THE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE
in association with NICK BROOKE LTD. & PLEASANCE EDINBURGH presents

JULIAN SANDS
in

A CELEBRATION OF HAROLD PINTER

Directed by JOHN MALKOVITCH
Artistic Director: CHARLOTTE MOORE
Producing Director: CIARAN O'REILLY
Lighting Design: MICHAEL O'CONNOR
Wardrobe: NICOLE FARHI
Production Stage Manager: CHRISTINE LEMME
Press Representative: COYLE ENTERTAINMENT

The Irish Reportory Theatre Company
The Season in Union Square at the DR2 Theatre
103 East 15th Street

Visit http://www.irishrep.org
March 15 - April 3, 2016

Julian Sands performed brilliantly in A CELEBRATION OF HAROLD PINTER directed by John Malkovich. The idea to explore the structure and content of Harold Pinter's prose, poetry, and political activism started with a luncheon given by Harold's wife, Antonia Fraser, that developed into a wonderful collaboration to create this solo show. Sands brings a personal touch to the stories and poems by Pinter because he knew the man and his entourage. Greetings were even conveyed to the audience from Antonia in London to the New York audience on Easter Sunday.

Harold Pinter (October 10, 1930 - December 24, 2008) was a Nobel Prize-winning author with a career spanning more than 50 years. He's a renowned playwright, The Birthday Party and the Tony Award-winning The Homecoming, a screenwriter, actor, director, poet, and political activist. Sands re-enacts Pinter's description of himself, "I'm well aware that I have been described in some quarters as being 'enigmatic, taciturn, terse, prickly, explosive and forbidding' and that set the tone for many of the stories and poems to follow, along with wry humor.

There were touching remarks about Pinter's admiration for Samuel Beckett (Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright , theatre director, and poet--died December 22, 1989) who brought forth beautiful works like Waiting for Godot and Endgame.
What surprised me the most, were Pinter's poems about the dying process, looking death in the mirror, and exploring rituals associated with death. It was real and poignant. On the lighter side, there were many poems about his school days, cricket, Ireland, and current affairs.
It's a delightful journey that Sands brings you on and at the end you can get your own dedicated copy of Various Voices by Harold Pinter signed by Julian Sands on behalf of Pinter. It's a nice way to end the performance and keeps the voice of Pinter alive.
I'd highly recommend to go and watch the production of Julian Sands in A Celebration of Harold Pinter directed by John Malkovitch and presented by The Irish Repertory Theatre at the DR2 Theatre in Union Square.

- Laura Thompson -
http://www.loralia.com @LORALIA