STEPHEN DALDRY TO DIRECT
MATTHEW BEARD, CAREY MULLIGAN AND BILL NIGHY
IN MAJOR WEST END REVIVAL OF DAVID HARE’S
S K Y L I G H T
Stephen Daldry will direct Matthew Beard, Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy in a major West End revival of David Hare’s Olivier award-winning Skylight. Opening at the Wyndham’s Theatre on 18 June 2014, with previews from 6 June, booking opens today for this strictly limited run playing to 23 August 2014. Designs are by Bob Crowley with lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Paul Arditti and music by Paul Englishby. Skylight is produced in the West End by Robert Fox Limited.
On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant, a successful and charismatic restaurateur whose wife has recently died. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship only to find themselves locked in a dangerous battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires.
Matthew Beard (Edward Sergeant) will make his stage debut in Skylight. On film he played Blake Morrison in And When Did you Last See Your Father? for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards and theEvening Standard Film Awards. His other film credits include An Education, in which he starred alongside Carey Mulligan and One Day both directed by Lone Scherfig, Chat Room directed by Hideo Nakata and Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love. Later this year he will be seen in the film adaptation of Laura Wade’s Posh, also directed by Scherfig, as well as The Imitation Game and Singularity. In 2012 he starred in the TV miniseries Labyrinth, which aired on Channel 4 and in The Movie Network’s 2013 miniseries Rouge, opposite Thandie Newton.
Carey Mulligan (Kyra Hollis) will make her West End stage debut in Skylight. She was last on stage in the Atlantic Theater Company’s 2011 production of Through A Glass Darkly at the New York Theater Workshop. She made her Broadway debut in Ian Rickson’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theater. Mulligan came to prominence on film in Nick Hornby’s An Education directed by Lone Scherfig for which she won multiple awards, including the 2010 Best Actress BAFTA. Her extensive film credits also include the recently released Inside Llewellyn Davisdirected by the Coen Brothers, The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Lurhmann andShame directed by Steve McQueen, as well as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Public Enemies, The Greatest, Brothers, Never Let Me Go, Pride and Prejudice andWhen Did You Last See Your Father? Mulligan has recently finished filming Far From the Madding Crowd, directed by Thomas Vinterberg, due for release later this year. She begins filming Suffragette directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan later this month.
Bill Nighy (Tom Sergeant) has won numerous awards internationally for his work on both stage and screen. Previously Nighy has performed in David Hare’s Pravda andMap of the World as well as the 1997 production of Skylight. He was also seen in the world premiere of Hare’s The Vertical Hour on Broadway. His extensive film credits include Love Actually for which he won multiple awards, Wild Target, Pirate Radio, Valkyrie, AKA, Notes on a Scandal, Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, The Constant Gardner, Lawless Heart and Still Crazy. Nighy played the tenticled pirate captain Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Minister Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Park One and Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. On television his many credits include Page Eight, directed by David Hare, State of Play, The Girl in the Cafe, Gideon’s Daughter and The Men’s Room. More recently Nighy garnered great critical acclaim in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and was seen in Wrath of the Titans and Total Recall. Last year saw him in Jack and the Giant Slayer and About Time. As well as Skylight, Nighy’s 2014 projects include I, Frankenstein, Pride and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2. He will also be reunited with David Hare for Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield, the second and third instalments of The Worricker Trilogy television series.
Skylight premiered at the National Theatre in 1995 and that year was the recipient of the Laurence Olivier award for Best Play. The production transferred to the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End and then Broadway. In a return to the West End, the production opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in June 1997.
David Hare is the author of 29 plays for the stage. They include Plenty, Racing Demon, Skylight, Amy’s View, The Blue Room, The Judas Kiss, Via Dolorosa, Stuff Happens, The Vertical Hour, The Permanent Way, Pravda (with Howard Brenton), Gethsemane, and most recently South Downs. His new play for the National TheatreBehind the Beautiful Forevers will open in the Olivier in November. His many screenplays include The Hours and The Reader, both directed by Stephen Daldry. His trilogy of films about the intelligence services Page Eight, Turks & Caicos, and Salting the Battlefield will be seen on the BBC in March.
Stephen Daldry most recently directed the sell-out West End production of Peter Morgan’s The Audience with Helen Mirren. Daldry started his career at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre and directed extensively in Britain’s regional theatres. In London he was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. He has also directed at the National Theatre, the Public Theatre in New York and transferred many productions both to Broadway and the West End. His 1992 National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls recently toured the UK. Daldry has also directed for BBC Radio and Television. His production of Billy Elliot the Musical is currently playing in London and on tour across the US having previously played on Broadway, in Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago and Toronto. His four films Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader andExtremely Loud and Incredibly Close together received 19 Academy Award® nominations and two wins. He is currently working on Trash, his latest film for Working Title Films. Daldry was Creative Executive Producer of Ceremonies for the London Olympic Games.
Theatre: Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DA
Dates: 6 June – 23 August 2014
Press night: 18 June at 7pm
Performances: Monday – Saturday 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm (first Wednesday matinee 25 June at 2.30pm, additional midweek matinee on Tuesday 17 June at 2.30pm, no matinees on 11 or 18 June)
Prices: £15 – £62.50 (all prices include a £1 theatre restoration levy)
There will be a number of top price stalls seats available as day seats at £15 for every performance, released for sale at the Box Office on day of performance, in person at 10am
Box Office: 0844 482 5120
Twitter: Skylight – The Play
