Awake and Sing!
Almeida Theatre, London from 31st August to 20th October 2007
Bessie, played by Stockard Channing, is the strong-willed
matriarch of an extended Jewish family in the 1930s. Striving to force her
daughter into a marriage of convenience and her son out of a relationship
she believes is beneath him, she tirelessly wages war against the idealism
of a family she longs to protect.
Clifford Odets is one of America’s
finest twentieth century playwrights, who along with Eugene O’Neill
effectively invented modern drama. Awake
and Sing! was revived on Broadway last year starring Zoe
Wannamaker and
Mark Ruffalo and won two Tony Awards, including Best Revival.
Michael Attenborough directs Awake and Sing! As Artistic Director
of the Almeida Theatre, his recently acclaimed productions include Playing
with Fire at the National Theatre, and The Mercy
Seat, The Late Henry Moss,
Enemies, There Came a Gypsy Riding and Big
White Fog for the Almeida.
Award-winning American stage, film, and television actor Stockard
Channing will play Bessie, last seen in London in The
Exonerated at Riverside Studios.
On television she is best known for her role as First Lady Abbey Bartlet
in the hugely popular US drama series, The West Wing. Her film credits include
Six Degrees of Separation, for which she was nominated for an Oscar, Up
Close and Personal, Moll Flanders, Bright Young Things, Business
of Strangers and
Grease, in which she played Rizzo.
For all additional information and booking details visit
the official web site: www.almeida.co.uk
"This central role calls for an explosive performance,
but Channing instead gives it a chic, sturdy determination and cool, self-observing
irony, even when hurling hurtful abuse at the tenement janitor" John Thaxter, The
Stage
Audience's reviews: No audience reviews
