Exciting day at TimeLine today as we announced that Peter Morgan’s internationally acclaimed play Frost/Nixon will kick off our 2010-11 season this August. And we’ll welcome back TimeLine Associate Artist Louis Contey (A House With No Walls, Copenhagen, The General from America) as director.
Many of you may be familiar with Peter Morgan’s story of the real-life 1977 television interviews between journalist David Frost and former president Richard Nixon via Ron Howard’s 2008 feature film version. Others may have had the chance to see the play at its premiere at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2006, or later on the West End, or on Broadway in 2007. But this is the first time audiences here will have the chance to see the show on stage as TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere!
Here’s the story: It has been three years since Nixon resigned from office in disgrace. The Watergate scandal is still on the minds of many, but the former commander-in-chief has yet to break his silence about his role in those events. Now Nixon has agreed to be interviewed by the up-and-coming British broadcaster David Frost. Behind-the-scenes it’s a battle of egos for the upper hand in controlling history, but as the cameras roll, the world is riveted by a remarkably honest exchange between one man who has lost everything and another with everything to gain.
“A gripping study of the politics of the media,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian upon the play’s premiere. And Charles Spencer in The Telegraph called it “a terrific new play that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping and entertaining. What’s more, like all good history, it illuminates the present while examining the past.”
TimeLine is thrilled to be able to bring Peter Morgan’s dynamic play to Chicago audiences for the first time. This play is an ideal fit for our mission of examining the past to better understand the present. And similar to other high profile Chicago premieres like “The History Boys” and our upcoming production of “The Farnsworth Invention,” TimeLine is able to provide a much more intimate experience than a Broadway production. Our flexible theatre will bring audiences up close to this provocative story.
— Artistic Director PJ Powers
Stay tuned over the coming weeks as casting for Frost/Nixon and titles for the rest of our 2010-11 season are still to be announced. And let us know what you think about this choice for TimeLine’s 14th season!
Comments (0)
Anna Cooper-Stanton
Congratulations! I missed this when I was in London a few years ago, and am happy that it is coming to TimeLine. A fascinating account of the pull between the political and the publicity hound, or are they the same? So, I have always thought alliteration was one of the great memory builders! And, not incidentally, a really good financially-responsible move, with (I assume) only two actors. I’m looking forward to knowing who will be cast in which role.
Anne Liston
Which Anna Cooper Stanton are you?
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[…] Frost/Nixon makes its Chicago debut at the Timeline Theater. We talk with actor Terry Hamilton about what he learned playing President Richard M. […]