Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
Running time: 1hr 40mins
Age Restrictions: This production is recommended for ages 16+.
Tickets from £31.00
For the first time at Gesher Theatre, a co-production with the Theatre Royal Haymarket, from the West End.
The premiere took place as part of Jaffa Fest 2024. The play is performed in English with subtitles in Russian and Hebrew.
Maxim Didenko, one of the leading Russian (in the past), and now European, directors, will make his debut in Israel.
Time: first century AD
Place: here.
"She went out and said to her mother, 'What shall I ask?' And she said, ’The head of John the Baptist!’ Immediately she came with haste to the king and asked, saying, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’"
(Mark 6:24-25)
Who is she, this mysterious Salome, who for centuries captured the hearts and minds of outstanding artists, writers, composers?
A little, naive girl who accidentally became history’s plaything? A teenager, protesting the vulgarity and hypocrisy of the world around her? A bloodthirsty seductress with a lust for power?
Salome, the Jewish princess, an enigma that spawned an entire tradition in the European artistic culture, continues to thrill and capture the minds of our contemporaries.
In a nutshell, the story is simple -
King Herod Antipas marries his daughter-in-law Herodias, which is unacceptable in Judaism, and therefore ignited the wrath of John the Baptist. To silence John, Herod throws him into prison. His wife is not satisfied with this and asks him to kill the insolent man. Soon Herodias had a very convenient opportunity. Herod Antipas was celebrating his birthday at the fortress of Macheron. Many guests, “the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee” (Mark 6:21) were invited to the celebration. Salome was among them, she attracted everyone's attention with her appearance and bold manners. Herodias sends her daughter Salome to seduce Herod with "the dance of the seven veils". Herod is ready to fulfill her every request. On her mother's advice, Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter...
Oscar Wilde's play, which caused a scandal in the XIX century, has become a worldwide cultural classic. Richard Strauss's opera is still heard around the world and has drawn the attention of outstanding directors from Castellucci to Chernyakov.
Theatre Royal Haymarket
Theatre Royal Haymarket
18 Suffolk Street
London
SW1Y 4HT
The Theatre Royal Haymarket or Haymarket Theatre is a theatre on The Haymarket in London which dates back to 1720. The original building was a little further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash. Its current capacity is 888.
The Haymarket has been the site of a couple of significant innovations in theatre. In 1873, it was the venue for the first scheduled matinée performance, establishing a custom soon followed in theatres everywhere. Six years later, its auditorium was reconstructed and the stage was enclosed in the first use of the picture frame proscenium.
Theatre Royal Haymarket History
The Theatre Royal Haymarket's first major success was a 1729 production of Samuel Johnson's Hurlothrumbo, or The Supernatural, which ran for 80 nights -- a record surpassing John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and not to be matched until The Dragon of Wantley. In the 1720's, the Haymarket was an alternative to the patent theatres in every sense. When there was an actor's revolt at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1719, for example, the actors walked out to go to the Haymarket. They returned when they won their demands. In the eight to ten years before the Licensing Act of 1737, the Haymarket Theatre was an alternative to John Rich's Covent Garden theatre and the opera-dominated Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Hurlothrumbo was just one play in that series of anti-Walpolean satires. Henry Fielding staged his plays at the Haymarket Theatre, and so did Henry Carey. Hurlothrumbo would be followed by Tom Thumb, The Dragon of Wantley, Pasquin and others. Additionally, refugees from Drury Lane's and Covent Gardens's internal struggles would show up at the theatre, and thus Charlotte Charke would act there in a parody of her father, Colley Cibber, one of the owners and managers of Drury Lane. The Theatrical Licensing Act, however, put an end to the anti-ministry satires, and it all but entirely shut down the theatre.
In 1862, the theatre was host to a 400-night run of Our American Cousin, with Edward Southern as Lord Dundreary. The play's success brought the word "dreary" into common use.
In 1893, Oscar Wilde premiered A Woman of No Importance, his first comedy. The play returned for a 2003 production directed by Adrian Noble and starring Rupert Graves, Samantha Bond, Prunella Scales and Rachael Stirling.
The theatre underwent a major refurbishment in 1994. In May 2004 it closed for two nights after parts of the ceiling fell down during a performance. About 13 people suffered mainly cuts and bruises when plaster fell into the auditorium during the "When Harry Met Sally..." Show. Since then, the theatre has played host to a short-lived run of Becket directed by John Caird followed in January 2005 by the world premiere of Victoria Wood's new musical Acorn Antiques - based upon the TV series of the same name. This starred Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Neil Morrissey, Sally Ann Triplett and Josie Lawrence and ran until 21 May 2005. The Genius Of Ray Charles - a new American musical followed in the Summer of 2005 running for eight weeks to 13 August 2005. More recently, Bill Kenwright's new production of A Few Good Men played to packed houses starring Rob Lowe, Suranne Jones, John Barrowman and Jack Ellis.
Travel by train: Charing Cross. Nearest tube: Charing Cross Underground Station/Piccadilly Circus
