We have a very fertile new writing culture in Britain - so fertile, in fact, that good plays are seemingly discarded after their first productions and only rarely resurface again for another outing. Productions that begin in London's extensive network of new writing studio theatres routinely suffer this fate, unless they transfer immediately to the West End after their original runs, as in the current Shaftesbury Avenue run for Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman. Read more
Director Jamie Lloyd will return to the Trafalgar Studios this summer with a new production of Alexi Kate Campbell's 2009 play Apologia starring Stockard Channing.
The Tony and Emmy award-winning actress will return to the West End to star as Kirstin Miller, the firebrand liberal matriarch in this powerful play from the writer of The Pride, Sunset at The Villa Thalia and The Faith Machine.
Apologia originally opened at the Bush Theatre in West London in 2009.
American actress Stockard Channing is best known for playing Rizzo in the film version of 'Grease' in 1978. Her stage work has seen her nominated for seven Tony Awards, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1985. Other Broadway credits include Other Desert Cities, the musical Pal Joey and more recently a star-studded revival of It's Only a Play. On screen she is known for playing First Lady Abbey Bartlet on 'The West Wing' and she has been nominated 13 times for Primetime Emmy Awards.
Apologia Synopsis
Kristin Miller is a firebrand liberal matriarch and eminent art historian. In her cottage, deep in the English countryside, a birthday gathering should be a time of celebration but the cracks in her family relationships are brought to the surface by the recent publication of her memoir. As the evening progresses, Kristin’s family and friends, and ultimately Kristin herself begin to question her achievements and choices and if they were indeed worth the sacrifice.