20 South Street Presents SUMMER Tonight, May 8

20 South Street presents the world premiere of SUMMER by Julia Stubbs Hughes, based on the novel by Edith Wharton, from tonight May 8 through May 26, 2012 at the Jack Studio Theatre, London.

The creative team includes director Timothy Stubbs Hughes, lighting by Katherine Lowry, costumes by Alessia Alba, sound designer/composer Millie Cook. The cast includes Francis Adams (Lawyer Royall), Joanne Gale (Charity Royall), and Jeffrey Mundell (Lucius Harney).

Eighteen year old Charity Royall lives in the remote village of North Dormer with her guardian and fatherfigure Lawyer Royall. Their mundane lives are interrupted by the arrival of Lucius Harney, a young architect from New York.

Small-town prejudice, repressed passion and the hope for escape all feature in Edith Wharton’s groundbreaking study of a young woman’s awakening.

Julia Stubbs Hughes’ new play focuses on the three main characters of the novel and explores the
discovery of love and attraction in a society that restricts both. Julia trained as an actor and began directing after reading the accomplished first play by Laura Stevens, ‘Thin Toes’. Since then her subsequent productions have included the World Premiere of ‘Remembering You like something I’d Forgotten’ by Louise Buchler for the National Arts Festival, South Africa (2007 and 2008 revival) and the West End transfer of ‘In My Name’ by Steven Hevey (one of the Five Best Plays in London, Evening Standard, July 2008).

Julia read SUMMER after seeing the film version of its companion piece, ‘Ethan Frome’. She was immediately struck by the tragic story of a love triangle, set as ‘Ethan Frome’ and unlike the majority of Wharton’s work, in rural Massachusetts. Julia felt that to create a play that centred wholly on the novel’s three characters and their intertwined relationships would be an intriguing idea and so encouraged by the award-winning writer Helen Edmundson, she began work on the project. 

The production will be directed by TIMOTHY STUBBS HUGHES, who in 2011 directed a well received new version of Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’ at the White Bear Theatre and the World Premiere of ‘bodies unfinished’ by Lewis Hetherington at the Jack Studio Theatre, which was nominated for five “Offies” OffWest End awards including Best New Play and Best Production.