Sea Wall / A Life Recoups as It Closes on Broadway

Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal performed the show’s two monologues in a nine-week limited engagement at the Hudson Theatre.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge in Sea Wall / A Life on Broadway.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge in Sea Wall / A Life on Broadway.
(© Richard Hubert Smith)

Producers Nine Stories, Ambassador Theatre Group, Seaview Productions, and Benjamin Lowy Productions have announced that the Broadway mounting of Sea Wall / A Life has recouped its investment, making it the first production of the 2019-20 Broadway season to do so. The play had a nine-week limited engagement at the Hudson Theatre, which concluded on Sunday, September 29.

Sea Wall / A Life was a double bill of solo monologues, written by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne, and performed by Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively. Sea Wall, written by Stephens, is described as "an astonishing monologue about love and the human need to know the unknowable," while A Life, written by Payne, is described as "an emotional examination of how sons become fathers and the transformative power of love."

Directed by Carrie Cracknell, the creative team featured Laura Jellinek (scenic design), Kaye Voyce (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), Fabian Obispo (sound design), and Stuart Earl (original music).

As previously announced, Audible will record and release Gyllenhaal and Sturridge's performances on a date still to be determined.