Following the announcement of the music, comedy and spoken word elements of its second season, Marylebone Theatre has announced three exciting plays for spring 2023.
Marylebone Theatre will produce the world premiere of The Dry House by renowned actor and playwright Eugene O’Hare, a powerful play about two sisters overcoming the effects of alcoholism on their family.
The venue will host Grenfell: System Failure – Scenes from the Inquiry, a verbatim account from the official inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy. New York pianist and actor Roger Peltzman brings his moving, 4-star show Dedication to the Marylebone stage, recounting his family’s tragic history fleeing the Nazis in war-torn Europe.
Eugene O’Hare’s newest play The Dry House will premiere at Marylebone Theatre, with an all-female cast to be announced in 2023. In County Down, Ireland, Chrissy promises Claire that after one final drink she will go to the Dry House to get sober, but Claire doubts she means it this time. Family and booze combine in this powerful and timely exploration of the power of hope after years of self-destruction. Eugene O’Hare, known for his roles in Outlander and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, debuted two plays at Park Theatre to great critical acclaim: Sydney & the Old Girl and The Weather Man, and has written for the BBC and National Theatre Connections. He has been described as a fearless new talent with a singular voice (WhatsOnStage).
Grenfell: System Failure examines the vital evidence heard over the last 18 months at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Nicolas Kent and Richard Norton Taylor’s follow up to the 2021 critically acclaimed play Grenfell: Value Engineering is based entirely on the words of those involved in the final phase of the Inquiry, which ended in November 2022. This new production will interrogate why the testing regime failed to warn of the danger of installing inflammable materials, why manufacturers promoted such products with no regard to safety, why government regulations ignored the dangers and were not updated, and why politicians failed to ensure proper oversight. Through the testimonies of bereaved residents, Grenfell: System Failure will explore how they were failed by the London Fire Brigade on the night, and abandoned by the Local Authority in the chaos of the fire’s aftermath. This powerful and important play is at Marylebone Theatre as part of a London tour that sees it brought closer to the communities affected by the tragedy.
Drawn into the stories of his relatives he never knew, Roger Peltzman created Dedication in their memory, a singular tale from the Holocaust that is both extraordinary and relatable for many. Peltzman’s uncle, Norbert Stern was, like his nephew, a brilliant pianist. At 21, Norbert was caught in the midst of the devastating rise of Nazism, and was murdered in Auschwitz. Through this graceful and sorrowful narrative, Peltzman delves into Norbert and his family’s history, telling their stories in a poignant performance. Using drama, humour, powerful imagery and music, Peltzman takes the audience on a moving and richly rewarding journey, exploring the role of music in helping to manage wounds that will never heal.
Also part of the theatre’s second season will be a screening of the award-winning film Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men, starring Jason Isaacs, Alan Cumming and Lesley Manville. This powerful film explores the impact of sexual assault, and follows one woman’s life including teen pregnancy, infidelity and addiction. Proceeds from the screening will go to the charity Refuge, which supports women and children experiencing domestic abuse.
These four pieces complete Marylebone Theatre’s previously announced second season line-up, which also includes music concerts by internationally renowned artists including Benjamin Appl and Rachel Podger, and hilarious comedy nights presented by Quip Shed Comedy with acts including Ed Gamble and Phil Wang.
This exciting and varied second season follows Marylebone Theatre’s launch in September 2022, which saw a Tim Supple-directed drama, Dmitry, a performance of The Waste Land by Ben Okri, and world-class music concerts by Jess Gillam, Stile Antico, the Carducci Quartet and more.
Artistic Director of Marylebone Theatre Alexander Gifford comments, I am delighted to be announcing a powerfully redemptive second season of theatre. Our three spring shows are all fearless investigations of trauma in the lives of individuals and society, which nonetheless point to the possibility of healing and forgiveness. Eugene O’Hare has rightly been hailed as an important new playwright, and I am particularly proud to be producing his superb and deeply moving The Dry House.
