First look production images have been released for Mark Ravenhill’s Blackmail, a new version of the classic thriller originally written by Charles Bennett.
Anthony Banks directs Gabriel Akuwudike (Harold Webber), Jessie Hills (Alice Jarvis), Patrick Walshe McBride (Ian Tracy), and Lucy Speed (Ada Jarvis). The production, produced in association with Simon Friend Entertainment opens at Mercury Theatre on 9 March, with previews from 4 March, and runs until 19 March.
Originally produced in the West End in 1928, Blackmail then became a pioneering early sound film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1929. Bennett subsequently worked with Hitchcock on the screen adaptation of The 39 Steps before a long career in Hollywood as a screenwriter. With the blessing of Bennett’s son, Mark Ravenhill has adapted this play for it to premiere on the Mercury stage.
