sea wall a life review

1. Sea Wall / A Life is an odd (but compelling) choice for Broadway | Play Review
2. Jake Gyllenhaal & Tom Sturridge | Broadways Sea Wall/A Life | Talks at Google
3. Jake Gyllenhaal performs an excerpt from Sea Wall / A Life | Live from Here with Chris Thile
4. [VIETSUB] Sea Wall (cut) – Simon Stephens, Tom Sturridge
5. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge will make you cry in Sea Wall/A Life: EW review
6. LONDON CALLING WITH IMOGEN LLOYD WEBBER: Tony Nominee Tom Sturridge Talks SEA WALL/A LIFE and More
7. THE OPENING SECTION OF SEA WALL – Written by Simon Stephens for Andrew Scott

Sea Wall / A Life is an odd (but compelling) choice for Broadway | Play Review

about a third of the way into spider-man,far from home is a conversation between,spider-man and Mysterio that may be,generic superhero blather but struck me,pretty deeply while I was writing my,feature-length series of anniversary,reviews the question of what I not a,superhero want to do versus what I feel,I have to do versus what I have been,told I should do has far lower stakes,and means nothing to most people but in,that moment it was something I needed to,hear and honestly a narratives impact,often says at least as much about the,person impacted as it does the story,itself the performance of the scene was,really what sold me on the part of both,Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal and as I,watched Gyllenhaal totally kill it I was,struck by a thought damn ima spend a,ton of money to see this dude on,Broadway arent I yeah please support me,on patreon hello by the way and welcome,to the week our review you can call me,contentedly not a parent and today Im,talking about seawall a life which is,playing at the Hudson Theatre through,the end of this month the Hudson Theatre,is the same venue that I saw burned this,ad earlier in the year so Im keenly,aware of the fact that I did an entire,rant about the issues of having movie,stars clog up Broadway stages and the,sheer hypocrisy of my continuing to,support them but in my defense here,Sewall life is not a revival or an,adaptation but new and original works,and by golly those need all the love,they can get I didnt actually know it,until I got into the theater but the,slash in Sewall slash a life is not just,a cute name in convention it is,separating the titles of two different,shows that are being performed together,each a one-man monologue about life,death and Parenthood this actually marks,the second time in just a few weeks that,I have seen two shows performed as one,though the combination of em funny,pseudo FIAs run boy run and in old age,which is currently playing at the New,York Theatre Workshop runs more than,twice as long as Sewall a life its,absolutely worth the time though and I,really love what New York Theatre,Workshop puts on and think everyone,should support everything that they do,always the set is sparse a desk a piano,each always present but only to be used,by one performer their stairs to a,second even emptier level stage lights,honestly its a little odd for a,Broadway show to feel so off Broadway,Broadway productions tend to feel,expensive to help justify those ticket,prices but see while a life and a life,in particular doesnt the simple set is,quite appropriate and well composed but,it hardly screams Broadway there are,just two brief though genuinely,incredible moments of projection that,push it beyond something that the,average person could do in their living,room but I respect the decision to not,succumb to what must have been a strong,impulse to use the bigger budgets for,something more objectively impressive I,would rather have this material be under,than over produced because much more,would distract from the performers and,to make it a larger-than-life spectacle,would diminish their humanity our first,human is Alex played by Tom Sturridge in,Simon Stevens Sewall Stevens is best,known to me as the guy who adapted the,Curious Incident of the dog in the,night-time which was easily one of the,most impressive theatrical experiences I,have ever had on Broadway though a,friend of mine saw the West End,production and said that it was,massively more powerful because it was,done in a smaller space and also in the,round and like Im sure it was super,cool but not all of us get to go to the,West End Josh so just let me have this,one alright Sewall is certainly much,more subdued than that hey straight,forward but,deeply affecting story of a mans,relationship the birth of his child and,a particularly traumatic death in the,family that he was witness to but could,do nothing to stop and in that order,starts all happy and zall sad you know,the type less conventional is a life,written by Nick Payne and starring Jake,Gyllenhaal as Abe,I only know of pame Chan generally in,that I saw the trailer many times for,his single credited film the sense of an,ending but never felt compelled to,actually check it out when it released,where Alexs story follows a basic path,of event event event Abe is forced to,contend with two life-changing,experiences simultaneously the death of,a father in the birth of a child and so,he must tell these stories,simultaneously as well flowing between,them without any indication of where one,ends and the other begins the inevitable,confusion caused by these constant,switches resulted in arguably my,favorite moment of the show the,silencing of the nights biggest laugh,in the story we didnt realize he had,left the line he said was hilarious in,the story he was now in it was not and,for a few blissful moments we were,collectively laughing at an image that,was all of a sudden extinguished and,everything got dead quiet,it made the line which was dramatic,enough on its own feel like a punch to,the gut and I loved the way that it,forced me to stay mentally alert and I,just generally appreciated it as someone,who has some amount of difficulty,staying on topic because of this I was,much more present during a life than,Sewall,unfortunately I often find that my mind,wanders a little bit during the slower,moments of plays this happens with,movies and other shows too but its,definitely most common at the theater,and Ill admit that I missed some lines,here there in the first half I dont,even know what I was thinking about to,be honest probably this video which is,often what I think about when Im,experiencing something that I intend to,review but have a moment which is an,unfortunate but kind of inevitable,aspect of criticism to be clear this,isnt actually a knock on the production,or its quality its simply a fact my,inner monologue is louder than this,outer one youve decided to subject,yourself to can you even imagine and,also it seems a bit louder than Tom,Sturridge sometimes the fourth wall as,its traditionally conceived doesnt,really exist in a one person performance,because it is directly relate to the,audience a traditional ensemble piece,can be performed for no one a solo,monologue cannot but that doesnt mean,that the audience is an explicit part of,the performance seawalls first,introduction of the audience actually,came before it began Sturridge was on,stage eating what appeared to be some,kind of Asian takeout and suddenly the,room went quiet he looked out at us its,not starting yet he said except like in,a British accent but the show in general,is not particularly participatory,say that five times fast got your next,hit vocal warmup right there its him,saying things and when he poses,questions theyre all rhetorical do you,want to know what I said but without,waiting for or even wanting a response,with one bizarre exception he stumbled,over his words while discussing the,night of his daughters birth and then,asked us for help,he had forgotten the word scrubs and it,was several seconds before anyone in the,audience spoke as he awkwardly described,the things that doctors wear during,surgery because nothing before or indeed,after set us up for participation and I,have thought about this moment nearly,every day since if youve seen the show,please let me know in the comments,this happened during your performance,because the scene plays very differently,if its intentional which I assume it,must be or a genuine mistake taking,advantage of the fact that there are,several hundred people sitting there,with mostly rapt attention its one,offered miss is what makes it strange,of course we the audience exists and he,knows we exist and our energy is feeding,into everything he does but this forced,interaction totally breaks the flow of,the story in a way that felt unjustified,Jake Gyllenhaals moment with the crowd,was also singular but both funnier and,more character appropriate at a moment,when hes sear

Jake Gyllenhaal & Tom Sturridge | Broadways Sea Wall/A Life | Talks at Google

[Music],and I remember reading somewhere maybe,somebodys saying to me once that,decline remains our fate,she almost me to come into the bedroom,because theres something she wants to,show me and I get there and shes,wearing this dress and the idea that I,was married to her and we had our girls,and this was our life who wants to think,about the future when the present is,this monumental her her she gives her to,me she looks like a heart were smiling,he used to try and convince me the,understanding of the rational number,thats commonly known as pi that is to,five decimal can I ask you something,uh-huh do you ever think about getting,married I ask him where is he,you mean generally or you mean,specifically he says who,I say God as a dad dad some guy on TV,hes stolen your song just because we,dont know it doesnt mean we wont one,day we will,[Music],[Applause],everybody okay so just to start off can,you guys give us a little bit of a,rundown of what this show is because,its actually two different pieces put,together to make one complete work of,art yeah oh well its interesting,because that Pete the piece its evolved,from when we made that first sort of,promo in the video of the show its,really a show about two men getting up,and speaking about their lives both,being fathers my character is a about to,become a dad and then he is a dad and,stories really about both were stories,about like faith and family and love and,how much we love our wives and how much,we kind of love our children and its,its pretty its hard to explain and put,into words you kind of have to,experience it because its a different,experience with every audience every,night,it really is us all community coming,together and kind of sharing our own,lives and our stories with the audience,and then you with us okay,so where did the idea to take two,separate monologues and put him into one,show come from well wed been talking,for a while about trying to find,something to do together and I had a,pre-existing relationship with both of,the writers Nick Payne and Simon Stevens,are both British playwrights and theyre,both writers I grew up with a lot at,home and Tom had a long-held love affair,with Sewall and Jake had been kind of,obsessed with doing Nicks piece and I,think Jake had been bugging Nick for,about seven years than you trying to,persuade him to let him do the piece,Nick first wrote the play and for,himself to perform and it was its,incredibly personal its a really really,interior piece about his own life and so,its kind of evolved and grown on this,lovely journey and then we decided to,put the two pieces together and they,have a sort of strange amount of,connected themes and ideas and so over,time the writing has evolved and it sort,of become like a holistic evening,betta so you both had the individual,pieces in mind as opposed to like oh,were gonna pick these two plays and,lets find you a courage to do it so can,um can you tell us about how you found,sea wall and and where you kind of fell,in love with it so this is a third play,that Ive done with the writer Simon,Stephens and he came to see a play that,a production of 1984 that I did here in,New York and afterwards he just gave it,to me and said will you read this and I,I mean I found it just an extraordinary,perfect piece of writing and that in,itself was a kind of you know what it,was the beginning of my love for it but,also very specifically it was about,someone my age who was the father of a,young daughter and I happened to be my,age and father of a young I was like, wait a second,and I hadnt really experienced a kind,of drama that explored that theyre kind,of that that kind of love and I was kind,of excited to talk about it in front of,people you you said you were asking the,writer to let you do this show so how,did that come about howd you get him to,say yes well the real special thing,about this show for all of us behind the,scenes is that hes obviously done three,shows with Simon Ive this is my third,show with Nick Ive done two others and,then Simon and Nick and Kerry have been,friends for a really long time so we,have this kind of strange familial thing,but between all of us and Nick I had,done a show called constellations a few,years ago on Broadway and its just this,beautiful show about this couple and,theyre theyre theyre loved and he,gave me the piece that he wrote it was,actually just about his dad and I fell,in love with the piece every time I,would read it I would just be laughing,and then I would cry at the end I would,just find myself so moved by it,which over and over again never happens,to me I mean occasionally theres a book,or something a movie that I see like the,end of Jerry Maguire Im always like has,a Jerry Maguire feel and so I just would,ask him yearly and he was so personal to,him that he he said no for five years I,would live I would ask him every six,months like maybe we could just do it in,this little space its fine whatever you,like no thank thank you for asking but,no and then finally when the two shows,kind of came together as an idea he felt,like maybe it was an evening and he also,had just had his daughter and talking,about his dad and their relationship and,that his dad passed away and then the,birth of his daughter became a show that,he felt like he could tell and and,thats what hes done and then Kerry,were you kind of the one who put this,all together where it was the sign t,already there and you kind of helped,form it how did you you come into this,production specifically um actually Jay,could contacted me because hed seen a,show of mine in London and weve been,looking for something to do and then,this it was just a sort of confluence of,events sometimes it happens the public,were interested they were both,available I was available I flew out we,did a reading of both plays in a tiny,dressing room sat around a table with,mirrors and about seven people and,everyone wept and at the end of it we,thought well we have a show theres,something here and there was a journey,to go on with some of the writing to,kind of evolve the two pieces but it was,very clear that day that there was you,know something really special in the,room and so then it became really kind,of simple actually which was just to,find the dates and move towards,production and you mentioned the,publics for this show originally was,off-broadway at the Public Theater we,were there – youre such a good audience,but was it always the intention to bring,the show to Broadway you just started,previews youll be opening soon and its,a new room and a new type of audience,coming in did you know that you wanted,to bring us up to Broadway or is it just,lets see where it goes I think we,always felt that it had sort of really,private quiet,simple feel at the public and then we,realized it was really connecting with,audiences and people just had a massive,energy for the work and say then it felt,like a kind of inevitable thing to try,and grow it and bring it to a bigger,audience and whats been brilliant about,moving into the Hudson is even though,its got a much bigger space and there,are lots more seats it feels really,intimate because that is so well,designed everybodys kind of tucked,around focused on the stage and for me,as the director its been fascinating to,watch the kind of energy change and,theres something that happens in this,room each night which is kind of alive,actually its like an animal thing and,you can hear a pin drop everybodys,listening and and it feels like the,audience are holding Jake and Tom in,their hands and its its really special,yeah the original theatre I read was 299,and now I think its 975 so thats a big,jump but it does feel very intimate and,you guys have really transformed with,you know I know you did some some,different art projects and theres the,lobby has a lot of Polaroids and theres,just seeing the back of the theater now,you did a collaboration with an artist,can you tell us a little bit about that,and how you mad

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Jake Gyllenhaal performs an excerpt from Sea Wall / A Life | Live from Here with Chris Thile

theres a tree for listening audience we,have a special guest here on his break,between two performances today of the,Broadway show sea wall a life with a,monologue from that show heres the one,and only Jake Gyllenhaal when she tells,me she might be pregnant Im in the,middle of roasting a chicken I mean to,be specific Im in the middle of basting,a chicken that Im in the middle of,roasting and at the core of the recipe,theres a lot of butter so you have to,keep basting the bird otherwise all its,gonna happen is the butters gonna burn,and its one of these digital ones so it,has a little screen on it make no,mistake theres really no messing around,with a digital pregnancy test and she,asked me if Im excited uh-huh,definitely you seem excited oh thats,cool its okay to feel weird no I know,its a lot uh-huh to take in true were,smiling so okay so let me know if you,need any help with a chicken at lunch we,dont say anything to anyone it feels,like were having an affair you know,like in a good way,like were telepathic or something you,know like were the only ones who know,the entire world is about to change when,I was a teenager my dad walked into my,bedroom and its so dark I literally,have no idea what time it is and being a,teenager and a miserable one at that I,tell him to get out of my room and go,put some clothes on then he says he came,through one of his arms what do you mean,its in my arms what is its hard to,describe well I mean come on dad I mean,like try tingling tingling tingling my,mom is away so I but grudgingly get out,of bed and I follow my dad back in my,parents bedroom and he lies down on my,parents bed and he asked me to lie down,next to him what please uh-uh no wait,this is too weird like some sort of,semi-clothed father-son boundary has,most definitely been crossed please fine,whatever I do it reluctantly I lie down,next to him and we fall back asleep,and when the Sun comes up it wakes us up,both,more or less in tandem and I call the,doctor the tingling spread to his legs,and while we wait for the ambulance,which to be honest I think is completely,over the top we eat powdered Entenmanns,donuts together on my parents bed the,first time my wife met my parents when,we were still just boyfriend and,girlfriend,my mom made a roast chicken and about,halfway through the meal for seemingly,no discernible reason at all my dad gets,out of a seat and he leaves the room and,my mom just keeps eating irrespective,its not unlike what a group of people,collectively refuse to acknowledge a,fart I mean even though the effort it,takes to ignore the fart is arguably,greater than the effort it would take to,just out the person responsible for the,fart and I find him in the kitchen and,hes leaning over the stove and hes,crying and I ask him whats wrong and he,says without looking up at me he says,its okay Im fine go eat well clearly,youre not what is going on I say to my,mom I say what is going on why is he,crying and she says without looking up,from her plate full of bones she says,hes been having some you know hes not,been feeling too good recently these,past couple of weeks well what kind of,not feeling too good,you know pains in his arms his chest,that sort of you know the pain pain what,kind of pain my dad says he doesnt want,to call an ambulance I say sorry and I,proceeded to the exact and contrary,opposite so my wife and I weve managed,to narrow it down to the following ADA,Abigail Audrey Beatrice Connie Doris she,vetoes that one pretty quickly my wife,Florence Mary Melissa Albert Anthony,Barney I love the idea of having a,Barney its a Felix Dustin Elliot,Norbert I repeat Norbert I remember,reading somewhere or maybe somebody,telling me about this idea that there,are three kinds of deaths the first is,when our body ceases to function the,second is when we bury the body or I,guess,set it on fire and the third is the,moment sometime way in the future when,our names are said are spoken aloud for,the very last time,and Im thinking to myself but I dont,say it I wonder who hes gonna say our,childs name for the last time the,doctor says he explains he says the plan,is to perform an angioplasty that,theyre gonna open up my dads chest and,theyre gonna run a stent through one of,the arteries surrounding his heart and,the idea being that the stent kind of,like the ribs of a brand new umbrella,will inflate my dads ailing artery and,get the blood pumping again and everyone,seems pretty optimistic including the,doctors and the day the operation rolls,around and they opened my dad up and,they discover right then and there that,the artery of choice is too badly,damaged because the heart never fully,recovers from a heart attack and the,operation is aborted and all of a sudden,everyone seems a lot less optimistic and,Im asking the doctor whats next so is,there like a plan B well that is a good,question its really dark when she wakes,me up I have absolutely no idea what,time it is and she shows me the sheets,and Im not quite sure what Im supposed,to be looking at Oh what was that blood,what do you want to do how many weeks,are you like ten you dont go to the,hospital its the middle of the night I,dont care well call a cab and whatever,you want the room they make you wait in,is filled with pregnant women some of,the pregnant women have their other,children with them and some of the other,children are sitting really still and,some of them are running around,colliding into things like crash-test,dummies everyone is on edge I guess,were maybe all sitting here thinking,about the death of our unborn children,we dont yet have at least I know I am,Im sort of mellowed dramatically,morning my non-existent child and one of,the stenographers asks my wife to take,off her jeans and her underwear and she,does this find a weird little curtain,and Ive obviously seen my wife,completely naked like a lot but for some,reason I decide to turn around,and Im thinking to myself but I dont,say it I wish someone would instigate,some kind of small talk you know like,the way my dentist does but nobody does,including me instead my wife just lays,down in silence and she braces herself,and I take a hold of one of her hands,or maybe she grabs mine its hard to,tell and Im looking at her well maybe,shes looking at me were looking at,each other and I want to kiss her and I,want to tell her that I love her,but I dont and on the screen theres,what looks like an x-ray of a pile of,tiny kitten bones so everythings okay,most definitely congratulations were,smiling,I feel like peeling open my ribs and,asking her to marry me all over again,plan B is a pacemaker a pacemaker with a,defibrillator not only with this,particular pacemaker monitor my dads,sluggish heart rates but Ezra when his,heart rate becomes dangerously low or,erratic this particular pacemaker will,serve up a little shock like in a good,way but we have to wait we have to wait,until his heart rate can come up just a,little bit Im asking the doctor how,come well in order to operate we have to,sedate your father I dont understand,we cant risk lowering his heart rate,any further I dont understand your,father has heart failure his arms his,hands my dads feet they balloon like,Popeye were having to rub moisturize,under his skin because the skin is,starting to crack and the hospital,insists that he adopt a diabetic menu,and he hates everything there is to hate,about the hospitals diet bag menu,except for the jello rhapsodizing about,the virtues of this particular brand of,jell-o quickly becomes my dads favorite,pastime no one is safe from my fathers,jello love I get a text message from my,grandmother and she says she wants to,come and visit him with my aunt and my,uncle that they want to come and visit,him my dad and all of a sudden I,realized that probably nobody has told,any of my relatives anything so I text,back,great GRT looking forward to seeing,you the letter U Oh X were passing,around an empty cheese casing as in,those you know those sort of I think

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[VIETSUB] Sea Wall (cut) – Simon Stephens, Tom Sturridge

and I can see Lucy playing behind him,running about a bit just being a Power,Ranger,and I can watch them as she does a,little bit of a jump,and its odd because hes so into his,book that he doesnt notice that she,loses her footing in the sand and the,gravel of The Rock and she slips,stumbles,and shes quite close to a little edge,of one of the Rocks there and what she,does,she tries to correct her balance,but in trying to correct the balance of,her weight,she actually puts more weight on her,back foot that,slips out from underneath her and,its weird to look at because,she does fall off the edge of this six,foot high cliff on the rocks and she,falls backwards,and cracks her head on some rocks that,are jutting out at the bottom of the,cliff,now,I can see it,all clearly but,I cant really hear anything and its,weird watching with no sound like if the,sounds off on the Telly its always a,bit strange it takes me a while to,register before I turn and swim Back To,The Shore and Im not thinking so I,start something faster which is stupid,because Im panicking and when you panic,you cant really breathe properly so I,have to tell myself,concentrate on your breathing and I can,kind of watch him between strokes and,hes throwing down his book and hes,jumped off the cliff and there is,another couple there that I didnt,notice before weve stopped their,sunbathing and run over to where she is,and I noticed him pick her up,hes torn between running back to the,house to call an ambulance and waiting,for me but I get there in enough time,for him not to have to worry about this,for too long,I go to her,I take her from him there is what there,is which is surprising to me is there is,a handful of blood,in her hair,um its thick,and its matted,and her hair is all chewed up by it,um I think I read somewhere or maybe,somebody told me that,it is a process,the injury causes the death of brain,cells and so signals are no longer sent,to the lungs and bit by bit the machine,closes down,her blood sticks to my hands,foreign,getting dried and people are looking at,me stopping still on their tracks and,talking to me in French and Im aware,that Im kind of not crying uh I look,like, I I dont know,I go back into the house with her and as,Im getting through the sliding glass,doors I bang her head against the wall,and Im talking to her which is stupid,uh and I tell her that,Im Im sorry if anything ahead,but but there is a part of me thats,thinking well, it now,what is it matter now,I may as well drag it by a ankle,this bit of meat,this bit of meat and,air

Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge will make you cry in Sea Wall/A Life: EW review

We gave it a B+  As the audience begins to take their seats in the Public Theater’s Newman Theatre, actor Tom Sturridge quietly takes the stage, placing objects around the space that only holds a piano and a small dresser, He’s deep in thought as he pours himself what appears to be a beer and drinks, before he manually switches the theater lights on and begins to speak,   It’s a perfect beginning to the pair of monologues that make up the Off Broadway production of Sea Wall/A Life, a very intimate night of theater from director Carrie Cracknell, who previously brought A Doll’s House to the stage in London’s West End and at Brooklyn’s BAM, Cracknell keeps everything so small to the point that brushing up near one of the actors isn’t too far out of the realm of possibility, Sturridge (Starz’s Sweetbitter) and Jake Gyllenhaal, who most recently costarred in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw, both are paired up with playwrights with whom they’ve collaborated many times before,  The first half, Sea Wall, is Sturridge’s third collaboration with Simon Stephens (The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time), As he begins his heartbreaking tale as Alex, it’s clear that actor and playwright are truly a match made, In his slouchy Adidas track pants, Sturridge begins his solo tale describing a man — the dialogue filled with jokes and impersonations — and goes into something much darker and deeper about his own history as he continually tries to deflect the heartache he’s clearly suffering from, It’s a tricky balance and Sturridge deftly portrays the grief of a man who’s trying so hard to keep the rest of himself from unraveling, or to let the audience know just how deep his pain goes, so he keeps asking questions about what he doesn’t know: God, Pi, the Sea Wall, Sturridge’s quiet pain is the perfect counter to Gyllenhaal’s more manic energy in A Life, Joan Marcus  That piece — written by Nick Payne (Constellations), whom Gyllenhaal has collaborated with many times before — takes many of the same themes from Sea Wall (the questioning of life, being a father, being a man) and offers a slightly different spin on them, Instead of coming out in light like Sturridge, Gyllenhaal makes his entrance in pure darkness, And while Sturridge saunters around the stage, Gyllenhaal mostly stays put, only using an iPhone to anchor his monologue, His story begins with a pregnancy, one he’s not sure how he feels about. He goes back and forth between two different stories, unable to untwine them from one another, precisely because they’ve both created this new fabric he’s made of, And much like Sea Wall/A Life is full of the intimacies of family, from mundane lists to favorite songs, Gyllenhaal is magnetic and funny, and plays it high strung, which makes a slip into a well recognizable ’90s movie monologue even more heartbreaking,  With two overwhelmingly great performances, where Sea Wall/A Life fumbles the smallest bit is really concretely tying the two halves together — the works are thematically similar and there are little bits and pieces of dialogue that, if you are paying close attention, link them together, But if you aren’t (because you’ll really be in your feelings by this point), the ending might fall a bit flat, All in all, though, that’s a very minor complaint for an evening that will emotionally wreck you, convince you of Sturridge’s acting prowess, and further consider that Gyllenhaal is one of the finest actors of his generation, B+  Related content: Inside the art-rageous Velvet Buzzsaw, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nightcrawler reunion Meet Hoboman: Stranger Things actor breathes life into Velvet Buzzsaw‘s ghostly robot Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano are a winning pair in Broadway’s True West: EW review

LONDON CALLING WITH IMOGEN LLOYD WEBBER: Tony Nominee Tom Sturridge Talks SEA WALL/A LIFE and More

(upbeat music),- Welcome back to “London Calling.”,The latest low down for every Broadway buff,about whats happening on the other side of the pond.,Later well catch up with Tom Sturridge,,whos staring with Jake Gyllenhaal in “Sea Wall/A Life.”,But first, lets take a quick look,at which shows the Brits are getting,into one of their infamous queues for.,(bass guitar music),Were keeping an eye on this one at Broadway.com HQ.,Following a sold out, much acclaimed run,at the National Theatre, “The Lehman Trilogy” is playing,to packed houses at the West Ends Piccadilly Theatre.,Helmed by “The Ferrymans” Sam Mendes,and starring Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley,the show follows three generations of the family behind,one of the worlds biggest financial corporation.,Over at the Garrick, John Malkovich is making,his first West End appearance in almost 30 years,in David Mamets new play “Bitter Wheat”,,which focuses on Barney Fein,,the head of a major Hollywood studio,who falls from power to shame.,Meanwhile Clive Owen has returned to Londons boards,for the first time in 18 years,intriguing crowds as a defrocked priest,in Tennessee Williams “The Night of the Iguana”,at the Noel Coward Theatre.,Shout out to Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, aka Dad,,whose first three show of note,have all been revived this summer.,”Joesph” at the Palladium,,”Superstar” at the Barbican,,and “Evita” at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre.,And we would be remissed not to mention that “Six”,where the wives of Henry VIII joined forces,for an electrifying pop concert spectacle,has just extended through July 2020 at the Arts Theatre.,This side of the pond,,the show made its North American premier,at Chicagos Shakespeare and has planned stints at ART,,the Citadel and the Ordway,before landing at Broadways Brooks Atkinson in early 2020.,It cant be long before New York is bowing to these queens.,(rock music),Thumbs up to Phoebe Waller-Bridge.,In the likely event youve been unable to score tickets,to the limited run of “Fleabag” at the Wyndhams Theatre,this summer, youll still be able to see it.,Her solo show is scheduled to be broadcast through NT live,from the West End on September the 12th.,The play debuted back in 2013 at the Edinburgh Festival,,winning a Fringe first award.,The TV adaptations second season is up,for 11 Emmy awards in September.,With or without the hot priest,,Waller-Bridge is on fire right now.,Thumbs down, so many have been saying,,in online petitions and the like,to the end of “Les Mis” revolving stage.,The original production of the classic musical,,which had been playing in London since 1985, recently closed,allowing the Queens Theatre to undergo renovations.,However, another day, another destiny.,A starry concert version headlined by Michael Ball,and Alfie Boe is to run at the Gielgud Theatre this summer,,and a re-staged version, sans revolve, will open,at the Queens this December.,(upbeat rock music),This episodes lesson is very simple.,A show is on Broadway and in the West End.,It is never in Broadway or in the Broadway,or on the West End or, indeed, on the West End.,Broadway is a street. You can be on a street.,You can never be on Broadway.,Yes, Broadway is also a greater concept,that includes Lincoln Center and other streets,,but the roots of the expression on Broadway,are actually very logical.,The West End isnt a street. Its an area of London.,Thus, youre in the West End.,If an entertainment journalist youre reading makes an error,on this one, and I have seen it done, in publications,of record, youre allowed to ignore them forevermore,because they clearly do not know what theyre talking about.,Lesson learned?,And now were catching up with Brit actor Tom Sturridge,,who is Tony nominated for “Orphans” and is currently back,on the Great White Way in “Sea Wall/A Life.”,- Tom,- Hi – Thank you for doing this.,- Thank you for having me.,- So The Hudson Theatre in this beautiful row.,- It is the Hudson Theater,- You were here in “1984” is that now in your contract,so that you have to come to this particular theater?,- Well, its the best theater on Broadway.,- Well, you and Jake both of you.,- Yes, this is the second time for him as well.,He opened it with “Sunday in the Park with George.”,- He did. – Well reopened it.,- And then, you know, you turned out “1984.”,- Yeah, kicked him out.,- This is bit different from “1984.”,- Little bit. – If anyone saw “1984”.,There was a lot of noise,,there was a lot going on in “1984.”,And you are doing a monologue.,- mm-hmm,- Is that the most terrifying mountain to climb,or is it something that you always wanted to do?,- Its definitely not something I always wanted to do.,I thought it would be the most terrifying thing in the world,but what I discovered is that,you cant really go wrong as theater actors.,Were pretending to be something that were not.,Youre normally in a room in Russia with your dad,talking about the horse youre in love with.,And, normally. (laughs) – Normally.,- And, with this.,And the audience, pretending that they dont exist.,And with this its the opposite.,Like, I walk in off the street, and I go hi to everybody.,And were all in the room together,,and whatever happens, happens.,You cant really make a mistake.,Its as live and present as it could possibly be.,- I mean you break the fourth wall.,Its one of the reasons why you grab the audience.,I mean, they were hanging onto every word you were saying.,- I hope so.,- The piece is tough, isnt it?,It must be difficult to deliver eight shows a week.,- Its primarily for me about love.,And about the love that we have for our partners.,And for our children.,- Yeah.,- And the energy it gives you trying to articulate,how much you care about another human being is, actually,,really kind of easy.,I mean kind of beautiful.,And because youre so connected to the audience,,youre charged by them. – Yeah.,- And you can come on in whatever state.,And this kind of collective consciousness,of a thousand people is the best battery in the world.,- You and Jake are doing different monologues,,but I understand that you were,in the rehearsal room with each other, is that right?,- The entire time, yeah.,- Wow,- Technically two monologues, but this is an evening.,This is one singular theatrical experience.,And it was really important to us,to spend as much time together as possible so that,somehow our personalities would sublimate the way,we were approaching the work would have consistency,and also its so rare to watch,an extraordinary director,,Carrie Cracknell, and extraordinary actor Jake,work together and as an outsider.,Normally when youre rehearsing youre kind of in it.,And it was fascinating.,- So it sounds like theres been a huge learning curve,on many levels, this whole experience.,- For sure, yeah.,- You come from a very theatrical background.,Its exciting to me, I was watching Amazon Prime,the other day, go with me on this.,- Im with you. – “Brideshead Revisited” pops up,and I think, Ive not seen this in years.,So then I start binge watching “Brideshead.”,- Classic,- And Im busy doing a bit of a Google on the sofa.,- Sure.,- Your parents met on “Brideshead Revisited.”,Thats the most amazing love story I think Ive ever heard.,- They did meet on “Brideshead Revisitied,” yeah.,- So, you were a young actor.,You must always,,did you always know you wanted to be an actor?,- Honest truth is, no.,The first time I saw my mom act was when I was, like, 24.,- Oh really?,- I saw her in a play called “Waste” at the Almeida.,So they kept that life very separate from me.,Connected to this, the reason I wanted to be an actor,is because of Simon Stephens, who wrote my play.,I did my first play with him, basically.,Id done a couple of movies which happened by accident.,Interesting experience, but totally hadnt,become a job for me.,And I didnt go to drama school,and so the London theater world is a little bit, kind of,,if you havent been to drama school,,they dont really like to let you through th

THE OPENING SECTION OF SEA WALL – Written by Simon Stephens for Andrew Scott

she had us both of us absolutely round,her finger,fundamentally she achieved this through,the way she looked at us it shouldnt,have been a surprise that the way she,moved her head to one side should leave,me basically on my knees or more keenly,should say to a slightly tapered pool of,just washer if boat was more surprising,was the effect it had on him anything,she wanted he gave her anything she,demanded he agreed to and he agreed to,everything with the same little smile on,his face this mine of a man who an,actual fact is little more than four,years old Im not saying I wouldnt have,agreed to the same and more in his,position but it just seems in some way,downright surprising coming from him he,wasnt a kind of a man it was a soldier,and I say was I mean was I mean he used,to be between 1968 and 1984 he was a,soldier in the British infantry he,reached the rank of leftenant colonel he,did five tours of Northern Ireland and,this was when you know tune a tour of,Northern Ireland was more than just a,few games of pool in a chat with some,kids outside of facial chip shop some of,the photographs he took he used to have,a Polaroid camera and some of the things,that after he had a few drinks hed get,out of his box to show us he wanted to,talk to her of Northern Ireland there,was something about them I found in some,way you know surprising he always,refused to talk about South Georgia I,asked him about at one time and his face,turned within a matter of a few seconds,literally gray slate gray,even when he eventually retired from the,army he retrained as a maths teacher for,chrissake I would have liked to have,seen him teach I can imagine the sort of,teacher he was I dont think hed have,worn many cords I dont think hed have,shared too many coffees with the sixth,formers,you