The U.K. premiere of Jon Robin Baitz’s Tony-nominated play Other Desert Cities is set to kick off a season of productions to be presented in-the-round at The Old Vic, reprising the transformation of the venue's auditorium first seen in 2008. Directed by Olivier award winner Lindsay Posner, the production will begin previews March 13, with opening night set for March 24.
Other Desert Cities follows Brooke Wyeth as she returns to the family home in Palm Springs for the first time in six years with some incendiary news for her Republican parents, her upbeat brother and her recovering alcoholic aunt. She is about to publish a memoir about her family, exposing a pivotal moment in their painful and explosive past, her actions threatening to push fractured family relations to a point beyond repair.
The show was first seen in 2010 at New York’s Lincoln Center, before transferring to Broadway where it garnered five Tony nominations. Other Desert Cities was also a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter and television producer best known for his TV series Brothers and Sisters. His plays include The Substance of Fire, A Fair Country, Ten Unknowns, The Paris Letter, The Film Society, Mizlansky/Zilinsky and Three Hotels as well as a new version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.
Posner’s most recent directing credit at The Old Vic was Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy. Posner was Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre from 1987 to 1992 where his production of Death and The Maiden won two Olivier Awards. His many other London directing credits include Noises Off, Butley, An Ideal Husband, Fool For Love, A View From The Bridge, Carousel and Fiddler on The Roof.
Other Desert Cities will feature design by Robert Innes Hopkins, lighting by Peter Mumford and music by Michael Bruce.