A Younger TheatreThis summer, graduating actors from LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art) will present three exciting productions at the Lyric Hammersmith: Bruce Norris’s provocative Clybourne Park, Alan Ayckbourn’s celebrated farce, Absent Friends, and the stylish, fast-paced musical, City of Angels. But the best news is that tickets are completely free of charge, so there really is no excuse not to go and see them all. See below for more information about the productions including booking details.
Presented by students from the academy’s Two Year Acting Course and Two Year Stage Management & Technical Theatre Course.
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
An amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Book
28 May, 1 & 5 June 2013 | 7.30pm
31 May & 4 June 2013 | 2pm
It’s 1959 and – despite their neighbours’ protestations – Bev and Russ are desperately trying to sell their house in up-market Chicago suburb, Clybourne Park, to a black family.
Fast-forward to 2009 and Clybourne Park is an all-black neighbourhood in the process of gentrification. Now it is a white couple, Steve and Lindsey, who must jump through social and bureaucratic hoops to buy the house.
Winner of the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for best new play, Bruce Norris’s provocative comedy pushes marital and racial tensions to breaking point and back again.
Absent Friends by Alan Ayckbourn
An amateur production by arrangement with Samuel French Ltd
29 & 31 May, 4 June 2013 | 7.30pm
3 & 6 June 2013 | 2pm
Diana, Paul, Evelyn, John and Marge are hosting a tea party for their estranged friend, Colin, to lift his spirits after the death of his fiancée. However, no sooner have the friends assembled in Diana and Paul’s front room than their good intentions give way to simmering resentment.
Alan Ayckbourn’s celebrated domestic farce, revived last year at the Harold Pinter Theatre, parades the insecurities and failings of a group of middle class friends, who seem to be in far greater need of comfort than Colin.
City of Angels by Larry Gelbart, Cy Coleman & David Zippel
An amateur production by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Limited of New York
30 May, 3 & 6 June 2013 | 7.30pm
1 & 5 June 2013 | 2pm
Desperate to get his detective thriller made into a blockbuster film noir, Stine makes endless alterations to his plot to please Hollywood director and big shot, Buddy Fidler. Life soon starts to mimic art as Stine’s personal circumstances become as compromised and confused as his screenplay.
Winner of six Tony Awards on its premiere in 1990, this stylish and fast-paced musical explores artistic integrity and the relationship between the creator and created.