Stage Play News: Joe Wright to make theatre directorial debut with Pinero's 'Trelawny of the Wells'

Anna Karenina and Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright will be taking a lil' hiatus on directing movies after he wraps up promoting, doing interviews and press junkets for his new film Anna Karenina, which will open in UK Cinemas this Friday, Sept. 7th and November 16th in US theaters. He is reportedly making his directorial debut in theatre, on stage with Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden.

Here's the article via The Telegraph...

Joe Wright to make theatre directing debut at Donmar Warehouse

The London-born filmmaker Joe Wright will direct Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden.

Wright's film work includes the high profile adaptations of Atonement, which was nominated for six Oscars in 2007 and Pride and Prejudice in 2005 – both of which starred Keira Knightley.

Wright is no stranger to the stage, having been brought up at the Angel Theatre in north London. His parents ran the puppet theatre and Wright worked there before taking a degree in fine art at Central St Martins in London.

Trelawny of the Wells is a comic play, written in 1898, which follows an actor who decides to give up the stage for love but has trouble adjusting to society.

The play is being staged as part of the Donmar Warehouse's new season, which also includes an all-female version of Julius Caesar, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter.

And another JW article with more details via WhatsOnStage...


Donmar stages all-female Caesar, Joe Wright Trelawny & McPherson's Weir

Joe Wright directs ‘love letter to actors’
Julius Caesar, which runs until 9 February 2013, is followed by Joe Wright’s production of Trelawny of the Wells, which opens on 26 February 2013 (previews from 15 February) and continues to 13 April 2013.

Wright, whose film directing credits include Pride and Prejudice, Atonement and Anna Karenina, is the son of Little Angel Theatre founders John and Lyndie Wright, though has never before directed for the stage.

Josie Rourke said of the production: “It feels very apt that having grown up in a theatre... Joe should be directing Trelawny of the Wells, as it's a play set in that corner of London, and a love letter to actors and life in the theatre.”

Pinero’s 1898 play centres on a Victorian actress who renounces her love of theatre in order to marry an aristocrat. His family are less convinced of her charms, however, and her challenge to their dreary, snobby existence shocks them to their core.

Casting for the Donmar revival is still to be announced, but the production will be designed by Hildegard Bechtler and feature music by the Donmar’s in-house composer Michael Bruce.