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Press Release Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions present Witness for the Prosecution By Agatha Christie BRAND NEW PRODUCTION OF ‘WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION’ BY AGATHA CHRISTIE TO OPEN ON THE SOUTH BANK THIS AUTUMN DIRECTED BY LUCY BAILEY IT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE MAGNIFICENT CHAMBER IN LONDON COUNTY HALL AUDIENCES WILL BE IN THE HEART OF THE ACTION IN THE SPECTACULAR COURT ROOM SETTING £10 OFF ALL TICKETS DURING PREVIEWS Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions today announce a major new production of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution to open on London’s South Bank this October in a unique court room setting inside County Hall. Lucy Bailey (Comus, The Graduate, Titus Andronicus) will direct this gripping tale of justice, passion and betrayal, with the audience thrillingly placed in the thick of the action in a spectacular location. Witness for the Prosecution will run from 6 October – 11 March with Press Night on 23 October. The production will be designed by William Dudley, with lighting by Chris Davey and sound design by Mic Pool. All tickets during the preview period (6 October – 23 October) will have £10 off. For the main run, there will be 100 tickets available for every performance at £25 or under. Leonard Vole is accused of murdering a widow to inherit her wealth. The stakes are high. Will Leonard survive the shocking witness testimony? Will he be able to convince the jury of his innocence and escape the hangman’s noose? Witness for the Prosecution was one of Agatha Christie’s favourites of all her works. In her autobiography, she said: ‘One night at the theatre stands out in my memory especially; the first night of Witness for the Prosecution. I can safely say that that was the only first night I have enjoyed…. It was one of my plays that I like best myself.’ The new production has been developed with the support and involvement of the Christie family. Christie’s Great Grandson and Executive Chair of Agatha Christie Ltd, James Prichard said “It is really exciting to see this innovative approach to one of my great grandmother’s best plays. The amazing setting of County Hall will help raise the production to great heights, and with Lucy Bailey directing it will be a must see theatre event. This show will help demonstrate that Christie’s works are as relevant today as they have ever been, and 21st century London is in for a treat.” Witness for the Prosecution is part of an exciting new wave of adaptations of Christie’s work on stage and screen that are giving audiences a fresh perspective on her canon. It follows the highly acclaimed BBC One adaptation of the short story which aired last Christmas and starred Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough and Kim Cattrall, as well as the BBC’s And Then There Were None which starred Aidan Turner, Charles Dance and Sam Neill. The BBC has commissioned seven new adaptations with the first of these, Ordeal By Innocence going into production this summer. In November, 20th Century Fox’s feature film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express will be released, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. The all-star cast also includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Colman, Willem Dafoe, Daisy Ridley, Tom Bateman, Derek Jacobi, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr, Sergei Polunin and Lucy Boynton. - ENDS - For further information please contact Laura Myers or Hannah Barnett Leveson at The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 or email [email protected] | [email protected] NOTES TO EDITORS IMAGE Available here LISTINGS Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions present Witness for the Prosecution By Agatha Christie Directed by Lucy Bailey Designed by William Dudley Lighting Design by Chris Davey Sound Design by Mic Pool London County Hall The Chamber, County Hall, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 7PB 6 October 2017 – 11 March 2018 Press Night 23 October, 7pm Box Office: 0844 815 7141 Online: www.witnesscountyhall.com PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Until 22 October: Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm and matinees on Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm 25 October - 11 March: Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm and matinees on Thursday and Saturday at 2.30pm and Sunday at 3pm See website for performances 24 December – 9 January TICKET PRICES Band A £52.50 Band B £39.50 Band C £25 Band D £10 Premium £75 VIP £95 No booking fees if booked via the official website Preview Pricing is £10 off all prices above (excluding Band D) up to and including Wednesday 18th October 100 tickets at £25 or under are available for each performance Our exclusive VIP Jury Ticket will place you in the heart of the courtroom action, with access to a private bar area. Jurors will receive a complimentary programme and 2 complimentary drinks (soft drink, beer or house wine) to be redeemed pre-show or at the interval. Website: www.witnesscountyhall.com Twitter: @WitnessPlayLDN Facebook: /WitnessPlayLDN BIOGRAPHIES AGATHA CHRISTIE – PLAYWRIGHT Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott. Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was written towards the end of the First World War, in which she served in the VAD. In it she created Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian detective who was destined to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. It was published by Bodley Head in 1920. In 1926, after averaging a book a year, Agatha Christie wrote her first masterpiece. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first of her books to be published by Collins and marked the beginning of an author-publisher relationship that lasted for 50 years and well over 70 books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was also the first of Agatha Christie’s books to be dramatized –under the title Alibi –and to have a successful run in London’s West End. The Mousetrap, her most successful play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history. She is also the only female playwright to have had three of her works running in the West End simultaneously. Agatha Christie was made a dame in 1971. She died in 1976. LUCY BAILEY - DIRECTOR Recent productions include The Graduate (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Comus (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), and Kenny Morgan (Arcola Theatre). Lucy was co-founder and co-artistic director of The Print Room (2009 – 2012), a new venue in Notting Hill Gate. Shows she directed include Fabrication, Snake in the Grass, Kingdom of Earth and Uncle Vanya. Lucy was co-artistic director of the gogmagogs (1995 – 2007) a music theatre company comprising seven string players. Lucy studied English at Oxford University where she directed the world premiere of Lessness by Samuel Beckett in consultation with the author. Previous work for Shakespeare’s Globe includes Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, As You Like It and The Maid’s Tragedy. Other theatre credits include Great Expectations (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Around the World in 80 Days (St James Theatre), Gaslight (Northampton Royal & Derngate), The Importance of Being Ernest (West End/ UK tour), Fortunes Fool (Old Vic), King Lear (Theatre Royal Bath), The Winter’s Tale, Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar (RSC/ Roundhouse/ The Armoury, New York), Beggar’s Opera (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Private Lives, Glass Eels, Comfort Me with Apples (Hampstead Theatre), The Night Season (National Theatre/ West End) and Don’t Look Now (Sheffield Crucible/ Lyric Hammersmith). Opera/Music Theatre credits include Gudrun Fier Sang (Copenhagen Dry Dock), Jenufa (English National Opera), Cheryoumushki 1958 (Lyric Hammersmith), Noyes Fludde, Triptych, Mary of Egypt (Aldeburgh Festival) and Pasolini’s Teorema (Maggio Musicale Florence/ Munich Biennale/ Queen Elizabeth Hall). WILLIAM DUDLEY – DESIGNER William Dudley’s distinguished career as a designer of theatre and opera has been recognised with seven Olivier awards and a further seven nominations. He won a BAFTA for Persuasion. In April 2015 he won the Molière Award for Visual Creation for The Dance of the Vampires in Paris. He has designed over sixty productions at the National Theatre, including The Mysteries, Coast of Utopia and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. At the Royal Court he designed Hamlet, Kafka’s Dick and Hitchcock Blonde (Oliver Award). Work at the RSC includes Julius Caesar (also New York), Merry Wives of Windsor (Olivier Award), Twelfth Night, Richard II & III and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. West End productions include The End of the Rainbow, All My Sons, Woman in White, My Night with Reg and Lenny, with many transfers to the USA. Recent work includes Comus (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Ross, The Rehearsal and For Services Rendered (Chichester Festival Theatre), Gaslight (Northampton Royal & Derngate), The Importance of Being Earnest (West End/ UK Tours), Fortune’s Fool (Old Vic), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe) and Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (Theatre Royal Stratford East). William designed the sets for Roman Polanski’s musical The Dance of the Vampires (Vienna/ Berlin/ Paris/ Russia), The Ship (European Cultural Capital Glasgow 1990), Peter Pan (Kensington Gardens/ O2/ US Tours), The Last Confession (World Tour) and Sunday in the Park with George (Théâtre du Châtelet). Operas include productions for Bayreuth, Salzburg, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Glyndebourne.