Primavera Productions
Encyclopedia
Primavera is a professional theatre company founded in 2003 by Tom Littler
, who is also the Artistic Director. It is based in London, UK.
Primavera is particularly noted for its revivals of rarely performed plays, although this does not seem to be its exclusive focus. This has included the "Forgotten Classics" series of rehearsed readings at The King's Head Theatre
, Islington. These have featured a performance of Byron's Manfred starring young British actor Harry Lloyd
, of Virginia Woolf
's Freshwater starring Edmund Kingsley, John Lyly's Gallathea
starring Mary Nighy
, and Charles Dickens's No Thoroughfare
starring Loo Brealey
, all directed by Tom Littler. Other plays in the series not directed by Tom Littler included the first play in English by a woman (Mariam) and early works by American playwrights. In 2008 Primavera Productions announced a second "Forgotten Classics" series, including the 50th anniversary reading of T.S.Eliot's The Elder Statesman
, starring Christopher Timothy
, Harry Lloyd
, Joanna Christie
, and David Burt
; an unperformed play by John Osborne
, "A Place Calling Itself Rome", which rewrites Shakespeare's Coriolanus
; and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White
.
Primavera Productions also produced at the Finborough Theatre
where its 2007 work includes an opera by Ethel Smyth
and a play by T. S. Eliot
, The Confidential Clerk
. In 2008, Tom Littler directed the first ever revival of Jingo: A Farce of War, a comedy by Charles Wood
set in the last days of British occupation of Singapore before the humiliating surrender to the Japanese. Susannah Harker
played Gwendoline and Anthony Howell played her ex-husband Ian. The revival was hailed as a rediscovery of a major playwright. Primavera's past productions have also included the Scottish premiere of Stephen Sondheim
's Passion at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival (Scotsman Critics' Choice for Musicals / Opera), Into the Woods and A Streetcar Named Desire
at the Oxford Playhouse, a production of Frank McGuinness' version of Ibsen's A Doll's House
on tour, and Shakespeare's As You Like It as the inaugural production at the Said Business School
in Oxford. All of these productions were directed by Tom Littler.
In 2009, Primavera Productions produced the first revival of Stephen Sondheim
's first musical Saturday Night
at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The show sold out for its run and successfully transferred to the Arts Theatre
in the West End and to Theatre Royal, Windsor. Primavera also produced Bryony Lavery's play Origin of the Species later that year at the Arcola Theatre
.
Tom Littler
Tom Littler is a British theatre director and the Artistic Director and founder of award-winning theatre company Primavera Productions.His West End credits include Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night which starred Helena Blackman, the runner-up of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria...
, who is also the Artistic Director. It is based in London, UK.
Primavera is particularly noted for its revivals of rarely performed plays, although this does not seem to be its exclusive focus. This has included the "Forgotten Classics" series of rehearsed readings at The King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK. Adam Spreadbury-Maher became Artistic Director in March 2010 .-Background:...
, Islington. These have featured a performance of Byron's Manfred starring young British actor Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd is an English actor. He played Will Scarlet in the first two seasons of the BBC drama Robin Hood which began in 2006...
, of Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
's Freshwater starring Edmund Kingsley, John Lyly's Gallathea
Gallathea
Gallathea is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy by John Lyly. It is unusual among Lyly's plays in that it has a record of modern productions.-Early history:...
starring Mary Nighy
Mary Nighy
Mary Nighy is an English actress and film maker. She was named one of the UK Film Council's breakthrough Brits in 2005.-Work:Nighy is director of Foster Films...
, and Charles Dickens's No Thoroughfare
No Thoroughfare
No Thoroughfare is a stage play and novel by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, both released in December 1867.-Background:In 1867 Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins collaborated to produce a stage play titled No Thoroughfare: A Drama: In Five Acts. This was the last stage production to be...
starring Loo Brealey
Loo Brealey
Louise Brealey , also credited as Loo Brealey, is an English actress and journalist.-Early life and education:Born in Bozeat, Northamptonshire, England...
, all directed by Tom Littler. Other plays in the series not directed by Tom Littler included the first play in English by a woman (Mariam) and early works by American playwrights. In 2008 Primavera Productions announced a second "Forgotten Classics" series, including the 50th anniversary reading of T.S.Eliot's The Elder Statesman
The Elder Statesman
The Elder Statesman is a play in verse by T. S. Eliot first performed in 1958 and published in 1959.-Overview:T. S. Eliot once quipped: “A play should give you something to think about...
, starring Christopher Timothy
Christopher Timothy
Christopher Timothy is a Welsh actor, television director and writer. Timothy is possibly best known today for his role as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small; more recently he has starred as Dr. Brendan 'Mac' McGuire in the British television drama Doctors...
, Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd is an English actor. He played Will Scarlet in the first two seasons of the BBC drama Robin Hood which began in 2006...
, Joanna Christie
Joanna Christie
Joanna Christie is an English actress. She was born and raised in Holmfirth, south of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire until the age of thirteen, when she was sent away to school in Northamptonshire...
, and David Burt
David Burt
David Burt is a British actor, known primarily for his many and wide-ranging West End performances.Burt recently starred as the flamboyant Count Fosco opposite Yvette Robinson in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White at the Palace Theatre and was featured as Captain Andy Hawks in Show Boat at...
; an unperformed play by John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
, "A Place Calling Itself Rome", which rewrites Shakespeare's Coriolanus
Coriolanus
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He was then promoted to a general...
; and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White
The Woman in White (novel)
The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860...
.
Primavera Productions also produced at the Finborough Theatre
Finborough Theatre
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...
where its 2007 work includes an opera by Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
and a play by T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
, The Confidential Clerk
The Confidential Clerk
thumb|1st edition cover The Confidential Clerk is a comic verse play by T. S. Eliot.-Synopsis:Sir Claude Mulhammer, a wealthy entrepreneur, decides to smuggle his illegitimate son Colby into the household by employing him as his confidential clerk...
. In 2008, Tom Littler directed the first ever revival of Jingo: A Farce of War, a comedy by Charles Wood
Charles Wood
Charles Wood may refer to:*Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax , British politician and peer*Charles Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax , British peer*Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax , English politician...
set in the last days of British occupation of Singapore before the humiliating surrender to the Japanese. Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker
Susannah Harker is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She is the daughter of English actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens, and the great-niece of Gordon Adams. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 1990 for her role as Mattie Storin in House of Cards...
played Gwendoline and Anthony Howell played her ex-husband Ian. The revival was hailed as a rediscovery of a major playwright. Primavera's past productions have also included the Scottish premiere of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Passion at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival (Scotsman Critics' Choice for Musicals / Opera), Into the Woods and A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
at the Oxford Playhouse, a production of Frank McGuinness' version of Ibsen's A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
on tour, and Shakespeare's As You Like It as the inaugural production at the Said Business School
Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School is the business school of the University of Oxford in England, located on the north side of Frideswide Square on the former site of Oxford Rewley Road railway station. It is the University's centre of learning for graduate and undergraduate students in business, management...
in Oxford. All of these productions were directed by Tom Littler.
In 2009, Primavera Productions produced the first revival of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's first musical Saturday Night
Saturday Night (musical)
Saturday Night is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and the book by brothers Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein, based on their play, Front Porch in Flatbush....
at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The show sold out for its run and successfully transferred to the Arts Theatre
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...
in the West End and to Theatre Royal, Windsor. Primavera also produced Bryony Lavery's play Origin of the Species later that year at the Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre is a studio theatre in Dalston, in the London Borough of Hackney. The theatre's ambition is to create and present high-quality theatre with a social and political relevance to its multicultural local community as well as a wider audience....
.