59E59 Theaters is again hosting the Brits Off Broadway festival, from Tuesday, April 22- Sunday, June 29, celebrating the best of independent British theater. This year’s edition of Brits Off Broadway will include eight shows from UK writers and producers across all three of 59E59 Theaters’ stages.
Productions cover a range of genres from historical dramas to comedies and explorations of human resilience, which will each have three to five week runs at the venue. The schedule is as follows:
April 22 – May 25
The Last Laugh
Written and directed by Paul Hendy, with Damian Williams, Bob Golding, and Simon Cartwright
The Last Laugh imagines a meeting between a trio of legendary comedians: Cooper, beloved for his magic tricks that didn’t work; Morecambe, whose double act is the focus of the 2003 Broadway hit The Play What I Wrote; and Monkhouse, renowned for his witty remarks as a game show host.
April 23 – May 11
The Ungodly
Written and directed by Joanna Carrick,ith Christopher Ashman, Nadia Jackson, Vincent Moisy, and Rei Mordue
In the remote village of Mistley, Susan Edwards, step-sister of self-proclaimed Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, has a choice to make. Does she remain rational in a community torn apart by fear, intolerance, and hysteria or become seduced by the idea that her baby’s death was caused by witches controlled by Satan?
April 24 – May 11
The Mistake
By Michael Mears, Directed by Rosamunde Hutt, with Riko Nakazono and Michael Mears
1945. The United States drops two atomic bombs on Japan, heralding a terrifying new era of warfare. The compelling stories of the brilliant Hungarian scientist who helps create the atom bomb, the daring American pilot who delivers it, and the devoted Japanese daughter who suffers the devastating consequences fatally intertwine across countries, continents, and decades.
May 13 – 25
Gertrude Lawrence: A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening
Written and performed by Lucy Stevens, Directed by Sarah-Louise Young
For the first time this dazzling 1930s star of musical comedy tells her own story in her own words. Sweeping us from London’s East End to the bright lights of Broadway, her rags to riches story is packed with witty dialogue and bursting with well-loved songs, from Noel Coward to Kurt Weill.
May 14 – June 8
Shellshocked
Written and directed by Philip Stokes, starring Lee Bainbride and Jack Stokes
A heroic, young, and shellshocked soldier, Wesley Hepton returns home from the trenches. To help support the family, his mother submits his art portfolio to painter Mr. Lupine. Wesley attends an interview to become his apprentice. But on arrival, he encounters another kind of madness that threatens to push him to destruction as he discovers the ulterior motives behind the artist’s palette.
May 29 – June 29
A Special Relationship
By Tim Marriott and Jeff Stolzer, directed by Margarett Perry, with Tim Marriott and Brian Dykstra
Two nations divided by a single language, brought together by holy matrimony. It is the morning of their children’s wedding and British dad Monty is hosting American dad Pete and his family. Everyone else has gone to the church for the rehearsal but they’ve been left behind to put up a gazebo in the garden. Communication proves challenging and not just because the instructions are in Chinese.
May 30 – June 29
Pride & Prejudice
Adapted by Abigail Pickard Price, with Sarah Gobran and Matt Pinches, directed by Abigail Pickard Price, with Luke Barton, Sarah Gobran, and April Hughes
This “uproariously funny” and “pleasingly faithful” new adaptation of Jane Austen’s much-loved tale of Ms. Bennett and Mr. Darcy’s courtship comes to New York with the original cast after sold out runs in London and on tour in the UK.
June 12 – 29
Kafka
Written and performed by Jack Klaff, directed by Colin Watkeys
A hundred years on from his death at the age of just 40, Kafka remains the voice of the outsider and the disempowered – struggling between the agony of solitude and the pains of intimacy, isolated in the big city and in the world, whilst never forgetting how absurd and hilarious life can be.
For more information and to purchase tickets for the Brits Off Broadway season, visit www.59E59.org.
59E 59 Theaters is located at 59 East 59th Street, NYC
