Brenda Blethyn, Simon Green, Peter Nichols, et al. Set for Brits Off-Broadway Festival

59E59 Theaters has announced the lineup of productions that will comprise its Brits Off Broadway festival, to run November 3 – January 2.

Highlights include Academy Award nominee Brenda Blethyn starring alongside Niall Buggy and Beth Cook in Edna O’Brien’s Haunted (December 1 – January 2). The play, produced by Royal Exchange Theatre, focuses on a married man who enters into a curious relationship with a new woman in his life.

The festival will open with Hywel John’s 21 Pieces (November 3-21), a fable about loss and revenge. Kate Wasserberg will direct this Clwyd Theatr Cymru production, which will feature Louise Collins, Jennifer Kidd, and Steven Meo.

David Aula will direct the Fallout Theatre’s production of John Osborne and Anthony Creighton’s Personal Enemy (November 4-28). Karen Lewis, Tony Turner, Genevieve Allenbury, Mark Oosterveen, Joanne King, Peter Clapp and Steven Clarke will be featured in this play that explores the political and sexual paranoia that gripped America in the 1950s at the height of McCarthyism.

Peter Nichols’ Lingua Franca (November 9-28) will be directed by Michael Gieleta and feature Anna Carteret, Enzo Cilenti, Ian Gelder, Abigail McKern, Chris New, Charlotte Randle and Natalie Walter. The play, presented by Cherub Company, follows an innocent abroad as he travels from National Service in South-East Asia to 1950’s Florence. The piece is based on a leading character in Nichols’ Privates on Parade and inspired by the writer’s own experiences.

In Carl Caulfield’s biodrama Being Sellers (November 23 – December 12), David Boyle will play Peter Sellers as well as a host of the characters the actor brought to life on the screen. Simon Green will direct the Waterloo East Theatre production. Another solo show will be An Audience with Mrs. Moneypenny (November 30 – December 5). Written by Heather McGregor and Robert McGregor and directed by Owen Lewis, the play brings the Financial Times columnist to the stage and she will share her tales of banking and business.

The Brits Off-Broadway festival will conclude with Hysteria and If That’s All There Is (December 7 – January 2). The two pieces have been created by the company Inspector Sands and will be directed by Joseph Alford and Lu Kemp. The piece, which explore anxiety in our world today, will feature Lucinka Eisler, Giulia Innocenti and Ben Lewis.