92Y to Present Staged Reading of REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST, 1/16

By: Jan. 07, 2014
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In 1972, Harold Pinter wrote a screenplay from Proust's seven-volume masterpiece Remembrance of Things Past. Decades later, Pinter and directing partner Di Trevis adapted Pinter's never-filmed script for the stage and the National Theatre in London. The piece has never been produced in the U.S. - until now.

In celebration of Pinter's long friendship with 92Y's Poetry Center and the centenary of Swann's Way, 92Y presents a staged reading of the play (Remembrance of Things Past), affording us "the pleasure of providing yet another angle of perception upon a work so elaborate and many-faceted it never fails to give back new light," wrote John Updike.

The production is being directed by Di Trevis - who worked closely with Pinter - and Ed Sylvanus Iskandar; and it will feature the actors Dan Amboyer, Kersti Bryan, Samantha Dakin, Helen Manfull, Andrew Fallaize, Annabel Capper, Peter Clements, Hall Hunsinger, Natalie Thomas, Lara Hillier, Richard Armitage, Natasha Andrews and Michael Villastrigo.

Before the event, at 6:30 pm, Di Trevis will be in conversation with The New York Times' Alastair Macaulay about Pinter and what he was like to work with; the talk is open to ticket-buyers only.

Di Trevis is well-known in the UK for her plays at the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company; and the actors Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh and Rupert Everett have all passed through her workshops. She began adapting Pinter's screenplay for the stage in 1996 - without his knowledge. When she met with Pinter (in England) in 1997, to explain what she was working on, she expected him to be "furious and dismissive." However, according to Trevis, as she recounts in Remembrance of Things Proust: A Rehearsal Diary, "he listened to me in silence and then poured two glasses of white wine and said, 'This sounds pretty interesting,' and suggested they take the project to the Royal National Theatre.

Harold Pinter appeared at 92Y's Poetry Center five times between 1964 and 1996, to read his plays, stories and poems. In his 1964 appearance, Pinter read "Tea Party" and "New Year in the Midlands," among other works; and you can listen to a recording here: http://92yondemand.org/harold-pinter-tea-party-new-year-in-the-midlands-and-other-readings/. The Poetry Center is currently celebrating its 75th Anniversary season; many well-known playwrights have made appearances there, and many well-known dramatic works have premiered there, including Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood in 1953.

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