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Shadowlands At The Mercury

New dates have been added to the critically acclaimed 2016 national tour of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, directed by Alastair Whatley and produced by Birdsong Productions.  Reading, Cambridge, Plymouth, Colchester, Bury St Edmunds and Aylesbury have all been added to the tour schedule.

The cast of Shadowlands is led by Stephen Boxer (Humans, The Iron Lady, Doctors) as C.S. Lewis, Denis Lill (The Royal, Only Fools and Horses, Rumpole of the Bailey) as Major W.H. Lewis ‘Warnie’ and Amanda Ryan (The Forsyte Saga, Shameless) as Joy Davidman. They are joined by Simon Shackleton as Professor Christopher Riley, Jeffrey Harmer as Rev ‘Harry’ Harrington, Ian Marr as Alan Gregg, Richard Holliday as Dr Maurice Oakley and Shannon Rewcroft as Douglas, with Holly Smith and Alistair Higgins playing multiple supporting roles.

Shadowlands, by William Nicholson, tells the love story of C.S. Lewis, Oxford don and author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, and American poet Joy Davidman. What begins as a formal meeting of two very different minds slowly develops into a feeling of connection and love. Lewis finds his quiet life with his brother Warnie disrupted by the outspoken, feisty Davidman, whose uninhibited behaviour offers a sharp contrast to the rigid sensibilities of the male-dominated university. Each provides the other with new ways of viewing the world, but Lewis’s Christian faith is tested when Joy is diagnosed with cancer.

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Shadowlands won the Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Play in 1990 and Nicholson was nominated for a Tony Award when it transferred to Broadway.  The film version, which starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, won Best British Film at the 1994 BAFTAs and Nicholson was nominated for a Best Screenplay nomination.

This major revival of Shadowlands is produced by Birdsong Productions, the people behind the critically-acclaimed and hugely successful touring productions of Birdsong and Flare Path, in association with Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.

Shadowlands is directed by Alastair Whatley and designed by Anne-Marie Woodley and Alastair Whatley, with lighting design by Alex Wardle for Charcoalblue, sound design by Dominic Bilkey and music by Mia Soteriou.

[box type=”info” align=”” class=”” width=””]Shadowlands comes to the Mercury Theatre on 4th July and runs through to the 9th July.

For more information, visit: http://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/shadowlands/ [/box]

 

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