CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, SMASH-HIT PRODUCTION OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD EXTENDS FOR A FINAL TIME TO 20 MAY 2023
PRESS RELEASE • 26 January 2023
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, SMASH-HIT PRODUCTION OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD EXTENDS FOR A FINAL TIME TO 20 MAY 2023
Barry Diller and Sonia Friedman announce today that the critically-acclaimed commercial hit production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird – a new play by multi-award-winning Aaron Sorkin, directed by Tony Award-winning Bartlett Sher, extends for a final time at the Gielgud Theatre. The production, which opened in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, will have run for over a year when it completes its run on 20 May 2023. The 32 strong current cast, led by Matthew Modine as Atticus Finch, will continue with the run.
Nominated for 3 WhatsOnStage Awards, including Best New Play, the production has played to over 400,000 patrons thus far. Since opening, the production has put access at the heart of its ethos, staging schools’ matinee performances with accompanying education packs and bespoke Q&As, and initiating an All Rise ticket scheme ensuring that £15 tickets were available across the sold out run. In addition, the producers have set aside £5 tickets for every performance that are offered directly to those currently under-represented in West End theatre audiences - to date 75% of those tickets have been used by young people, for many of whom To Kill a Mockingbird is their first time at the theatre. These schemes have accounted for 10% of the total seats sold.
★★★★★
“ALL RISE FOR A MAGNIFICENT ‘MOCKINGBIRD’.
UNBEARABLY MOVING. SHEER EMOTION AND MORAL FORCE MAKE THIS
A POWERFULLY UPLIFTING EVENT’ EVENING STANDARD
Matthew Modine continues his role as Atticus Finch with Harry Attwell (Mr. Cunningham/Boo Radley), Helen Belbin (Miss Stephanie/Dill’s Mother), Niall Buggy (Judge Taylor), Cheryl Burniston, Colin R Campbell (Mr Roscoe/Dr Reynolds), Jack Crumlin, Alan Drake, Max Ferguson, Phillipa Flynn, John Hastings (Bailiff), Rebecca Hayes (Mayella Ewell), Simon Hepworth (Link Deas), Ellis Howard (Dill Harris), Jason Hughes (Bob Ewell), Niamh James, Julie Legrand (Mrs Dubose), Nigel Lister, Tom Mannion (Sheriff Heck Tate), Sam Mitchell (Jem Finch), Anna Munden (Scout Finch), Tiwai Muza, Cecilia Noble (Calpurnia), Itoya Osagiede, Jude Owusu (Tom Robinson), Oyin Oyija, David Sturzaker (Horace Gilmer), George Telfer, Natasha Williams (Mrs Dubose’s Maid), and Candida Caldicot (on organ), Ciyo Brown and Jack Benjamin (on guitar).
★★★★★
“THIS UTTERLY RIVETING AND REVELATORY STAGING
BLAZINGLY CAPTURES THE ZEITGEIST.” DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Harper Lee adaptation has been one of the major hits in the West End, playing to packed houses at the Gielgud Theatre since its opening in March 2022.
Set in Maycomb, Alabama in 1934, To Kill a Mockingbird has provided American literature with some of its most indelible characters: lawyer Atticus Finch, the tragically wronged Tom Robinson, Atticus’ daughter Scout, her brother Jem, their housekeeper and caretaker Calpurnia and the reclusive Arthur “Boo” Radley. For the past six decades and for every generation, this story, its characters and portrait of small-town America have helped to, and continue to, inspire conversation and change.
Harper Lee’s enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence has sold more than 45 million copies of the novel worldwide. 2020 marked the 60th anniversary of its publication.
To Kill a Mockingbird is running the All Rise ticket scheme in an exclusive partnership with TodayTix, offering £15 seats for every performance across the run. The initiative provides access at affordable prices to as wide an audience as possible. More than 1,400 tickets will be released each month. In addition to the All Rise initiative, there is an opportunity to purchase £15 tickets via Today Tix daily rush – where a limited number of additional seats will be available on each performance day via the app. The TodayTix app can be downloaded onto iOs or Android devices for free via the app store; or you can access online via TodayTix.com.
Bartlett Sher and the original Broadway creative team - Miriam Buether (Set), Ann Roth (Costume), Jennifer Tipton (Lighting), Scott Lehrer (Sound), Adam Guettel (Original Score), Kimberly Grigsby (Music Supervision) and Campbell Young Associates (Hair & Wigs) – were joined for the West End production by Serena Hill as Casting Director, Hazel Holder as Voice & Dialect Coach, Titas Halder as Associate Director, Candida Caldicot as Musical Director, Tavia Rivée Jefferson as Cultural Coordinator and Rasheka Christie-Carter as Assistant Director.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Set in Maycomb, Alabama in 1934, To Kill a Mockingbird has provided American literature with some of its most indelible characters: lawyer Atticus Finch, the tragically wrongly-accused Tom Robinson, Atticus’ daughter Scout, her brother Jem, their housekeeper and caretaker Calpurnia and the reclusive Arthur “Boo” Radley. For the past six decades and for every generation, this story, its characters and portrait of small-town America have helped to, and continue to, inspire conversation and change.
Twitter: @MockingbirdUK Instagram: @Mockingbird_ldn
Facebook /ToKillAMockingbirdWestEnd
Please be advised that this production contains racially explicit language, themes and content, and references to sexual abuse and violence. There will be brief gunfire audio in the performance.
Recommended for ages 12+
The producers cannot guarantee the appearance of any particular artist, which is always subject to illness, injury and statutory leave entitlement.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE
Published in 1960, Harper Lee’s debut novel To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate and astonishing success – it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was published in ten languages within a year of its release. The book, considered one of the great classics of modern American literature, went on to become a global phenomenon, with more than 50 million copies in print to date. To Kill a Mockingbird has moved international readers for half a century, with editions published in over 40 languages including Persian, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Vietnamese, Armenian, Chinese, and Esperanto.
In 2012 the Library of Congress presented an exhibition titled Books That Shaped America, inviting those who attended to cite the book that most changed their lives – To Kill a Mockingbird came second only to the Bible.
In 2007, Lee was recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which cited her “outstanding contribution to America’s literary tradition”. In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Lee the National Medal of Arts, an award given for “outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts” – the nation’s highest honour for artistic achievement.
LISTINGS
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6AR
Box Office: 0844 482 5130 www.tokillamockingbird.co.uk
Now playing until 4 February, 2023
For further information, please contact: Kate Morley 07970 465 648 [email protected]