| What: My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout Stage adaption: Rona Munro Starring: Julie-Anne McDowell Direction: Charmaine Weir-Smith Design: Kieran McGregor Producer: How Now Brown Cow Lucy Barton on stage South Africa 2024 Hilton | Cape Town | Johannesburg Hilton Arts Festival, KZN: August 2-4. Bookings: https://hiltonfestival.co.za/ Baxter Studio, Cape Town: September 18 to October 5. Bookings: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/Event.aspx?itemid=1547805969 Theatre On The Square, Johannesburg: October 9-27 Bookings: https://computicket.com/event/my_name_is_lucy_barton/7287542 |
Exciting news is the South African tour of the stage adaption of My Name is Lucy Barton – the acclaimed and award winning novel by Elizabeth Strout. The stage adaption by Rona Munro (first staged 2018 in the UK and 2020 in the USA) has received rave reviews and now the play is premiering in South Africa, produced by How Now Brown Cow and starring Julie-Anne McDowell, with direction by Charmaine Weir-Smith and design Kieran McGregor. The South African 2024 tour: After the premiere in KZN at the Hilton Arts Festival from August 2-4, it will be on in Cape Town in the Baxter Studio, September 18 to October 5 and then on in Sandton Johannesburg, at Theatre On The Square, October 9-27. Read on for more. Info as supplied:
How Now Brown Cow Proudly Presents
MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON
by Elizabeth Strout
adapted by Rona Munro
Starring Julie-Anne McDowell
Directed by Charmaine Weir-Smith
*“Tremendously affecting… This delicate memory piece resonates with the soaring vitality of a life fully lived”.
The Hollywood Reporter
*“Glorious, tender, true”
Sunday Telegraph
*“Reminds us of the power of our stories and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives”
Miami Herald
With seasons in
Hilton | Cape Town | Johannesburg
How Now Brown Cow presents the multiple award-winning My Name Is Lucy Barton
How Now Brown Cow is proud to present the multiple award-winning My Name Is Lucy Barton.
Written by Elizabeth Strout and adapted byRona Munro, My Name Is Lucy Barton is the story of a writer reckoning with the legacy of a scarred family life who is coming to terms with the cost of her childhood and the rewards of her art.
The production will be presented at the Hilton Arts Festival in August, at the Baxter Studio in Cape Town from September, and in Johannesburg at Theatre On The Square in October 2024.
Longlisted for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016, the BAILEYS WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016 and a #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout shows the most tender relationship of all – the one between a mother and daughter.
Lucy Barton wakes after an operation to discover – much to her surprise – her estranged mother at the foot of her bed. Over the course of her mother’s visit, she and Lucy seem to reconnect, but just below the surface lies the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life.
Lucy’s encounter with her mother brings into sharp focus her troubled childhood in rural Illinois and her current life in New York City. Knitting these powerful memories together, Lucy begins to come to terms with her past and her future as a writer.
My Name is Lucy Barton is a story for anyone who has questioned how family defines oneself. It is a powerful narrative of hope and triumph about a woman who finds her truth and reclaims her story.
The production will star multiple award-nominated actor Julie-Anne McDowell (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Revlon Girl) and be directed by multiple-award winning Charmaine Weir-Smith (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Train Driver). Design is by Kieran McGregor (Expelled).
My Name Is Lucy Barton has been adapted for the stage as a one woman show by acclaimed TV, Film and Theatre writer Rona Munro (winner of the Evening Standard Award, NOOK Award and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award). It opened at The Bridge Theatre in London in 2018 starring Laura Linney who reprised her role on Broadway in 2020.
Press comments about the play include:
“My Name Is Lucy Barton offers us a rare wealth of emotion from darkest suffering to simple joy”.
The New York Times Book Review
*“The story of a single life that also manages to tell the story of many”.
The Independent
*“A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships, weaving family tapestries with compassion, wisdom and insight.”
The Guardian
*“Strout’s language, deftly adapted for the stage by Rona Munro, is simple in the way of a coiled pot or a Shaker chair, a solid, unfussy construction whose elegance lies in its polished unity”
New Yorker
*“Tremendously affecting… This delicate memory piece resonates with the soaring vitality of a life fully lived”.
The Hollywood Reporter
*“Glorious, tender, true”
Sunday Telegraph
*“Reminds us of the power of our stories and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives”
Miami Herald
My Name is Lucy Barton will have its premiere season in South Africa at the Hilton Arts Festival from 2024 2-4 August before transferring to the Baxter Studio in Cape Town for a season running from September 18 to October 5, 2024. Completing the season, the production will then transfer to the Theatre On The Square in Sandton, Johannesburg and will run from October 9-27, 2024.
Tickets for the Hilton Arts Festival can be booked here: https://hiltonfestival.co.za/
Tickets for the Cape Town Season can be booked here: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/Event.aspx?itemid=1547805969
Tickets for the Johannesburg Season can be booked here:
https://computicket.com/event/my_name_is_lucy_barton/7287542
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My Name is Lucy Barton is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
My Name is Lucy Barton was originally produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove, Executive Producer, The London Theatre Company, Nicholas Hytner, Nick Starr, in association with Penguin Random House Audio on January 15, 2020.
My Name is Lucy Barton was originally produced by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr for the London Theatre Company at the Bridge Theatre in June 2018.
About How Now Brown Cow:
How Now Brown Cow was launched in 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic. The company, founded by Actor and Writer Julie-Anne McDowell, was established to offer world class South African and international works for local and international audiences and stages. Daniel Galloway, who was The Fugard Theatre’s Managing Director and Lead Producer from 2009 to 2020, is the General Manager and co-Producer alongside Julie-Anne. During the global theatre shut-down of 2020 and 2021, How Now Brown Cow launched the How Now Brown Cow Writer’s Collective which saw the commissioning of 12 new South African scripts several of which are now in the next phase of development. In 2022 the Production Company released their first short-film, The Hive, which was screened to critical acclaim on the international and local film festival circuit. The Beauty Queen of Leenane was How Now Brown Cow’s first stage production in South Africa which was presented in Johannesburg in October 2022 garnering multiple award nominations and winning in 7 categories including Best Production, before it transferred to The Baxter’s Pam Golding where it too played to great acclaim winning further awards for the production. How Now Brown Cow co-presented Greg Homann’s newly commissioned South African comedy A Marry Little Christmas at The Market Theatre in December2023. In 2024 How Now Brown Cow presented another newly commissioned South African play, Rosalind Butler’s EXPELLED which played to sold out seasons in Cape Town and Johannesburg in the first quarter of the year. In 2025 How Now Brown Cow partners with Showtime Management to bring the South African Premiere of the Broadway Award-Winning Musical DEAR EVAN HANSEN to audiences in Cape Town and Johannesburg. For more information, please visit www.hownowbrowncow.co.za
Julie-Anne McDowell:
Northern Irish born Julie-Anne McDowell is the CEO of How Now Brown Cow Productions and an award-winning actress, theatre producer and writer. She trained with RADA both in classical ballet and speech and drama, has a joint honours degree in French and Spanish, an International Marketing Diploma and a Masters Degree with Distinction in Script and Screen writing.
In Northern Ireland, she performed in numerous musical and repertory theatre productions including Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Mrs Sullen in The Beaux Strategem, Brenda in 13 Past Midnight, Viola in Twelfth Night, Hilda in Cupid Wore Skirts, the Princess in Mother Goose, Principal Boy in Humpty Dumpty, Model in Beauty winning NI Best Supporting Actress Award, Julia in Me and My Best Friend winning NI Best Actress Award and performed Elvire in Don Juan in French.
In 2006, she moved to Johannesburg to marry her South African husband and returned to acting in 2017 in Couplet which ran at The National Arts Festival and The Theatre On The Square, Sandton. In 2018/19 she appeared as Marilyn in The Revlon Girl at the National Arts Festival, the Hilton Arts Festival and The Theatre On The Square which earned her a Naledi Best Supporting Actress Nomination. In 2022, she received a SA Indie Film Festival Best Actress Nomination for her role of Flora in the multi award winning short film The Hive and in 2023 received a Naledi Best Actress Award Nomination for the lead role of Maureen in The Beauty Queen Of Leenane.
In 2020, she set up How Now Brown Cow Productions to produce world class theatre and in particular to commission, enable and empower South African theatre practitioners. Their first production The Beauty Queen Of Leenane ran for 4 weeks at The Theatre On The Square Sandton to critical acclaim earning 7 Naledi Theatre Award Nominations and winning 5 including Best Production of a Play 2022. It transferred to The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in August 2023 and has been nominated for 2 Fleur Du Cap Awards.
Her writing credits include the short film The Headcase in which she plays the lead and won Best Film, Best Director and Best Script at The Belfast Arts Festival in 2006. In 2021, she wrote the multi-award-winning short film, The Hive, and was awarded The Writers Guild Of South Africa Muse Award for the Best Produced Short Film as well as Best Female Scriptwriter at the Toronto Woman’s Film Festival, Special Jury Award and Honorable Mention at the Festigious and New Jersey Film Festivals.
Charmaine Weir-Smith:
Charmaine is an award-winning actress and director. She won the Vita Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Ophelia in “Hamlet”. She played Daisy in “The Young Visitors” – VitaNomination for Best Actress, Agnes in “Agnes of God”, Em in “A Story of an African Farm” and Rachel in Rosalind Butler’s “An Unromantic Comedy” to name a few of her favourite roles. Charmaine received the Naledi Award for Best Actress in a Comedy for“2 4 The Price of 1”and for Sylvaine Strike’s “Pregnant Pause” a Naledi Award Nomination for Best Actress. For six seasons, Charmaine played Shanell in Paul Slabolepszy’s “Suddenly the Storm” for which she was nominated for Naledi and Fleur du Cap awards.
Most recently, Charmaine has performed to great acclaim in Expelled for How Now Brown Cow Productions at The Baxter Theatre and The Market Theatre.
Charmaine’s television and film career has spanned more than two decades with lead roles in Isidingo, Binnelanders and Scandal and in the UK ITV’s production of “Wild at Heart” and Showmax’s “The Girl from St Agnes”.
Her latest film credits include Netflix’s “Jadotville” and “The Jakes Are Missing”. Charmaine has recently returned to Scandal to reprise her role as Jennifer Bradbury.
Charmaine’s directing credits include: The Vita nominated musical “I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change”, “Annie” – Vita Award for Best Musical Production, “Big Band Blast” – Naledi Award for Best Musical, “Captain Entertainment” – Naledi Award Best Revue, “Tale of the Allergists Wife” and “Glorious”. She directed Nick Boraine in “Sic” which toured South Africa and had a successful off-Broadway run in New York. She directed Athol Fugard’s “The Train Driver” for The Market Theatre – Naledi Award for Best Director and in 2022/3 “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” for How Now Brown Cow Productions, winning 5 Naledi Theatre Awards including Best Director for Charmaine and Best Production. In 2023, Charmaine directed two sold-out seasons of “Nothing But The Truth” for The Theatre on the Square and “A Marry Little Christmas” for How Now Brown Cow Productions and The Market Theatre.
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