and it just makes you forget the rest of
your day! I can’t even explain how good it was without
saying it was the best performance I have seen ever!
I
enjoyed it more than the rest I have seen - and I have
seen a lot of shows!!! |
So
if you've not booked your ticket, I suggest you do NOW!!
I am due to see it again on 28th August '03! |
Press reviews: |
| First
Night: His Girl Friday - Mark Shenton, BBC London |
| His
Girl Friday - Philip Fisher, The British Theatre
Guide |
| His
Girl Friday - Neil Ludwick, culturevulture.net |
| His
Girl Friday - Lizzie Loveridge, CurtainUp London |
| His
Girl Friday - Michael Billington, The Guardian |
| His
Girl Friday - Alan Bird, London Theatre Guide |
| Hold
on to your hats - Susannah Clapp, The Observer |
| Miscellaneous
reviews - excerpts from press reviews, from
Albemarle of London (scroll down page) |
| Miscellaneous
reviews - excerpts from press reviews, from the
Royal National Theatre's official His Girl Friday
website |
Links |
| Alex
Jennings fansite |
| His
Girl Friday - official website from the Royal
National Theatre |
| His
Girl Friday production photos - Playbill |
|
Back to top |
|
