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.Robert Sean Leonard to star on London stage
Robert Sean Leonard, best-known in recent years for starring as James Wilson opposite Hugh Laurie in the long-running medical drama House MD, is to play the lead role of Atticus Finch in the stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
Sean Leonard will spearhead the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre 2013 season. The play will be directed by Timothy Sheader.
It is the first time Robert Sean Leonard, a regular on Broadway, has appeared on the London stage in 22 years.
To Kill a Mockingbird will open on 16th May and run until 15th June 2013.
http://www.entertainment-focus.com/theatre...n-london-stage/
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To Kill A Mockingbird - Review
Our critic's rating: 5/5
Review by Peter Brown
21 May 2013
First up in the new season at the Open Air Theatre is this adaptation of one of America's most significant and popular works of literature. Harper Lee's book of the same title, which apparently has never been out of print since it was published in 1960, is her only published work, yet as its print record suggests it has had immense influence for millions of people across the globe, leading one commentator to describe it as an 'astonishing phenomenon'.
The first few minutes of this production, directed by the Open Air Theatre's Artistic director Timothy Sheader, left me with an uneasy feeling. It starts with members of the cast popping-up in the audience and reading snippets from the book. As I was sitting almost on the stage in the second row, this involved turning round to see who was talking and to discover just where they were. In this process, I started to miss what was being said. And then I began to get worried about just what Christopher Sergel's adaptation was going to be. Eavesdropping on a conversation behind me during the latter part of the interval, I discovered that I was not alone in being a tad disconcerted at the onset of the evening. But, like my neighbours, after a few minutes into the show the conceptual vision soon started to make sense. A lot of sense. That's because what the production does is to place the book centre-stage, acknowledging its influence and significance. The cast continue to fill-in the gaps which the action cannot cover by reading extracts right through the play. And the copies they use are all different published versions with a variety of jackets and bindings - its almost as if the books are characters in their own right.
The fictional 'tired old town' of Maycomb, Alabama, is brought effectively to life in Jon Bausor's appealingly simple and uncluttered design using little more than chalk lines to lay-out the houses and streets, a few sticks of simple furniture, the odd gate and fence, and one large tree. The rest is left to our imaginations, and it all works perfectly, especially with the park foliage lurking in the background like woodland on the edge of town.
In the first half we meet some of the town characters and learn about others who are more reclusive. In particular, we meet Jem and Scout (played on this occasion by Adam Scotland and Izzy Lee, respectively), the children of Atticus Finch. A lawyer with a strong sense of morality and respect for the rights of others, Finch has recently accepted the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black American accused of rape. In the second half, we see Finch in action in the courtroom as his children look on from the 'colored gallery'.
Courtroom dramas can often be riveting, and this is the case here thanks to several powerful, moving and poignant performances. In charge of the proceedings is Christopher Ettridge as the direct, no-nonsense, but honest Judge Taylor, who presides whilst munching on what looks like a liquorice stick. Richie Campbell is the terrified and despairing Tom Robinson who realises that he is fighting against the odds to prise a not-guilty verdict out of the all-white jury, and breaks down while being questioned. Rona Morison as Mayella Ewell, tries to cover-up her lies by railing against Finch, showing little regard for the life of the man she has falsely accused. And Robert Sean Leonard's highly impressive Atticus Finch is not only a sharp and intelligent advocate, but also a concerned, thoughtful and caring neighbour, a man of integrity whose views about liberty and justice have obviously not been held without substantial personal cost.
'To Kill A Mockingbird' isn't merely concerned with race, or racial prejudice or injustice. As Atticus Finch informs his children about the seemingly odd behaviour of some of their neighbours, it becomes clear that Harper Lee's book is also about compassion, tolerance in general and having consideration for others. All these themes and more are amply described in Timothy Sheader's superbly executed production. If you loved the book, you'll love this play.
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheat...ckingbird13.htm. -
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A simple set and fantastic performances make To Kill A Mockingbird a joy to watch
4/5
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To Kill A Mockingbird doesn’t need elaborate sets to make it evocative (Picture: Johan Persson)
Director Timothy Sheader combines excellent staging with brilliant casting, minus an elaborate set, to great effect in To Kill A Mockingbird.
You don’t need elaborate sets to evoke highly specific locations. In Jon Bausor’s splendid design for Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning story, roughly drawn lines on the ground and a tree suffice to map out the rigidly defined world of six-year-old Scout and her older brother Jem as they struggle to get to grips with the incomprehensible adult codes of the 1930s Deep South.
Despite its grim subject matter – racial prejudice and a howling miscarriage of justice – this classic coming-of-age tale is a crowd-pleasing choice to kick off Regent’s Park’s new season. Timothy Sheader’s staging, which uses Christopher Sergel’s vintage script, sees the role of the narrator (Scout as an adult) divided between the cast, who take turns to read passages from dog-eared copies of the novel.
It’s a neat device – this is a story for and about everyone – but the individual arc of Scout’s developing consciousness is somewhat obscured as a result.
Robert Sean Leonard brings an unassuming rectitude to the part of lawyer Atticus Finch. Phil King’s folksy tunes add aural texture, while Sheader and Bausor combine to create a series of resonant stage pictures, not least when the maligned outsider Boo Radley is hauntingly framed behind a length of picket fence towards the end.
Until Jun 15, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. www.openairtheatre.com
http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/24/a-simple-set...-watch-3806217/
Review: To Kill A Mockingbird at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
4/4
The Regent's Park Open Air Theatre has kicked off its 2013 season with an extraordinary production of To Kill A Mockingbird (adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel) which is performed with class and sincerity.
The play suddenly begins with cast members unexpectedly popping up all around the theatre, reading from various copies of Harper Lee's classic novel. Eventually the cast venture onto the almost empty stage and use chalk to draw out a map which allows the audience to imagine the world of the play. This beginning section is truly magical and draws you into the story straight away.
Time is taken to carefully introduce the various characters which is probably why the first half is a little less exciting. To Kill A Mockingbird is very much an ensemble show and the cast are outstanding. Rarely leaving the stage, the cast simply sit at the sides when they are not in a scene and then seamlessly morph into character when required. The cast each take turn to read the narrative (which is written from the point of view of Scout, one of the children) helping to move the story along swiftly.
The show is set in the Deep South and sees racial injustice envelop a small-town community. The story follows lawyer Atticus Finch (played by Broadway star Robert Sean Leonard) who tries to bring courage and compassion but it is his daughter Scout who brings new hope to the neighbourhood in turmoil.
The first half is a little slow in places bur during the second act the storyline becomes incredibly intense as the trial of Tom Robinson take place. He is a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman. The trial scene is a little long winded but this only builds up more tension and had me (literally) sitting on the edge of my seat.
Three sets of children share the roles of Scout, Jem and Dill. The young performers I saw each gave captivating performances and portrayed their roles with truth and innocence. It is almost impossible to comprehend that for some of them this production marks their professional debut.
From the second I walked through the gates I was in utter awe of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre - it is stunning! For some the idea of sitting in a park in the freezing cold until 10.15pm may not be so appealing but it really does provide an experience like no other (just take plenty of layers with you). Despite a pre-show shower, the rain held off for the performance (although I did have my poncho on stand-by) and I became so wrapped up in the story that I completely forgot just how cold I was. The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is the most atmospheric theatre I have ever been to and the simplicity of Jon Bausor's design is spellbinding.
This production of To Kill A Mockingbird is storytelling at its very best. The show does not rely on huge sets, dazzling costumes or fancy lighting, it is purely about a group of actors telling a story with a very powerful message.
Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
[email protected]
To Kill A Mockingbird runs at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 15th June 2013.
http://www.westendframe.com/2013/05/review...rd-OpenAir.html. -
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To Kill a Mockingbird at Open Air Theatre - Reviewed by Nathan Brooker
4/5
On the dust jacket of the first edition, Truman Capote described Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a novel ‘so likeable’. And, whatever he meant by that, he was right. It’s a book seemingly universally admired, and not just admired but, that most rare thing in literature, loved too and loved genuinely. And it is this warmth of spirit, this likeability, which comes across so readily in Timothy Sheader’s heartening production.
The action begins with the cast dotted among the audience, each jumping onto their seat to read a few lines from the book’s opening chapter. Such choric reading happens throughout the play to advance the plot and, in which cases, the cast read from their own well-thumbed editions in their own natural accents. Though it arguably dulls some of Scout Finch’s cock-a-hoop idioms to have them bulldozed with an English or Scottish accent, it succeeds in making the book personal. It is a neat trick. It says: this story did not happen to us; but it is ours nevertheless – we have acquired it somehow with our ill-fitting speech and our proud smiles and our twinkling eyes.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, sometime in the Great Depression. Told through the understanding of the 8-year-old Scout Finch, the story focuses on her father, Atticus, a widower and a lawyer of enormous courage and principle, who defends a local black man on the spurious charge of beating and raping a white woman. Through Scout’s piercingly innocent inquiry we see Maycomb’s gangrenous underbelly expose itself as one of darkness and prejudice, but we also see the glimmers of light in those townsfolk who, in their own quiet way, reject the de rigueur racism of their community, and who will become the town’s future.
Designer Jon Bausor has seemingly taken a leaf out of Lars Von Trier’s book, by having the cast draw the Maycomb set onto the concrete stage in chalk – Von Trier’s film Dogville had a similar conceit. I actually thought it worked rather better in this play than it does in Von Trier’s tirelessly maudlin film because, whereas in Dogville it was a device used to show only the duplicity of mankind, in the violence and neglect that goes on behind closed doors, here it captures something far less blunt: it replicates the mnemonic nature of the story as it is told. As Scout the narrator, an unknowable amount of years older than Scout the character, remembers the events of those two summers she conjures before us the town from memory, delineating again the paths, the views and the streets of her childhood. And so it is drawn here, in a relic from the schoolroom, and in a dust that will wash away and be forgotten in the rain.
The cast is uniformly strong, with perhaps the black maid, Calpurnia (Michele Campbell), and the neighbour, Maudie Atkinson (Hattie Ladbury), standing out among the supporting cast. Robert Sean Leonard, dressed in a suitably sweat-soaked linen suit, gives us an incredibly comforting, if unoriginal portrayal of Atticus. He is Atticus the archetype, I suppose, the man you imagine from the book, which is hardly a criticism. On the evening I saw the production the children, Scout, Jem and Dill, were played by Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Callum Henderson, and Sebastian Clifford respectively, and each of them was flawless in their portrayal, bringing wit and charm and that requisite sense of wisdom-beyond-their-years to the characters.
Really the only criticism I can find with Sheader’s production is that – and it feels unfair of me to say so – it is somewhat a victim of its own successes. So fondly is the book treated, so accurately are the scenes recreated, that as a piece of drama it ends up feeling overtly safe. Emotional punches are retained, certainly, but they come to the fore only in a handful of scenes, like in the bedroom where Scout asks Jem what he remembers of their dead mother, or the moment Scout recognises Boo Radley. It is ultimately a production that gives us little in the way of dramatic surprises or conflict. One feels that the lines have all been drawn and the arguments already fought and won. Essentially, it is a narrative that made its mind up years ago and, as such, the production feels less a vital piece of theatre, than a staging of a GCSE set text – which, in fairness, is exactly what it is, and which was testified last night by the coachloads of teenagers sat snaked through the auditorium.
Still, what the stage version of To Kill a Mockingbird lacks in edge it more than makes up for in storytelling, in class, in clarity and in likeability. And if you’re going to stage a book so undeniably likeable, then it would be a sin to tinker with it, lest you kill that thing about it, that unnamed quality, that so sings in the memory.
http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/to-kill-a-mockingbird-3/
To Kill A Mockingbird, Regent’s Park Open Air, ✭✭✭✭
Director Timothy Sheader doesn’t disappoint in this beautiful, thoughtful and playful production of Chistopher Sergel’s tear-jerking adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The story is set in Maycomb, Alabama during the Depression, and the events unfold through the eyes of eight year old Scout Finch.
Sheader, as with Ragtime last summer, places the emphasis on storytelling, and asks that the audience bring imagination to the production. The actors materialise from the audience, reading from versions of the novel, sharing Scout’s narration. The whole cast, progressively donning period costumes as required, draw a map with chalk onto Jon Bausor’s pitched chalkboard-like stage to show the l town. It is a beautifully simple and yet effective concept; the playfulness highlights the initial childish roguishness of Scout, her brother Jem, and their dreamy summer visitor Dill.
Izzy Lee is the lynchpin of the production, and she plays the loveable tomboy Scout with emotion and sincerity
Scout’s lawyer father, Atticus, much to the derision of friends and neighbours builds a strong case to defend Tom Robinson, a young black man accused of violently raping a young white woman. The inevitable corruption of youthful innocence is as much a focus of the play as the themes of racial injustice, prejudice and courage. It is one of the greatest strengths of the piece that this grown-up and complex story is seen through the eyes of children. It clarifies the issues, using a child’s natural sense of right and wrong, until we are questioning, just like them, why on earth the world is treating Tom like they are.
Izzy Lee is the lynchpin of the production, and she plays the loveable tomboy Scout with emotion and sincerity. She is hardly ever offstage and performs with incredible professionalism and commitment. She is perfectly matched by Adam Scotland as Jem, and by the superb Harry Bennett who plays the imaginative Dill charmingly.
Robert Sean Leonard, best known for his role in Fox television series House, plays Atticus with total command and power. He also captures the sense of melancholy that plagues any saint-like character. Leonard doesn’t oversimplify the character, and he doesn’t ever feel like a goody two-shoes. His delivery of the closing address in the courtroom scene holds the audience perfectly, and throughout he nails Atticus’ witty, wise temperament.
A brilliant ensemble vibrantly brings the town’s characters to life. Particularly strong are Michele Austin as housekeeper Calpurnia, Richie Campbell as terrified prisoner Tom, Hattie Ladbury as well-meaning neighbour Miss Maudie and Julie Legrand as a variety of old gossips. Rona Morison is heartbreakingly torn as the supposed victim Mayella in her appearance in court.
This is another fabulous production from a theatrical force to be reckoned with. Take tissues, and perhaps a warm jacket.
http://www.fourthwallmagazine.co.uk/2013/0...9C%AD%E2%9C%AD/. -
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Secret Pictures - Robert Sean Leonard 
Yesterday was super eventful! I went to my internship class where I learned that I will have to present in class next Thursday about my internship! and, I’m not allowed to use PowerPoint!!! I guess I should learn to use Prezi ughhhh… Luckily almost everyone in my apartment is a com arts or advertising major and have skills beyond mine for such activities. I will let you know how that goes…
Then I had a my Shakespeare class where we visited Westminster Abbey! Sadly, no audio guide with Jeremy Iron’s voice. But it was still a good trip! My favorite part was poets corner where there were the likes of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Lewis Carrol, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Keats, Shelly, Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Handel, Laurence Olivier the list of greats goes on! Now, SHakespeare is actually resting in Stratford but he was so loved that they have a monument to him. We of course saw where Elizabeth and Mary are buried and Henry VII. We are reading Richard II so we saw his grave as well as the coronation chair where he would sit “in state” to remind himself and his subjects that he was a king by Divine Right. The kings and queens of to day sit in that chair when they are anointed.
Don’t get me started on how I feel about the monarchy, you will get a political theory major’s treatise on democracy.
Anyway, I also did something very special last night. I saw a play in Regent’s park’s Open Air theatre. Surprisingly it was an American Classic. To Kill A Mockingbird, that book every american kid has to read in 9th grade. No, it wasn’t a recreation of the film. It was their own production where they would periodically read from the book and then the action of the play would go on. It was really cool. It was also a minimalist set with the street and houses drawn with chalk on the stage. It had the quaint unique ability to bring to life the child’s imagination of Scout’s world. Two of the men sitting in front of me were actually in from Liverpool where they work at a theatre that wants to either put the play on or have it come to their venue. I got to tell them how Harper Lee only ever wrote this one book and that she was Scout and Dil, Scout’s friend was in real life, Truman Capote author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood!
But, The REAL special thing about seeing this play was that Atticus Finch was played by Robert Sean Leonard who you may know from House where he plays opposite Hugh Laurie as Dr. Wilson the cancer doctor. Or you may know him from Dead Poets Society or possibly as Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). Anyway, he is a great actor and was a FANTASITIC Atticus Finch. The kids in the play too were really great, I was transported to Maycomb Alabama (despite the occasional slip of the accent).
You might be wondering why this post has the title, Secret Pictures. Well, I was not supposed to take pictures in the Abbey or at the play but…
http://raeram14.wordpress.com/tag/robert-sean-leonard/. -
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By siuphilip:
Robert Sean Leonard in #ToKillAMockingbird at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
By afhutch:
Atticus and Scout Finch! (alias Robert Sean Leonard and Lucy Hutchinson)
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Play of the week: To Kill a Mockingbird, Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London NW1
Robert Sean Leonard gives a quiet, shadowy but highly effective performance as Atticus Finch, the Alabama lawyer who makes a stand against the rape and racism that disfigure a small town in Harper Lee's classic novel, adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel.
At the same time as defending a dignified Tom Robinson (Richie Campbell), the work-obsessed widower is also negotiating a new relationship with his own children, played with wide-eyed ingenuity (at the performance I saw) by Izzy Lee as Scout and Adam Scotland as Jem.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...w1-8637925.html. -
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@ Londra ---> www.flickr.com/photos/julesfoto/with/8994906822/ . -
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By OpenAirTheatre:
Great final performance of #OATmockingbird. Standing ovation, and all 9 young actors on for the bows. A brilliant reception well deserved.. -
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To Kill A Mockingbird
Once the perfect setting for Shakespeare, then a wonderful home for musicals, then reinvented for 20th century drama, the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park now feels absolutely the right pace for storytelling. This adaptation of Harper Lee’s 60′s classic American novel (and the only thing she ever wrote!) is completely at home.
The actors start reading it from the audience, and continue doing so between scenes throughout the play. The simple staging starts with the town being chalked onto the stage floor. The props are on the sides of the stage, where the actors wait their turn. The only thing on stage for the duration is a tree. It’s all so very simple and so very perfect for storytelling as it draws you in and never lets you go. The charm and innocence of the children is contrasted with the hate of the white racists as the story of misjustice in small town America is played out. Timothy Sheader’s production is enthralling and deeply moving.
I’m not entirely sure which of the three groups of three children performed, but they were sensational. Robert Sean Leonard had great presence as Atticus; father, lawyer and liberal. Both Ritchie Campbell as the accused Tom and Hattie Ladbury as his alleged victim Maudie were hugely impressive. In fact, it’s a bit invidious naming actors, as there isn’t a fault in the casting.
On a clear, dry evening there’s nowhere better than the Open Air Theatre and on this occasion, apart from a tantalising short dusting of a delicate spray (as if to discourage us from becoming complacent), it spun its magic spell yet again and reinvented itself for yet another genre.
http://garethjames.wordpress.com/2013/06/1...-a-mockingbird/. -
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London's Open Air Theatre to Reprise To Kill a Mockingbird, Then Tour U.K.
London's Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park has announced a return season for its 2013 hit production of To Kill A Mockingbird, adapted by Christopher Sergel from the novel by Harper Lee. It will return for a limited run to conclude next year's season beginning performances Aug. 28, 2014, for a run through Sept. 13, before embarking on a UK tour.
Directed by the Open Air Theatre's artistic director Timothy Sheader, it originally starred Robert Sean Leonard as Atticus Finch. No casting announcement has yet been made for next year's revival.
The production is designed by Jon Bausor, with music composed by Phil King, movement direction by Naomi Said, lighting by Oliver Fenwick and sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph. The tour will be produced by Regent's Park Theatre Ltd, Fiery Angel, Adam Spiegel and William Village.
Tickets for Regent's Park go on sale to priority members Sept. 2, with general booking from Sept. 6. To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 826 4242 or visit www.openairtheatre.com for more details.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/18165...rd-Then-Tour-UK. -
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Cast announced for Open Air To Kill a Mockingbird
Casting has been announced for the return run of To Kill a Mockingbird at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Daniel Betts will play Atticus Finch alongside Zackary Momoh as Tom Robinson and Christopher Akrill as Boo Radley. Original cast member and composer Phil King will reprise his role.
Betts, whose recent stage credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Old Vic) and The King's Speech (West End), replaces Robert Sean Leonard, who played Finch during the show's run at the Open Air Theatre last summer.
The cast also includes: Geoff Aymer (Reverend Sykes), Victoria Bewick (Mayella Ewell), David Carlyle (Nathan Radley/Mr Gilmer), Natalie Grady (Miss Maudie Atkinson), Jamie Kenna (Heck Tate), Susan Lawson Reynolds (Calpurnia) and Christopher Saul (Mrs Walter Cunningham/Judge Taylor).
Jemima Bennett, Ava Potter and Rosie Boore will share the role of Scout whilst Harry Bennett, Arthur Franks and Billy Price will share the role of Jem.
Directed by Open Air artistic director Timothy Sheader, To Kill a Mockingbird runs from 28 August to 13 September before heading out on its first UK tour.
The tour begins on 15 September 2014 at Canterbury Marlowe Theatre and then will tour to Norwich, Malvern, Woking, Leicester, Cardiff, High Wycombe, Cambridge and Birmingham.
http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre...cast_35147.html. -
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Mockingbird to transfer to Barbican next summer starring Robert Sean Leonard
Robert Sean Leonard, who will appear in the Barbican transfer of To Kill a Mockingbird
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is to transfer To Kill a Mockingbird to the Barbican in London next summer, with Robert Sean Leonard reprising his role as Atticus Finch.
The transfer will follow a UK tour, which commences this autumn at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre on September 16. The production will then visit 24 further venues including those in Leicester, Cardiff, Cambridge, Bath, Chichester, Edinburgh, Southampton and Plymouth, before finishing in Salford at the Lowry on May 23, 2015.
Directed by Timothy Sheader and adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee’s novel, the show first ran at the Regent’s Park venue in summer 2013.
It was then brought back for the 2014 summer season, running from August 28 until September 13.
To Kill a Mockingbird will run at the Barbican from June 24 to July 25, 2015, with press night on July 2.
Both the tour and transfer are produced by Regent’s Park Theatre, Fiery Angel, Adam Spiegel and William Village.
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/production/...t-sean-leonard/.
Robert nell'opera teatrale 'To Kill a Mockingbird' |
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