New Yorkers are to get a double dose of acclaimed London theatre in the coming months as Brooklyn’s renowned St Ann’s Warehouse hosts transfers of both the Donmar Warehouse’s Henry IV and the Young Vic’s Gillian Anderson-led A Streetcar Named Desire.
The productions-cross-Atlantic plans were announced separately today by the hit-producing London venues. The Donmar Warehouse’s Henry IV, which is the second of director Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Shakespeare productions to transfer to the Brooklyn theatre, will be first to arrive stateside for a run from 6 November to 6 December.
Starring Olivier Award winner Harriet Walter in the title role, Henry IV followed the huge success of Lloyd’s Julius Caesar and continued the conversation about Shakespeare and gender with an all-star cast returning to the planned trilogy’s prison setting.
Speaking about the transfer, the Donmar Warehouse’s Executive Producer Kate Pakenham commented: “We were overwhelmed by the response to the first instalment, Julius Caesar, which sparked important new conversations on both sides of the Atlantic and found such a warm welcome and perfect home at St Ann’s in 2013. During that visit, we were delighted to be part of the ground-breaking ceremony for the new building, so to have been invited to present the inaugural production in St. Ann’s dynamic new Brooklyn space is a huge honour.”
New Yorkers will then have to wait until 23 April 2016 for the US premiere of Benedict Andrews’ hugely successful take on A Streetcar Named Desire. The payoff will be more than worth it however, as the original starring cast, including Anderson as the iconic Blanche DuBois, Ben Foster as the abusive Stanley Kowalski and Vanessa Kirby as his sister Stella, will all reprise their roles.
Anderson, who received an Olivier Award nomination for her turn, described the company as “utterly thrilled” to be bringing the play to New York, while the Young Vic’s Artistic Director David Lan said: “The Young Vic is over the moon to be sharing this breakthrough production with New York audiences and to be part of the typically glorious season at the wonderful re-invented St Ann’s.”
The double bill of British offerings are just the latest London successes to find a place on the New York stage. This year’s Tony Awards – the Broadway equivalent of the Olivier Awards – is a perfect demonstration, boasting a nominations list dominated by plays first seen on the London stage, from The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time to Wolf Hall. The winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming this Sunday.