Theatre Royal Bath 9 - 26 June UK Tour Summer 2021
Main House
Copenhagen
Directed by Emma Howlett; Originally directed by Polly Findlay- Spring/Summer 2021
Event Information
"Frayn's tremendous play is a piece of history, a psychological investigation and an intellectual thriller" Sunday Times
Michael Frayn’s multi award-winning COPENHAGEN stars one of our most popular stage and screen actors, Haydn Gwynne (Drop The Dead Donkey, Billy Elliot The Musical, Peak Practice). She is joined by Olivier Award nominee Malcolm Sinclair (Pressure, This House, The Hollow Crown) and Philip Arditti (Globe Theatre, National Theatre).
In Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, in 1941, a clandestine encounter is known to have taken place between two Nobel Prize winning physicists, Dane Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, a German. The men were old friends and long-term colleagues, but now found themselves on opposite sides of the divide.
Under the watchful eye of Bohr’s wife, Margrethe, Frayn speculates on the debates which might have taken place; an exchange of transformative ideas which had huge implications for both the Nazis and the Allies, and for our world today.
This totally absorbing historical detective story, conjured from a smattering of scientific facts, is a daring, fascinating and stimulating drama that enjoyed a hugely acclaimed run at the National Theatre before transferring to the West End and Broadway and winning the 2000 Tony Award for Best Play.
Michael Frayn is a journalist and writer, whose diverse range of plays includes Noises Off, Donkey’s Years and Benefactors.
“The word ‘tremendous’ is often used, but seldom deserved. In this case, it is” Sunday Times
“A remarkable play” Guardian
“Frayn makes ideas zing and sing” Daily Telegraph
Theatre Royal Bath
9 - 26 June
UK Tour Summer 2021
Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Jonathan Church Productions present
COPENHAGEN by Michael Frayn
Starring Philip Arditti, Haydn Gwynne and Malcolm Sinclair
Directed by Emma Howlett, originally directed by Polly Findlay
Set & Costume Designer - Alex Eales
Lighting Design - James Farncombe
Composer & Sound Design - Jon Nicholls
Casting - Ginny Schiller CDG
Haydn Gwynne is a multi-award winning actor for her work on stage and screen. She rose to fame as news editor Alex in Channel 4’s Drop The Dead Donkey and has recently enjoyed success on the same channel playing Camilla in The Windsors. She has starred in series such as Peak Practice, Mersey Beat and HBO’s Rome, as well as guest-starring in shows such as Sherlock, Ripper Street, and David Walliams’ The Midnight Gang.
On stage notable roles include the dance teacher in Billy Elliot the Musical (West End
and Broadway) Margaret Thatcher in The Audience with Helen Mirren, Elizabeth in Sam Mendes’ Richard III (Old Vic/BAM New York), Lady Wishfort in The Way of The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse) and Mrs Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (NT). She has worked often for the RSC, most recently as Volumnia in Coriolanus. She starred as Hedda in Hedda Tesman (Headlong/Chichester) followed by a new play for the National Theatre: The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood which opened just a few weeks before the theatres were closed.
Malcolm Sinclair is an Olivier Award nominee for his roles as Eisenhower in Pressure, and Major Flack in Privates on Parade. Other credits in a career spanning more than thirty years include regular appearances for the RSC and National Theatre, film roles in Casino Royale and V for Vendetta, and on TV in Judge John Deed, Silk and Parade's End.
Philip Arditti has recently worked with the Globe Ensemble, a ten strong company of performers producing all of Shakespeare’s History plays at the Globe Theatre in London. He has played Oliver in As You Like It, and the high priest Caiaphas in Salome, both for the National Theatre. Recent screen credits include Dr Silva in the psychological thriller series Sanctuary; Dan Brown thriller Inferno, directed by Ron Howard and BBC series Honourable Women. He first became known for his portrayal of Uday Hussein in the BBC/HBO series House of Saddam.