I love it when a play shines a spotlight on intriguing little moments from history that aren’t widely known about. That’s the case with a fascinating piece currently playing at The Kings Head Theatre in Islington (One of London’s oldest and most established Fringe Theatre’s which always has something interesting to offer).
It’s called FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN and is set in 1936, the year when King Edward VIII announced he would be giving up the throne and to be with his lover, the American divorcée, Wallis Simpson, of whom everyone disproved. The parallels with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent decision to step-back from royal duties has obvious parallels and should give the on-stage action an added frisson.
The play imagines a meeting between Edward and the movie star Marlene Dietrich, who’s in London to shoot a film, and wants him to choose her rather than Simpson.
According to the press release “On the night before the abdication, Marlene has her chauffeur drive her to Fort Belvedere, the King’s country home, for an all nighter, during which she sings, dances, races a horse and plays the musical saw, all in an effort to seduce him. But will her efforts pay off?”
We’re promised a script of “deft charm and a wicked wit” from Ron Elisha who got some great reviews for his recent play, THE SOUL OF WITTGENSTEIN.
Intriguingly no one involved seems to be British, so that should really help them view things from an objective viewpoint.
Canadian-born Ashton Spear (Edward) has just wrapped filming lead role in feature film ‘THE HAUNTING OF MARGAM CASTLE’, Australian-German Ramona Von Pusch (Marlene Dietrich) was named Best Actress at the 2016 One-Reeler Short Film Competition in LA. Her stage roles include ‘THE GRADUATE’ with Jerry Hall and Agatha Christie’s ‘The MOUSETRAP’ (Australia and New Zealand tour) and the director is Tama Matheson, Artistic Director of Poesis: Words and Music in London, and Artistic Director of the Brisbane Shakespeare Festival, in Australia.
Question: What do Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia and The Lion King have in common?