Theatrical Productions 1
~~~~ Another Country (1983) ~~~~
| Julian Mitchell | Play |
| Stuart Burge | Director |
Summary:
More than 20 years ago, Julian Mitchell's Another Country opened in the West End. It created a sensation, inspired a film and launched the careers of Rupert Everett, Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day Lewis and Colin Firth.
Another Country is the story of two idealistic, rebellious students at an elite public boys school in the 1930s. As they stuggle against their own oppressors, their personal revolutions threaten to shake the school to its very foundations.
Cast:
| Colin Firth | Guy Bennett |
| James Newall | Tommy Judd |
| Alex Guard | Donald Devenish |
| Julien Ball | Jim Menzies |
| Miles Richardson | Fowler |
| James Wilby | Barclay |
| Mark Burgess | Sanderson |
| Pip Torrens | Delahay |
| Miles Griffith / Miles Parsey or Nicholas Irons / Dorian MacDonald / Joseph Wright Vaughan Cunningham: John Westbrook | Wharton |
~~~~ The Doctor's Dilemma (1984) ~~~~
(Thanks to Kitty for the Program scans)
| George Bernard Shaw | Play |
| Peter Coe | Director |
| Terry Parsons | Set |
| John Bartlett | Costumes |
| Spike Gaden | Lightning |
Summary:
The story opens on the day that Ridgeon, a prominent research doctor, is knighted. His friends gather to congratulate him. The friends include Sir Patrick, a distinguished old physician; Walpole, an aggressive surgeon; Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonington, a charismatic society doctor; and Blenkinsop, a threadbare but honest government doctor. Each one has his favorite theory of illness and method of cure. These are incompatible--one man's cure is another man's poison. Nonetheless, they all get along.
A young woman (Mrs. Dubechat) desperately seeks help for her husband from Ridgeon, who has evidently found a way to cure consumption by "stimulating the phagocytes." Ridgeon initially refuses, but changes his mind for two reasons--Dubechat is a fine artist and Ridgeon is smitten with his wife.
When the doctors meet Dubechat, however, they find that he is a dishonest scoundrel. Ridgeon eventually decides to treat Blenkinsop (who also has consumption) and refer the artist to Bloomfield Bonington, this insuring that he will die. In the end Ridgeon justifies his behavior as a plan to let Dubechat die before his wife find out what an amoral cad he actually was. This, in fact, happens and Dubechat's artistic reputation soars.
Cast:
| Colin Firth | Louis Dubedat |
| Patrick Cargill |
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| Gayle Hunnicutt |
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| Tom Baker |
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| Michael Craig |
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| Emilyn Williams |
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| John Heal |
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| Tony Jay |
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| Michael Logan |
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| Larry Noble |
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~~~~ The Lonely Road (1985) ~~~~
| Arthur Schnitzler 1862-1931 | Play |
| Ronald Adam and Christopher Fettes | English version of the play |
| Christopher Fettes | Director |
| Maria Bjornson | Design |
| Paul Pyant | Lightning |
Summary:
The action takes place in Vienna in the early years of the 20th Century.
Julian (Anthony Hopkins), a famous painter, has deserted two women: Gabriele (Ann Lynn) and Irene (Samantha Eggar). Gabriele promptly marries professor Wegrat, now also a famous painter, and gives him a son, Felix (Colin Firth), now 23, who is actually Julian's son. As the curtain rises, Gabriele is ill and dying; Felix knows nothing... Julian now wants a son, with the ostentatious intensity of those who leave the upbringing of their children to someone else.
Cast:
| Basil Hoskins | Professor Wegrat, Director of the Academy of Painters |
| Ann Lynn | Gabriele, wife |
| Colin Firth | Felix, son |
| Christina Nagy | Johanna, daughter |
| Anthony Hopkins | Julian Fichtner |
| Alan Dobie | Stephan von Sala |
| Samantha Eggar | Irene Herms |
| Rupert Frazer | Dr. Franz Reumann |
| John Darrell | Sala's Manservant |
| Richard Henry Edwards | Fichtner's Manservant |
| Andrea Brooks | Wegrat's Maid |
| David Bauckham | Hospital Attendant |
Review:
"Colin Firth's Felix and Rupert Frazer's doctor stand out with nervy, febrile dignity". Review by John Peter, The Sunday Times, February 10, 1985
Colin Quote:
On working with Anthony Hopkins:
"I learned so much from him. He gave me everything, he listened intensely--and yet it was him everyone looked at."
~~~~ Desire Under the Elms (1987) ~~~~
| Eugene O'Neill | Play |
| Patrick Mason | Director |
| Joe Vanek | Design |
| Mick Hughes | Lightning |
| Jeremy Sams | Music |
Summary:
Desire Under the Elms is set on a Connecticut farm in the middle of the 19th Century and features the Cabot family.
Eugene O'Neill's most successful play during the mid-1920’s was Desire Under the Elms, which he wrote just after his brother’s death. Desire received its Broadway premiere in 1924. It proved an immediate and lasting success, and moved O’Neill from the expressionist and theatrical experimental plays of his early career into psychological and character driven work.
Cast:
| The Family: | |
| Tom Hickey | Ephraim Cabot |
| Richard Cordery | Peter, son |
| sam Douglas | Simeon, son |
| Colin Firth | Eben, son |
| Carmen du Sautoy | Abbie, wife |
Reviews:
in "Plays and Players", July 1987:
"... Eben, played with a remarkable intensity by Colin Firth ..."
"... Firth's performance is all the more creditable ..."
Continued here
