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Barrymore

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2m

William Luce

"A dazzler! A portrait of riveting complexity and paradox that finds the balletic elegance in a drunken stagger, the poetry in a blue joke and the churning guts in rarefied verse. As [Barrymore] walks toward his own death it's with the jaunty [...]" - The New York Times

Barrymore

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2m
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Biography
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior

Details

Summary
Christopher Plummer won a Tony for his portrayal of John Barrymore in the acclaimed Broadway production of this work by the master of one-character biographies for the stage. Each act begins with a stunning entrance onto a stage that the sixty-year-old legendary actor has rented to prepare for a comeback performance of Richard III. Barrymore jokes with the audience, spars with an offstage prompter, reminisces about better times, and does delicious imitations of his siblings Lionel and Ethel.
History
First produced at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario Canada in 1996 directed by Gene Saks.
Cast Attributes
Keywords

JOHN BARRYMORE - the famed actor

PROMPTER - an offstage male voice

Plus 1 offstage male voice

  • Time Period 1940s/WWII, 1920s
  • Setting In a New York theatre in the spring of 1942.
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"A dazzler! A portrait of riveting complexity and paradox that finds the balletic elegance in a drunken stagger, the poetry in a blue joke and the churning guts in rarefied verse. As [Barrymore] walks toward his own death it's with the jaunty panache of a boulevardier off to meet his new mistress. - The New York Times

"As good as one man shows get."" - The New Yorker

"A staggering success... Must be seen, must be savored." - New York Post

"A perfect image of Barrymore." - New York Daily News

Licensing & Materials

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Scripts

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Authors

William Luce

William Luce
William Luce wrote his Broadway and London success The Belle of Amherst for Julie Harris, who won her fifth Tony Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson. For American soprano Renée Fleming, Luce wrote My Business Is To Love, which Fleming premiered in Linc ...
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