SPECULATIONS to Premiere at Marylebone Theatre, Directed by Trevor Nunn
Janie Dee leads the cast as Dorothy Kilgallen in Torben Betts's thriller about JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
Speculations, a new political thriller by Torben Betts, will make its world premiere at Marylebone Theatre. Directed by multi-award-winning, legendary theatre and film director Trevor Nunn, Speculations stars Olivier Award-winner Janie Dee (Comic Potential, Carousel, Me and Orson Welles) as one of America's most celebrated journalists, Dorothy Kilgallen, who sets out on a mission to discover the truth behind three of the most infamous deaths of the 20th century.
Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Three deaths that shook America. One woman refused to stop asking questions.
New York, 1965. Dorothy Kilgallen is on the trail of the biggest story of her career, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous the questions become. And when the threats reach inside her own home, she must decide how far she is prepared to go to tell a story some very powerful people would rather remain untold.
Designed by Lee Newby with Lighting Design by Johanna Town and Sound by Gregory Clarke, Speculations receives its World Premiere at the Marylebone Theatre, running from Friday 30 October - Sunday 3 January with press night on Wednesday 4 November.
Tickets are on sale now and further cast are to be announced shortly.
Trevor Nunn said: 'For my entire professional career, I have been intrigued by contradictions concerning the assassination of President Kennedy and the death of Marilyn Monroe. Now, excitingly, I have the opportunity to investigate those shocking events by directing a new play by Torben Betts called Speculations. An important American journalist, Dorothy Kilgallen, became fascinated by those contradictions and it is her speculations (as played by Janie Dee) that we follow in this gripping new play.'
Torben Betts said: 'I've never believed that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of JFK, and I've always found the circumstances surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death deeply suspicious. But since discovering Dorothy Kilgallen and how her investigation began to uncover possible connections between these seemingly separate deaths, I've become convinced that hers is a story that needs to be told, and I'd like to do my small part as a playwright to give a voice back to a courageous woman I believe was silenced.'
Alexander Gifford, Artistic Director of Marylebone Theatre said: 'The Marylebone Theatre is becoming widely known as London's new home for high-quality drama. Speculations by Torben Betts is another major new play by a great playwright at the peak of his powers, which I am sure will startle and entertain audiences. It is being brought to the stage by a stellar creative team, led by the legendary Trevor Nunn, starring one of our best-loved stage actresses, Janie Dee. I am confident it will be a worthy successor to our recent hit productions and another exciting offering for London.'
ABOUT SPECULATIONS
New York, 1965. Celebrated journalist and television star Dorothy Kilgallen is on the trail of the biggest story of her career. Three years earlier, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in Los Angeles. A year after that President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Then his suspected killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot dead — live on television. America's questions were answered. Dorothy was not convinced.
Following a trail from Hollywood to the White House, from the Kennedy dynasty to the New Orleans underworld, Dorothy begins to see connections others have missed — connections involving Robert Kennedy, Jack Ruby, organised crime boss Carlos Marcello, Marilyn Monroe, Oswald and JFK.
Blending Hollywood glamour, political intrigue and true-crime mystery, Speculations plunges into the shadows behind some of the twentieth century's most infamous deaths — and asks a tantalising question: 'how far would you go for the truth?'
