SKYLIGHT
The Pumphouse Theatre, Takapuna, Auckland
31/07/2020 - 08/08/2020
Production Details
Twice as Good Productions is proud to be one of the first professional theatre companies in the world to return to the live stage with this highly acclaimed Olivier and Tony Award winning play.
“Hare’s first rate play hits you right between the eyes with its mixture of private pain and public rage.” UK Guardian ✯✯✯✯✯
“Hare’s tightest and quite possibly his best” New York Times
About both the state of the heart and the state of the nation, Skylight is as relevant today as when it was first staged in 1995.
Kyra used to work for and sleep with Tom, a successful restaurateur but when his wife discovered the affair Kyra left and they haven’t seen each other since. Tom, now a widower and adrift turns up at Kyra’s council flat in hopes of succour, salvation and turning back time’s pitiless clock. At first he receives a chilly reception and not only because of Kyra’s futile electric heater.
At The Pumphouse, Takapuna
31 July to 8 August 2020
7.30pm
2 Aug at 4pm
Adults $37 | Seniors $32 | Students $25
Groups of 10 or more $29 (plus fees)
For further information or for ticket requests please contact suzysampson@mac.com
ph: 0210613808
www.twiceasgoodproductions.org
Suzy Sampson / Director
Trained at R.A.D.A. London, TVI Studios, Los Angeles and Stella Adler Academy, New York. Artistic Director of Twice as Good Productions.
Her one woman show “Shakespeare’s Will” in which she played Anne Hathaway won Best Production Hong Kong in 2010 and has toured Prague, Auckland Wellington and Tauranga. Suzy recently produced and directed Tauranga’s first ever open air Shakespeare productions (A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It) and Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Ernest.
Last directed Ben Elton’s play Popcorn at the Rose Centre for Company Theatre in 2018 which received the A.C.T.T. Award for Outstanding Comedy.
CAST:
Joseph Wycoff / Tom Sergeant
From Chicago to Montana Shakespeare to Washington, DC and North Carolina and Centerstage in Baltimore. Joseph has worked across the U.S. Here he’s gone from This Giant Paper Mache Boulder is Actually Really Heavy to Power Rangers and Shortland St. Last seen in Sexy Buddha at The Pumphouse and next featuring in the movie Avatar.
Rebekah Dack / Keira
A graduate of Unitec’s Bachelor of Performing & Screen Arts (Acting Major). Co Founder and creative producer of Embers Collective (Tampocalypse, Read My Lips, My Name is Rachel Corrie). Performed in Miranda Harcourt’s one woman play Verbatim on National Schools Tour.
Ryan Wood / Edward Sergeant
Takapuna Grammar student Ryan aged 16 is taking on his most challenging role as Tom’s son. Ryan has attended Tim Bray Youth Theatre for 6 years and been a student in Suzy’s workshops for Tim Bray Productions for the last year.
CREATIVES
Set Design and Construction: Nick Bush - Scenic Concepts
Additional Set Styling: Richard Moore - Bespoke Retro
Sound and Lighting Design: Darcey Graham
Sound and Lighting Technician: Alylai Flynn
Costume Design: Suzy Sampson
Stage Manager: Lloyd Davy
ASM: Jenny Whisken
Props Manager: Sharron Barrett
Backstage Assistant: Olga Formina
FOH: Nadine Shine
Theatre ,
Takes a while to warm up then it sings
Review by Heidi North 01st Aug 2020
David Hare’s multi-award-winning play Skylight, about both the state of the heart and the state of the nation, was first staged in London in 1995. Twenty-five years later the play, which is essentially a two-hander between people who care deeply for each other but are divided by politics – a timeless dilemma – stands up well to a modern audience. There are some quaint references which remind us just how disconnected life could be pre-internet – Tom consults the yellow pages and Keira, having given up newspapers, elects instead to read classical novels and computer manuals on her commute to work – but it’s essential to make the play work.
When, three years after the end of their affair, Tom turns up at Keira’s flat, you need to feel that they have really been disconnected thoroughly for the intervening years – something that would be hard to believe in 2020 given he’s well known and everyone is on social media. It does however, mean there is a slightly awkward first act, where Tom’s 17-year-old son, Edward, (well played by 16-year-old Ryan Wood) arrives unannounced at Keira’s flat, essentially to provide exposition. I couldn’t help but wonder, watching it this time, if Hare was to write the play now, would he condense it into one act (rather than three, although the third is a short epilogue to lighten the ending), and let the backstory be revealed differently to make the story tighter.
Keira used to work for Tom, a successful restaurateur. They became lovers – and while at what age is never clear, Keira was a mere 17 when she first began working for Tom, 20 years her senior. This is more troubling in the era of #metoo than perhaps it was 25 years ago.
Keira was enmeshed in his family life and was good friends with Tom’s wife, Alice, but when his wife discovered the affair, Keira left abruptly. They haven’t seen each other until Tom, now a widower, turns up at Keira’s freezing rundown flat on a snowy night.
The set – complete with working stove – and lighting, particularly in the second half where it is left low and intimate with the bright glow of the heater (almost its own character with its alluring imitation of warmth) really work to bring Keira’s modest, freezing flat in an undesirable part of London to life.
Winning both the Olivier and Tony Awards fo Best Play, Hare’s writing is for the most part tight and vivid. I first read Skylight over 20 years ago and found it romantic and gut-wrenching. While still agreeing with this for the most part, I also find that the number of overly political monologues are hard to carry.
Directed by Suzy Sampson, Joseph Wycoff and Rebekah Dack bring Tom and Keira to life with skill and by the end you’re aching for the inevitable ending between them to be different. The play takes a while to warm up, however, when is does, it sings.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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