A Month in the Country

 

Brian Friel, Ireland’s greatest living playwright, has freely adapted Ivan Turgenev’s great masterpiece. In this poignant, evocative and, at times, comic play, he charts the course of a passionately eventful summer month on a country estate in which Natalya – filled with a vast discontent and longing and seeking escape from a stifling marriage – falls hopelessly in love with her son’s young tutor and is left at the end to recover whatever happiness she can after her summer of secret turmoil.

 

Described by Henry James as a ‘beautiful genius’, Turgenev, a precursor to Chekhov, explores the fragility of human relationships and dissects their psychological complexities with delicacy and skill. Friel brings his characteristic humour and lightness of touch to trace the events of this fateful summer month.

 

A classic play of the 19th century Russian repertoire, A Month in the Country is directed by Jonathan Kent. Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre for 12 twelve years, he has an international career in both theatre and opera having most recently directed Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne. 

 

The cast includes Kenneth Cranham (An Inspector Calls, The Homecoming, The Birthday Party, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, Shine On Harvey Moon and Layer Cake) as Doctor Shpigelsky, and Olivier Award-winning actress Janie Dee (Festival 2001's My One and Only and Three Sisters; Calendar Girls, Woman in Mind, Twlefth Night, Comic Potential and Donkeys' Years) as Natalya. Michael Feast (Festival 07’s Macbeth and Twelfth Night, Festival 04’s Dr Faustus and The Master and Margarita, Festival 03’s Nathan the Wise and The Seagull, Festival 02’s A Christmas Carol; Plague Over England, Phaedra, The World’s Biggest Diamond) plays Michel Aleksandrovich Rakitin.

Ivan Turgenev’s plays include Fortune’s Fool; his novels include Fathers and Sons. 

Brian Friel’s plays include Philadelphia Here I Come!, Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa and Faith Healer.