PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
non - profit u . s . postage
pa i d
New York, NY Pe r m i t N o . 7 5 2 8
—
with: Julian Elfer Katie Firth Philip Goodwin Sean Gormley Polly McKie Kylie McVey George Morfogen Mark Anderson Phillips Athan Sporek Jill Tanner
MANAGING DIRECTOR
by
N.C. Hunter
by
directed by
N.C. Hunter
Austin Pendleton
A “
Strictly Limited Engagement
July 22 through September 24 The Beckett Theatre | Theatre Row 410 West 42nd St., between 9th & 10th
directed by
subtle, civilized comedy”
Austin Pendleton
The New York Times, 1955
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Strictly Limited Engagement
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PHONE: 212-947-8844
PERFORMANCES Tue-Sat at 7:30pm Sat & Sun at 2:30pm
Wed. Matinee: 8/24 and 9/21 at 2:30pm
WATERS OF THE MOON Featuring an introduction by Charles Duff, author of The Lost Summer: The Heyday of the West End Theatre.
A One Night Only Reading Monday, August 15th at 7pm
Tickets: $25 FREE for members of our First Priority Club For reservations, please call 212.315.0231.
“It fills the heart with laughter and strengthens the spirit.” Harold Hobson, Sunday Times, 1951
Now Performing at The Beckett Theatre, Theatre Row 410 West 42nd St, between 9th & 10th
REGULAR PRICE $57.50 (INCLUDES $2.25 RESTORATION FEE) $4.75 PER TICKET SERVICE CHARGE APPLIES TO ALL PHONE AND ONLINE ORDERS
330 West 42nd St, Ste 1210 NY, NY 10036
(USE CODE TRMINT49) Includes $2.25 restoration fee
by N.C. HUNTER
JONATHAN BANK —
JEN SOLOWAY
SETS CHARLES MORGAN COSTUMES MARTHA HALLY LIGHTS XAVIER PIERCE ORIGINAL MUSIC & SOUND JANE SHAW PROPS JOSHUA YOCOM CASTING JUDY BOWMAN DIALECTS & DRAMATURGY AMY STOLLER PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER CATHERINE BLOCH ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER ARIELLE GOLDSTEIN PRODUCTION MANAGER GILLIAN WOLPERT ILLUSTRATION STEFANO IMBERT GRAPHICS HEY JUDE DESIGN, INC. ADVERTISING THE PEKOE GROUP PRESS DAVID GERSTEN & ASSOCIATES
MintTheater.org
presents
July 22 through September 24
The Beckett Theatre | Theatre Row 410 West 42nd St minttheater.org THIS PRODUCTION IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY: The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
By public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
“ s bright as the sunny days in A which the scenes take place.” The Stage, 1953
A DAY BY THE SEA is a warm, human and often humorous depiction of the “crisis” of middle age. Julian Anson, a once-promising Foreign Service employee, confronts professional disappointment and personal failure while picnicking along the English seaside. Jolted into the realization that maybe it’s not too late—he seizes an opportunity to correct his past mistakes and start fresh—but will the results be any different? A DAY BY THE SEA opened on the West End in 1953 and ran for 386 performances in a production at the Haymarket that featured theatrical royalty: Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Lewis Casson and Dame Sybil Thorndike. Star casting was both a blessing and a curse for the playwright. Some reviewers couldn’t see past the brilliant performances to discern the intrinsic value of Hunter’s subtle genius. When a critic for The Stage returned for a second visit a year later, he observed that “a full house responded to [the play’s] charm, pathos and gentle humor with an intensity made all the more impressive by obvious sincerity and reasonable enthusiasm…Mr. Hunter’s lack of spectacular invention and striking originality is made up for by clear-cut sincerity and an ability to keep the hearts of his characters beating…We feel the pulse of life in the Anson garden by the sea. On the beach, during the picnic, age looks back to youth with a trembling beauty, while youth grows stronger in its urge towards the future.”
, touching, gentle, Humorous wistful, and wise”
“
Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times, 1955
In New York, the play opened in 1955 with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn headlining the cast; Hunter’s only Broadway production. In praising the play, Brooks Atkinson notes that Hunter is “a writer with a lot of charm, skill and taste” who’s “benevolence toward the actors brings its own reward. For the tenuous, loosely strung performance is admirable and enjoyable—humorous, touching, gentle, wistful and wise in a sociable way.” Sir Lewis Casson, a veteran of 50 years on the professional stage, told The Stage: “The play has a remarkable tenderness—something not found enough in our theatre today…In my opinion, this is a play of the whole of life. It is not only a picture of a picnic by the sea, but a study of humanity between two tides—a little bit of the ocean of life that will go and come again.” In 2013, Mint offered audiences Hunter’s comedy A PICTURE OF AUTUMN: “Impressive in every way...so strong that in a perfect world it would trigger a general revival of interest in Mr. Hunter’s work.” - Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal It’s a big, generous play, exquisitely written, both funny and touching. - The New Yorker George Morfogen and Jill Tanner in A PICTURE OF AUTUMN by N.C. Hunter. Both will appear in A DAY BY THE SEA. Photo: Richard Termine
N.C. Hunter By Maya Cantu
enrichMINT events ENRICHMINT EVENTS ARE SUPPORTED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE MICHAEL TUCH FOUNDATION.
All events take place immediately after the performance and usually last about fifty minutes. They are free and open to the public. Speakers and dates subject to change without notice.
A keenly observant playwright of “charm, pathos, and humor” (The Stage), N.C. Hunter took his place among the leading British dramatists of the 1950s. He was a playwright of contradictions. A deeply private man who shunned the spotlight, Hunter’s plays drew dazzling casts of West End stars. Trained to serve in the military, Hunter earned acclaim for his delicate, gently ironic “comedies of regret:” “plays with Chekhovian tints, yet with qualities of sensitivity and craftsmanship all their own” (Stage and Television Review). Born September 18, 1908 in Derbyshire, Hunter came of age in a prestigious English family; his great-great-grandfather was the famous journalist, agriculturist, and radical reformer Sir William Cobbett. Following after his father, a decorated Lieutenant Colonel, Hunter attended Repton School and the Royal Military School of Sandhurst, and served for three years in the Dragoon Guards. In 1934, he broke out as a novelist and playwright, making his name with a series of frothy, deftly crafted West End farces, such as All Rights Reserved (1935). Hunter also wrote radio dramas for the BBC from 1938 through the start of WWII, when he re-entered military service as a soldier in the Royal Artillery. Hunter’s playwriting matured in the mid-1940s and the 1950s. His plays caught the mood of a nation gripped by postwar insecurity, with characters grasping for purpose. With their lyrical atmosphere, “careful characterizations, and finely orchestrated dialogue” (as described by William Tydeman), Hunter’s plays attracted British stage royalty, including Sybil Thorndike and Edith Evans, in his first major West End hit, Waters of the Moon (1951), which ran for 835 performances at London’s Theatre Royal. While Waters poignantly portrayed English gentility struggling for survival, Hunter raised questions about the relationship of money, work, and success to personal fulfillment in A Day by the Sea (1953) and A Touch of the Sun (1957), featuring two Redgraves—Michael and Vanessa. As the incendiary 1956 premiere of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court Theatre ushered in a revolutionary new wave of young playwrights—the so-called “Angry Young Men” championed by critic Kenneth Tynan—Hunter’s career suffered a decline. Though never again as commercially or critically successful as he was in the postwar era, Hunter continued to craft a range of thoughtful and eloquent dramas, including The Excursion (1964). He also returned to his comedic roots with a picaresque farce, The Adventures of Tom Random (1967). He died on April 19, 1971. Today, Hunter’s “dramas of sensitivity, perception, and adult understanding” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) beckon new audiences. In reviewing the Mint’s 2013 production of A Picture of Autumn, David Barbour of Lighting and Sound America wrote: “…For all its gentle manners, A Picture of Autumn, in its presentation of a country suffering profound spiritual drift, is as pointed and devastating as anything (John) Osborne ever wrote. Say hello to N. C. Hunter, and let’s hope we hear from him again soon.” Beginning on July 22, 2016, Mint Theater Company will happily oblige.
SUNDAY, JULY 31 after the matinee: “IN SEARCH OF N.C. HUNTER”
MAYA CANTU, THEATER HISTORIAN AND DRAMATURG Maya Cantu is a theater historian, scholar, and Dramaturgical Advisor for the Mint. She received a D.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama, and joins the Drama faculty of Bennington College this fall. Maya is the author of the book, American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from “Irene” to “Gypsy.” Her discussion will focus on the life and work of N.C. Hunter, and on the contexts and influences informing A Day by the Sea.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6 after the matinee: “BRITISH THEATRE IN THE POSTWAR WORLD”
ROGER W. OLIVER, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY AND JUILLIARD
Roger W. Oliver is Professor of Liberal Arts and Drama at Juilliard, and Professor of English and Dramatic Literature at N.Y.U., where he teaches courses in Modern British Drama. He is the author of Dreams of Passion: The Dramatic Art of Luigi Pirandello, and has contributed to many publications including Good Reading, Forum, Performing Arts Journal, and Modern Drama. Roger’s discussion will place A Day by the Sea into the larger context of post-war British theater.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 after the matinee: “N.C. HUNTER: PLAYS THAT ACTORS LIKED TO SPEAK” CHARLES DUFF, AUTHOR OF THE LOST SUMMER: THE HEYDAY OF THE WEST END THEATRE
Charles Duff is a British teacher, actor, theatre director, writer and critic. His first professional role was in N.C. Hunter’s The Adventures of Tom Random at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in 1967. His book, The Lost Summer: The Heyday of the West End Theatre, focuses on the career of director Frith Banbury, and on the playwrights and actors of the commercial British theatre of the mid-twentieth century. Duff’s post-show discussion will discuss how N.C. Hunter’s plays fit into this rich period of theatrical history.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 before & after the matinee:
A DAY WITH CHARLES DUFF
12:30pm – Brunch and discussion at West Bank Café: Join Charles Duff for a delicious pre-matinee brunch at West Bank Café, where he will provide an introduction to A Day by the Sea and share his own personal memories of working with N.C. Hunter on the author’s The Adventures of Tom Random. 2:30pm – Matinee performance of A Day by the Sea at Theatre Row. 5:00pm – Continue the conversation at the Theatre Row Lounge: Join Charles Duff, Jonathan Bank, and select members of the company for a post-show wine and cheese reception at the Theatre Row Lounge. Brunch, one matinee ticket, and post-show reception: $82.25 (includes $2.25 Theater Restoration Fee.) Call 212-947-8844 use code “TRBrunch” to reserve your place.