BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Girl of the decade, but which one? Hayley Atwell will flash back and forth in trans-generational love triangle
Hayley's the sole leading lady, opposite Harry Hadden-Paton, Al Weaver and Mathew Horne
Hayley Atwell is about to enter into a trans-generational love triangle that will flit backwards and forwards in time, from the late Fifties to the present day.
The menage a trois stuff has nothing to do with the film Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, which features Hayley as Peggy Carter, the captain’s friend, though the picture, to be released early next year, does involve a bit of flash-backing and forwarding.
No, Hayley’s love triangle concerns Alexi Kaye Campbell’s brilliant debut play The Pride, which opened to acclaim at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court five years ago.
Campbell’s study of repression and restriction was seen through two lenses: a late Fifties, Terence Rattigan-esque prism of never daring to utter the word gay and a present-day view, where there’s freedom to debate same-sex issues.
Back in 2008, The Pride was directed by Jamie Lloyd. Now, he has chosen it as the third play in the season of dramas he and Howard Panter’s Ambassador Theatre Group are producing at the Trafalgar Studios. It will follow The Hothouse into the Trafalgar from August 8.
Hayley’s the sole leading lady, opposite Harry Hadden-Paton, Al Weaver and Mathew Horne (who has three full-on roles).
In the play’s Fifties segments, Hayley plays Sylvia: an actress turned book illustrator married to estate agent Philip (Hadden-Paton). Sylvia watches as her husband falls for Weaver’s Oliver. ‘It’s about identity and repression,’ Hayley told me, adding that in 1958, Sylvia didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate her feelings: ‘She had the feminine quality of taking her own pain and putting it aside, as she watches her marriage break down.’
In the contemporary section, the play asks whether Sylvia and the other characters are more enlightened, or not.
Atwell and Lloyd worked together on another Campbell play, The Faith Machine, two years ago and talked then about revisiting The Pride.
Lloyd said the structure of the piece will remain the same, but the play’s modern sections will be updated . . . to last weekend’s Gay Pride celebrations.
The director, who starts rehearsing his cast on Monday, said the play transcended gay issues, arguing that before you can fall in love, you have to know who you are. ‘That applies to everyone,’ Lloyd said.
Competition for the four slots in the ATG season has been intense.
Lloyd said for each place, there would be eight or nine plays on the table for consideration.
‘What feels the most resonant? Which play can get the finest cast and what seems a great contrast to the previous play?’ Lloyd asked.
Meanwhile, on the Captain America front, Hayley said Marvel ‘have done an exciting little thing on the side that explains a lot more about Peggy Carter’. That ‘little thing’ will be unveiled next week at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2356483/Girl-decade-Hayley-Atwell-flash-forth-trans-generational-love-triangle.html#ixzz34GkLgoLS
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