Summer And Smoke Tickets
About Summer And Smoke
Following a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre, Rebecca Frecknall’s ‘shiveringly beautiful production’ (The Sunday Times) of Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke transfers to the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
Trapped between desire and a life of obligation, Alma meets John and her world turns upside down. With ‘spellbinding, stripped-back staging’ (Financial Times), this intoxicating classic about love, loneliness and self-destruction evokes the simmering passions of a sweltering summer in small-town Mississippi.
‘Patsy Ferran is a genuine marvel’ as Alma (Independent) and Matthew Needham ’fires up the stage’ (The Times) as John in this ‘unmissable Tennessee Williams revival’ (The Telegraph). This innovative and ‘exquisite, poignant production’ (Financial Times) ‘announces ‘Frecknall as a director of real vision‘ (Independent).
Run time
2 hrs 40 min (incl. interval)
Categories
Start date
10th November, 2018
End date
19th January, 2019
Summer And Smoke cast and creative team
By: Tennessee Williams
Director: Rebecca Frecknell
Producer: Almeida Theatre and Sonia Friedman Productions
Cast list: Patsy Ferran, Matthew Needham, Seb Carrington, Nancy Crane, Eric MacLennan, Forbes Masson, Tok Stephen and Anjana Vasan
Design: Tom Scutt
Lighting: Lee Curran
Sound: Carolyn Downing
Venue
Directions
Location: West End
Railway station: Charing Cross
Bus numbers: (Charing Cross Road) 24, 29, 176; (Strand) 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 87, 91, 139
Night bus numbers: (Charing Cross Road) 24, 176, N5, N20, N29, N41, N279; (Strand) 6, 23, 139, N9, N15, N11, N13, N21, N26, N44, N47, N87, N89, N91, N155, N343, N551
Car park: Chinatown (5mins)
Directions from tube: (5mins) Take Charing Cross Road to St Martin’s Court, head down until the end and then take a right onto St Martin’s Lane until you reach the theatre on your right.
More information about Summer And Smoke
Set in a small town in Mississippi in 1916, Alma Winemiller (the minister’s daughter) has grown up loving the boy next door. When her childhood sweetheart, John Buchanan Jr, returns home from medical school, she hopes to become reacquainted. A wild and mischievous hedonist, John spends the hot summer nights drinking, gambling, and romancing. Conversely, Alma is quiet, reserved, and eager to hold on to her strong moral standards. Despite their differences, John and Alma are drawn to each other. Yet amid the collection of pianos onstage, the violent outbursts and rising tension disrupt any moments of harmony. When Alma discovers that John has been with another woman, the true heartbreaking nature of Tennessee Williams’s story is revealed.
After a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre, this five-star production of “Summer and Smoke” transfers to the West End for a strictly limited season. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall, this poignant play about loneliness, love, and desire stars Patsy Ferran and Matthew Needham.
What to watch for
The 1948 Broadway production won a Tony Award for Scenic Design in 1949.
The play found wide critical favour in the 1952 Off-Broadway revival with Geraldine Page, who subsequently re-created the role of Alma in Peter Glenville’s 1961 film version.
Alma was one of the characters Tennessee Williams loved the most. Of all his characters, he believed she articulated his thoughts best.
The first professional show Rebecca Frecknall directed was a production of “Summer and Smoke” at the Southwark Playhouse in 2012. Her second interpretation of the show premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2018, before transferring to the West End.
The play’s original title was “Chart of Anatomy,” with the revised title “Summer and Smoke” thought to have been derived from a poem by Hart Crane.
Tickets
Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.
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