The Cockpit announces NEW YORK VOICES season with classic revival & new musical
The Cockpit in Marylebone has announced a New York Voices season, bringing New York plays to the heart of London, running from 13 October to 31 January.
Two major productions lead the season: a classic revival of Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folley and an exciting new musical based on the life and legacy of Rita Hayworth. There will also be theatrical readings of a diverse range of plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York based playwrights including Annie Baker, Jeremy O. Harris and Sarah Ruhl.
The Cockpit’s New York Voices programme asks to what extent New York still leads the way. Is the city still producing powerful theatre voices for the 21st century? If so, what are they saying? And how are they saying it?
From 13–29 October, USA-based Burning Coal Theatre Company is joining forces with The Cockpit to bring Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work Talley’s Folley back to the London stage, 40 years after its last professional production in the city. A timely revival for a seminal work, the play is a visceral reminder for today’s audience that love and connection are the timeless human qualities that can see us through hard times.
Love Goddess – The Rita Hayworth Musical (18 November–23 December) is the world premiere of a new production about Fred Astaire’s all-time favourite dance partner, and the bride Orson Welles wanted more than any other woman in the world. Considered by many to be the most beautiful woman of her day, Rita Hayworth is revered as one of the greatest movie stars who ever lived. Originally a solo play written and performed by Almog Pail entitled Me, Myself and Rita, and then Love Goddess, the Cabaret, this production has evolved into a full-length musical by Pail and co-writer Stephen Garvey. It features five cast members portraying over 40 characters, 12 original songs by Broadway pianist Logan Medland, as well as thrilling jazz, tap, and Flamenco dance sequences by award-winning choreographer Lorna Ventura. Audiences can expect to delve deeper into Hayworth’s story, including her experience with Alzheimer’s and her quest to find a partner who would truly love her for who she was.
The Cockpit will also present theatrical readings of the works of a diverse range of New York playwrights. The readings kick off with Late: a cowboy song from award-winning playwright, author, essayist, and professor Sarah Ruhl, followed by Brooklyn-based playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Really. In November, Christopher Shinn’s Against will be presented along with double Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel. December will see Lear from Artistic Director of her own not-for-profit theatre company Young Jean Lee. In the new year, Annie Baker’s The Aliens is followed by Yell: A Documentary of My Time Here by Tony-nominated Jeremy O. Harris.
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