The Remains of the Day

 

 

The Remains of the Day

Alex Loveless' musical adaptation

based on the novel

THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

by Kazuo Ishiguro

directed by Chris Loveless

    Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning novel The Remains of the Day will premiere as a stage musical at the Union Theatre, Southwark

Wed 1st - Sat 25th September 2010
Tues - Sat at 7:30pm.
Sat & Sun Matinees at 2:30pm

Tickets: £15.50 / £12.50

www.theremainsoftheday.com

The Union Theatre
204 Union Street, London, SE1 0LX
Box Office: 020 7261 9876. www.uniontheatre.biz

 

'I must admit the idea of it being a musical was at first a rather challenging one. But as Sondheim has proved, it is possible to combine searching drama with music to tremendous effect, so I thought, why not let these guys run with it?   

I listened to Alex Loveless play some musical ideas on a piano and that convinced me it could work.

Adapting this story as a musical, I could see, might have the advantage of highlighting its comedic and surreal aspects. It's an adventurous approach and I'm keen to support it.'

- Kazuo Ishiguro, The Stage, 28-May-2009, p 3

 

The show will be produced by Simon James Collier in association with Fallen Angel Theatre Company and Ben David Productions.

 

 

 

 

Creative Team

 

Richard Bates

Musical Director

As Musical Director: Oh No It Isn’t (Union Theatre), Little Fish (European Premiere, Finborough Theatre), Fairystories (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), NewsRevue (2008 & 09 seasons, Canal Café Theatre), Edges (UK Premiere), It’s Behind You (Union Theatre), Assassins (Landor Theatre), Wonderboy (Nitro Centre), Pride & Prejudice, the Pantomime (Vanbrugh Theatre, RADA), Sweeney Todd (Edinburgh Festival), as well as Too Darn Hot: A Night at the Musicals, Marry Me A Little, Threepenny Opera and Bugsy Malone.

He wrote music and lyrics for Treasure Island (2008) and Stagefright (2005), and music for Oh No It Isn’t (2009) and A Cabaret of Menace (2006). His latest musical Animate is currently in development. He made new orchestrations for Little Fish and Assassins, and contributed vocal arrangements to It’s Behind You and Wonderboy. He holds a BA in Music from Cambridge University and the AMusTCL diploma in music.

 


Ben David Productions

Co Producer

Ben David Productions was formed in January 2009.

Ben David trained at The Royal Ballet School, graduating in 2000 and was the recipient of the Ursula Moreton, James Monahan and Ninette de Valois Awards for Choreography. As a choreographer Ben David created five professional works including Siren Song for the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Faithful Gelert for the Peacock Theatre (Time Out Critics' Choice), and Gabriel’s Poem for Birmingham Royal Ballet. In 2002 Ben David won the Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award for Entrepreneurs and began producing dance works for Ballet Central’s National Tour in 2003, as well as producing works at The Place and The Space (Docklands) for the dance company Neophilia. In 2005 Ben David stopped working as a choreographer and focused on production.

Ben David was Associate Producer on the all male Mikado at the Union Theatre (Time Out, Evening Standard and Times Critics' Choice) and Co-producer of the sell out Magic to Cry For season at the Canal Café Theatre August 2008, featuring StandnotAmazed, Fay Presto, Scott Penrose, Paul Foot and Piff the Magic Dragon. Ben David also produced A Day of Magic at the Arcola Theatre in November '08 starring John Archer and Paul Kieve. In November 2008 Ben David produced Sweeney Todd for the Union Theatre directed by Sasha Regan (Time Out, Sunday Express and Evening Standard Critics' Choice). In 2009 Ben David produced Piff the Magic Dragon's solo show Piff-tacular which was performed at the Canal Cafe Theatre, RVT, Tristan Bates Theatre, Buxton Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. Piff-tacular won 'Best Comedy' at Buxton Fringe 2009 and broke the record for the highest grossing 'FREE' show at Edinburgh 2009. Ben David also produced The Falsetto and The Fingers, with Martin Milnes and Michael Baxter in 2009 - performed at Stratford Civic Hall, Union Theatre and the Kings Head as well as the Edinburgh Fringe 2009.

As well as producing the above, Ben David has worked in the following roles: Development Account Manager (Rambert) and Development Officer (Birmingham Hippodrome). Between 2007 - 2009 Ben David worked for the production team at Ambassador Theatre Group where she worked on Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker, Guys and Dolls (UK and Australia), Rocky Horror Show (UK, Europe and Australia), Elling, Fat Pig, West Side Story (London and UK tour), The Lover, The Collection, Noises Off (UK tour), Riflemind, RENT, A Night in November and Sunset Boulevard. Ben David worked for various different companies in 2009 including the Bush Theatre, SOLT/TMA, The Corner Shop PR and Sweet Pea Productions (The Misanthrope).

In December 2008 Ben David was awarded the Stage One New Producer's Bursary and in May 2009 a Shell Livewire 'Grand Ideas' award.

www.bendavidproductions.co.uk

 


Simon James Collier

Producer

Simon is CEO and Co-Founder of the noted Okai Collier Company and has produced and been the creative director on over fifty plays and musicals in London, throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. These include Oliver Twist and Supernatural (Lion & Unicorn); Love Horse (White Bear); Collision (also directed • Hackney Empire); Normal (Tobacco Factory, Bristol); Moonshadow (Time Out Critics’ Choice, White Bear); In His Hands (Hackney Empire/Oxford House); The Smilin’ State (Hackney Empire); Dracula (White Bear); Hedwig & The Angry Inch (K52 Theatre, Frankfurt); A Mother Speaks (Hackney Empire/New Wolsey, Ipswich/The Drum, Birmingham); The Dorchester (Jermyn Street); The Last Session (Hackney Empire); My Matisse (Jermyn Street); Shiny Happy People, with Victoria Wood (Hornchurch Theatre); Passion (Bridewell); A… My Name Is Alice (Bridewell); Whole Lotta Shakin’ (Belgrade, Coventry); Great Balls Of Fire (Cambridge Theatre, West End); A Wrongful Execution (also directed • Hackney Empire); Spooky Noises (also book & co lyrics • Merlin Theatre); Countess & Cabbages (also book • Merlin Theatre); Preacherosity (Jermyn Street); Purlie (nominated for 4 What’s On Stage Awards • Bridewell); Elegies For Angels, Punks & Raging Queens (also Executive Producer on 2001 Cast Recording • Bridewell, Globe Centre, Three Mills); La Vie En Rose (King’s Head, Towngate Theatre); Viva O Carnaval (also co book & lyrics • Lilian Baylis Sadler’s Wells) and Ruthless (winner of 5 Musical Stages awards • Stratford Circus, London).

He has also written and published over twenty children’s books and novels including the Mr. Dark trilogy (optioned for an animated television series), the Towards the Light Fantastic Trilogy and the Norman series. Simon recently produced Dance With Me, his first feature film, which will be in cinemas in 2010 and is currently developing two other features for production in 2010/11. He also directed The Difference We Make, a documentary for Southern Housing Foundation as well as presenting celebrated events at St. Martin in the Fields (The Crusaid Requiem), Hackney Empire (Inspiration Innovation Integration Season) and St. Paul’s Cathedral (Service of Thanksgiving, Remembrance & Hope for World AIDS Day).

Simon has created and project directed a series of award-nominated social investment projects that encourage youth creativity and literacy within the community, produced a number of documentaries and short films, and promoted various exhibitions focusing on the work of up and coming artists.

He has also been the Executive Director of London’s Bridewell Theatre, Artistic Consultant to Jermyn Street West End Studio Theatre and Chair, Trustee, Director and Consultant of numerous charities.

Productions for 2010 include: Tapestry (also directing); Gifted (White Bear); More Dead Black Children; Stairway to Heaven (Blue Elephant) and Still Life.

www.okaicollier.co.uk


Adam Dechanel

Graphic Design

Adam Dechanel is a prolific author, illustrator and graphic designer whose career spans nearly a decade. He has worked in television, film, books, short stories and graphic novels for many years.

Throughout his wide-ranging career he has had a series of novels published including the high profile Superman: Tempered Steel. Adam is well known in the illustration field and has worked extensively with Warner Bros, DC Comics and The Walt Disney Company. He also exhibits his artwork in galleries around London, including the prestigious Old Truman Brewery.

He is the co-creator of publishing label Okai Collier Kids that pioneered the CDbook entertainment format. His concept for graphic novel anthologies Vanston Place: The Secret Adventures and The Timber Wharves Gang were short listed for a SNAC award.

In theatre Adam has worked on hit shows such as Passion, A… My Name Is Alice, My Matisse, In His Hands, Collision, The Smilin’ State, The Sister Wendy Musical, The Dorchester, A Mother Speaks and Dracula, and also spearheaded the marketing campaigns for the critically acclaimed European premieres of Purlie and Preacherosity. He also wrote A Wrongful Execution, which featured as a reading for the acclaimed Inspiration, Innovation and Integration Season.

 

Fallen Angel Theatre Company

Co Producer

Fallen Angel was established in 2007 and focuses on new writing and innovative revivals of provocative and challenging works. Productions to date include Normal (Tobacco Factory, Bristol), Moonshadow (White Bear), Ray Collins Dies On Stage (Alma Theatre, Bristol), Dracula (White Bear) and The Custom of the Country (White Bear). All have received widespread critical acclaim.

 

Kazuo Ishiguro

Novelist

Born in Nagasaki, Japan, on 8th November 1954, Kazuo Ishiguro has lived in Britain since the age of five. His novels have won him international acclaim and many honours, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the British decoration of OBE for Services to Literature and the French decoration Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into forty languages, and The Remains of the Day was adapted into an award-winning film.

Kazuo Ishiguro has also worked as a screenwriter and a song lyricist. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.


Books in order of publication: A Pale View of Hills (1982 winner Winifred Holtby Prize), An Artist of the Floating World (1986 winner Whitbread Book of the Year Award, winner Premio Scanno, finalist for the Booker Prize), The Remains of the Day (1989, winner Booker Prize), The Unconsoled (1995, winner Cheltenham Prize), When We Were Orphans (2000, finalist for the Booker Prize), Never Let Me Go (2005, finalist for the Booker Prize, winner Premio Serono, winner Corine Internationaler Buchpreis, winner Casino de Santiago European Novel Award, finalist US National Book Critics Circle Award). Latest book Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall published May 2009.

Screenplays for cinema: The White Countess (2006, directed by James Ivory), The Saddest Music In The World (2003, directed by Guy Maddin) co-written with Guy Maddin and George Toles.

Screenplays for TV: A Profile of Arthur J. Mason (Channel 4, broadcast 1984), The Gourmet (Channel 4, broadcast 1986).

Songs (co-written with Jim Tomlinson): The Ice HotelI Wish I Could Go Travelling AgainSo Romantic and Breakfast On The Morning Tram, featured on Stacey Kent’s 2007 Grammy-nominated album Breakfast On The Morning Tram (Blue Note).

 

 


Rowland Lee

Musical Arrangements

Rowland Lee studied composition and piano at the Royal College of Music and has written much orchestral, choral and chamber music including The Crusaid Requiem, featuring the Mezzo-Soprano Sarah Connolly MBE, performed at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 2003.

He has composed scores for over twenty short films including the Christmas favourite The Little Reindeer. With over 1000 broadcasts last year on UK television alone, he is regarded as one of the country’s principal composers for animation. His TV credits as composer include Crapston Villas, Margaret Thatcher: Where am I now?, Stylissimo, Barking, The Melinda Messenger Show, the children’s series Henry’s Cat, Salut Serge, Captain Abercromby, Engie Benjy, Wilf the Witch’s Dog, BAFTA award-winning 64 Zoo Lane and Pablo the Little Red Fox. A new series of 64 Zoo Lane has recently been completed and will be broadcast in 2010. 

His work for the choreographer Matthew Bourne includes an original score for BBC2 ballet Drip-a Narcissistic Love Story, orchestrations for Town and Country, Nutcracker! and the internationally famous Swan Lake. He has also conducted Nutcracker! at Sadler’s Wells and Swan Lake in Ferrara, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Cologne. He has created reduced orchestrations of Swan Lake and Mozartiana for the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In February 2009 he accompanied the violinist Michael Poel in a recital on the main stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg during a gala concert being given by the Kirov ballet. In February 2010, he will be conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert of works by Michael Poel and himself.

Other credits as musical director/pianist/arranger include; Marry Me A Little and The Great Big Radio Show (the Bridewell), Over my Shoulder (Jermyn Street, Wyndhams Theatre and 3 tours). For The Okai Collier Company: Countess and Cabbages, Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, (the Bridewell) and the UK premiere of Ruthless at Stratford Circus (winner of five Musical Stages awards, including Best Production). For Stewart Nicholls at the Theatre Museum work includes A Girl Called Jo, Follow That Girl, Vanity Fair, Zip Goes A Million, The Amazons, Grab Me a Gondola, Anne Veronica, Julian Slade’s 70th birthday concert, reconstructions of David Heneker’s Popkiss and Noel Coward’s Sail Away (published by Warner Chappell).

Many of these productions are available on CD; The Amazons received a Grammy nomination for best cast album in 2003.  

In 1986, he was the first recipient of the British Film Institute’s Anthony Asquith Young Composer Award. He is well-known as a collector of mechanical music; His most prized instrument is an Aeolian Pipe Organ.


Alex Loveless

Adaptation of the Book, Music & Lyrics

Alex trained at the London College of Music, Thames Valley University. Awards include the Vivian Ellis Prize: Most Promising Newcomer award and the Howard Goodall Award for Composition.

Alex was part of the first UK New Musical Theatre Writers’ Laboratory held at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 1999, facilitated by tutors from the Tisch School of Performing Arts, New York University.

His work has been performed in the north of England and showcased at various London venues including Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and The Duchess Theatre. He has contributed to The Writing Block and Royal Academy of Music workshops, and has had his work published as part of the London College of Music exam board’s musical theatre syllabus.

His most recent musical, an adaptation of Bram stoker’s Dracula, was performed at the White Bear Theatre, Kennington from October to November 2008.

www.alexloveless.com

 


Chris Loveless

Director/Co Producer

Chris trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (2007). He is Artistic Director of Fallen Angel Theatre Company and an associate director of the White Bear Theatre and Stepping Out Theatre Company.   

Directing credits include Normal (Tobacco Factory, Bristol), Moonshadow (Time Out Critics' Choice & Show of the Week, White Bear), Ray Collins Dies On Stage (Alma Theatre, Bristol), Thursday Coma (Alma), Walter's Monkey (Alma), Dracula (White Bear) and The Custom of the Country (Time Out Critics' Choice, White Bear). Assisting credits include Othello (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory) and The Demon Box (Alma).

Producing credits include studio and fringe productions, and an internship with ATG in their West End production office. Chris has also worked in theatre and TV as an actor and is a former member of the National Youth Theatre.

www.chrisloveless.com

 


Omar F. Okai 

Movement Direction

Omar F. Okai is an award-winning director and choreographer of over forty musicals and plays, productions of which were not only in London’s West End and throughout the UK, but also in Europe.

These include: Come Dancing and Hansel and Gretel (Choreographer, Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Smilin’ State (Hackney Empire); the Olivier Award nominated Cinderella for Theatre Royal Stratford East; Five Guys Named Moe (German premiere, 2007/8); the world premieres of Preacherosity and Viva O Carnaval; Sweet Charity (re-staging Bob Fosse’s original choreography); Rent; Cabaret; the European premieres of both Ruthless (for which he won a Best Director award) and Purlie (nominated for four What’s On Stage awards); Honk and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

He is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the noted Okai Collier Company, which has gained an excellent reputation for encouraging new writing and staging cross-cultural productions.

Okai also co-produced a number of West End/Off West End Studio productions for directors including Lynda Baron (The Dorchester), Simon James Collier (Collision) and Ruth Carney (My Matisse), along with Rowland Lee’s acclaimed Crusaid Requiem at St. Martin in the Fields and the HIV/AIDS Service of Remembrance at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Omar’s film directing credits include the notable documentary The 411: The Bottom Line on Amhurst Road, produced in association with Southern Housing Foundation, and he also choreographs high profile catwalk shows for Clynol and Schwarzkopf.

He is the Director of Urban Theatre, a project that encourages youth creativity within the community and has worked with the education departments at Camden Roundhouse and The Royal Opera House. In addition to the above Omar is also an accomplished West End performer and writer. Omar will be choreographing the new musical Muscle in 2010.

www.okaicollier.co.uk


Christina Pomeroy

Costume

Chris has worked as Costume Designer on a number of Okai Collier Company productions including Elegies (Bridewell); Purlie (Bridewell, nominated for 4 What’s On Stage awards); Ruthless (Stratford Circus, winner of 5 Musical Stages awards); Preacherosity and The Dorchester (both at Jermyn Street West End Studio Theatre); The Sister Wendy Musical, The Smilin’ State, Collision, In His Hands (Hackney Empire) and Dracula (White Bear Theatre).

 


Amy Rycroft

Casting/Associate Producer

Casting credits for the English Theatre Frankfurt include; The Full Monty, Educating Rita, Hysteria, Hair, Gaslight, Death Trap, Laughing Wild, Nevelle’s Island, The Last Virgin, Blithe Spirit, RENT; Other theatre casting credits include; A Day at the Racist (Finborough Theatre), The Tenants (Drill Hall), Ruth (New End Theatre, London) A Wrongful Execution (Acorn Theatre, Hackney); Borrowed Time (New End Theatre, London); Purlie (Bridewell Theatre); Passion (Bridewell Theatre). Music Video & Commercial casting credits include: Andre Rieu (Decca Records), Dreamboats & Petticoats 3 (Universal Music Op), Bingo Wings Music Video (MJNA Records). Associate Producer and Producer credits include: Circus Agogo (New End Theatre); A Wrongful Execution (Acorn Theatre, Hackney); The Last Session (Acorn Theatre, Hackney); Bridewell Theatre Farewell Gala (Bridewell Theatre); Purlie (Bridewell Theatre). Production Assistant on Death of a Salesman (Lyric Theatre, London); The Countess (Criterion Theatre, London); I Am My Own Wife (Duke of York Theatre, London).


 

 

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