In celebration of its 200th Birthday, The Old Vic today announces a special additional production to its Bicentenary season. The acclaimed Paines Plough production of Sea Wall, by Simon Stephens and performed by Andrew Scott, will play at The Old Vic from Mon 18 Jun until Sat 30 Jun 2018.
Things for Alex are good. He loves his wife, his daughter, his city, his job. But sometimes the force of life can crash against you. Sometimes everything you thought you could always depend on can be taken away. Sea Wall was written by Simon Stephens as a stage play for Andrew Scott and first performed at the Bush Theatre in 2008 and subsequently performed at the NT Shed in 2013 and the Project Arts Centre, Dublin Theatre Festival in 2015.
Andrew Scott said: ‘I’m so excited to return to The Old Vic. Sea Wall, to my mind, is a stunning piece of writing, and the idea of performing Simon’s beautiful play in this most magical of theatres makes me really happy. Thanks Matthew for having us. I hope The Old Vic audiences will love the play as much as I do.’
Simon Stephens said: ‘This news has just about made my summer. The collaboration with George Perrin and Andrew Scott on Sea Wall is as special as any collaboration in my working life. The idea that we can bring our work to a theatre as magical and magnificent as The Old Vic quite fills my heart and blows my mind.’
Matthew Warchus, The Old Vic Artistic Director, said: ‘I’m so delighted that Andrew is joining us in this very special Bicentenary Season. There are just 14 performances for audiences to catch one of the world’s most mesmeric actors in this stunning play by the great Simon Stephens.’
George Perrin, Artistic Director of Paines Plough said: ‘It’s an honour to bring Simon’s exquisite play and Andrew’s virtuosic performance to The Old Vic - the first London stage I directed on. I’m thrilled that with The Old Vic, Paines Plough is able to make new writing of this quality accessible to so many people.’
Andrew Scott’s theatre credits include Design for Living, Dublin Carol (The Old Vic); Hamlet (Almeida & West End, Critics Circle Award for Best Shakespearean performance); The Dazzle (Found111); Cock; A Girl in a Car with a Man (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); Birdland, Dying City, Crave, Playing The Victim (Royal Court); 50 Years on Stage, Emperor, Galilean and Aristocrats (National Theatre); The Vertical Hour (Broadway); Sea Wall (Bush Theatre/Traverse Theatre/National Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Spirit of Life Award Winner -Gate Theatre); Six Characters in search of an Author; A Woman of No Importance; The Marriage of Figaro (Abbey Theatre Dublin). Film credits include Spectre; Jimmy’s Hall; Victor Frankenstein; Locke; Pride (BIFA Best Supporting Actor); Denial; Swallows and Amazons; Alice Through the Looking Glass; The Stag; Handsome Devil; Steel Country; Saving Private Ryan; The Duel; Korea; Nora; Dead Bodies (IFTA Best Actor in a Lead Role). Television creditsinclude Sherlock (BAFTA Best Supporting Actor; IFTA Best Supporting TV Actor); The Hollow Crown, The Town, The Hour, John Adams, Band of Brothers, My Life in Film, Longitude, Lennon Naked and Legacy. Andrew has twice won the BBC Audio Drama award for his work on radio.
Simon Stephens is an award-winning playwright. Theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre); Fatherland (Manchester International Festival 2017/Lyric & LIFT Festival 2018); Heisenberg (West End); Obsession (Barbican/Toneelgroep Amsterdam); The Seagull, Herons, Morning, Three Kingdoms, A Thousand Stars that Explode in the Sky and Punk Rock – winner 2009 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production (Lyric Hammersmith); The Cherry Orchard, I Am The Wind (Young Vic); Carmen Disruption (Deutsches Schauspielhaus/Almeida Theatre); Nuclear War, Birdland, Wastwater – winner 2011 Theater Heute’s Award, Motortown - winner 2007 Theater Heute’s Award, Country Music, Herons, Bluebird (Royal Court); The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time - Winner Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play (National Theatre/Apollo/Gielgud/Barrymore Theatre, Broadway); A Doll’s House (Young Vic/Duke Of York’s); Pornography - winner 2008 Theater Heute’s Award (Deutsches Schauspielhaus/Edinburgh Festival/Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre); Sea Wall (Bush); Harper Regan, Port - winner 2001 Pearson Award for Best Play (Royal Exchange/National Theatre) and On The Shore Of The Wide World - winner 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play (Royal Exchange). Film and television credits include: Dive, Pornography and Cargese. Radio credits include: Five Letters Home to Elizabeth and Digging. Simon is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith and Associate Playwright at the Royal Court.
George Perrin is the Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough and was formerly Joint Artistic Director of nabokov. His previous directing credits for Paines Plough include Love, Lies and Taxidermy by Alan Harris, Growth by Luke Norris, I Got Superpowers for my Birthday by Katie Douglas (Roundabout/Edinburgh Festival Fringe/National Tour); Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe (National and International Tour/Barrow Street Theater, New York /HBO); Lungs by Duncan Macmillan, The Human Ear and The Initiate by Alexandra Wood, Our Teacher’s a Troll by Dennis Kelly (Roundabout/Edinburgh Festival Fringe/National Tour); Not the Worst Place by Sam Burns (Sherman Cymru/Theatr Clwyd); Sea Wall by Simon Stephens (Bush Theatre/Dublin Theatre Festival/National Theatre Shed); Good with People by David Harrower (59East59 Theatres New York/Traverse Theatre/Oran Mor); London by Simon Stephens (National Tour); Sixty Five Miles by Matt Hartley (Hull Truck); The 8th by Che Walker and Paul Heaton (Latitude Festival/Barbican/Manchester International Festival/National Tour); Dig by Katie Douglas (Oran Mor/National Tour); and Juicy Fruits by Leo Butler (Oran Mor/National Tour); House of Agnes by Levi David Addai, The Dirt Under the Carpet by Rona Munro, Crazy Love by Che Walker, My Little Heart Dropped in Coffee by Duncan Macmillan and Babies by Katie Douglas.
Paines Plough is the UK’s national theatre of new plays. Paines Plough was formed in 1974 over a pint of Paines bitter in the Plough pub. Since then they’ve produced more than 130 new productions by world renowned playwrights like Stephen Jeffreys, Abi Morgan, Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Dennis Kelly and Mike Bartlett. They’ve toured those plays to hundreds of places from Manchester to Moscow to Maidenhead. Over the last two years they’ve produced 22 shows and performed them in 180 places across four continents. They tour to more than 30,000 people a year from Cornwall to the Orkney Islands; in village halls and Off-Broadway, at music festivals and student unions, online and on radio, and in our own pop-up theatre Roundabout. For Programme 2018 they continue to tour the length and breadth of the UK from clubs and pubs to lakeside escapes and housing estates. Roundabout hosts a jam-packed Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme and brings mini-festivals to each stop on its nationwide tour and can even be seen on screen with Every Brilliant Thing available on Sky Atlantic and HBO.
‘One of the most devastating 30 minutes you are ever likely to experience in the theatre.’
Mon 18 Jun – Sat 30 Jun 2018
Mon–Sat: 7pm; Sat: 5.30pm & 7pm; Fri 29 Jun: 6pm
Recommended age 14+
