Fresh from his success in the London 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony, keyboard sensation and Chariots of Fire runner, Rowan Atkinson is to star in Quartermaine’s Terms at the Wyndhams theatre in London. Simon Gray’s drama is as quintessentially English as Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony, but Atkinson will be starring in front of just 700 a night rather than the watching 4 billion at the London Olympics. With such limited seating capacity at the theatre should make this the hot ticket for 2013, so ensure you book your tickets early to avoid disappointment.
Quatermaine’s Terms was a TV film made for the BBC in 1987 and with a stellar cast list including, Sir John Gielgud, Edward Fox, Eleanor Bron, Clive Francis, Peter Jeffrey and Tessa Peake-Jones. Coincidentally Tessa Peake-Jones’s (who starred as Rachel, Del boys partner in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses) husband, Douglas Hodge, has also recently been announced as the star of the forthcoming show in London, Charlie and the Chocolate factory the musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Hodge follows in the footsteps of movie sensations Gene Wilder and Johnnie Depp as the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka.
And it was at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane that Rowan Atkinson last starred as Fagin in a London West End stage show in the musical Oliver! His international success as Mr. Bean, Blackadder and Johnnie English ensured that the show was a complete sell out success and audiences packed in to enjoy the unique talents of Rowan Atkinson.
Quartermaine’s Terms is directed by Richard Eyre and opens at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London on 29 January 2013, with previews from 23 January.
Set over a period of two years in the 1960s in the staffroom of an English language school teaching English to foreigners. It is a humorous and emotional story that focuses on the relationships between seven teachers at the school, in particular St John Quartermaine played by Rowan Atkinson.
The play is hugely funny but also has serious under-lying themes and the struggles of each character dealing with their problems of loneliness, which are somewhat poignant. Quartermaine cuts an increasingly pathetic figure which is both sad and moving.
Rowan Atkinson starred in the comedy sketch series Not the Nine O’Clock News, alongside Mel Smith, Griff Rhys-Jones and Pamela Stephenson. Atkinson has had starring roles in several films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Johnny English, Love Actually and Mr Bean’s Holiday.
