A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
Red Velvet
Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 5m
It's like being at a crossroads - a point of absolute, unequivocal change. It makes the blood rush.
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. A young black American actor has been asked to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre?
Image: 2012 Tricycle Theatre Production (Hugo Glendinning)
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Cast Size
3w, 5m -
Duration
120 minutes (2 hours) -
Subgenre
Period, Docudrama/History -
Target Audience
Adult, Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
- WINNER! Most Promising Playwright - Lolita Chakrabarti - Evening Standard Award & Critics' Circle Award
Details
Summary
It's like being at a crossroads - a point of absolute, unequivocal change. It makes the blood rush.
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. A young black American actor has been asked to take over the role. But as the public riot in the streets over the abolition of slavery, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre?
Lolita Chakrabarti's play creates imagined experiences based on the little-known, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.
Red Velvet received its world premiere at the Tricycle Theatre, London, on 11 October 2012, starring Adrian Lester as Ira Aldridge. It was revived at the Tricycle Theatre on 23 January 2014, before transferring to St Ann's Warehouse, New York, on 25 March 2014.
ON BREAKING CHARACTER
Scene Study and Classroom Reading: Plays for Colleges and Universities
by Becca Schlossberg
August 23, 2019
History
Red Velvet premiered at the Trycicle Theatre in London in 2012, under the direction of Indhu Rubasingham.
Cast Attributes
Keywords
- Aging
- Betrayal
- Feminism
- Friendship
- Illness/Health
- Love
- Marriage
- Memory
- Politics
- Black Experience
- Most Promising Playwright London Critics Circle Award 2012 & London Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award 2012; Best Actor London Critic Circle Award 2012; Nominations for Olivier Award 2013; Whatsonstage Awards 2012 for London Newcomer of the Year & Best New Play
- Time Period Victorian (British and American), 19th Century
- Setting
A Theatre dressing room, Lodz, Poland 1867
Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, 1833.
- Features Period Costumes
- Additional Features Not Applicable
- Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
- Cautions
- Mild Adult Themes
Media
"SHOCK WAVES RARELY TRAVEL ACROSS CENTURIES. BUT AT ST. ANN’S WAREHOUSE IN BROOKLYN, WHERE LOLITA CHAKRABARTI’S 'RED VELVET' OPENED ON MONDAY NIGHT, YOU CAN EXPERIENCE FIRSTHAND WHAT IT MUST HAVE FELT LIKE TO BE PART OF ONE SERIOUSLY RATTLED LONDON THEATER AUDIENCE IN 1833." - New York Times, Read More
"Red Velvet is the play to see. A superb ensemble directed by Indhu Rubasingham from Lolita Chakrabarti’s excellent script. The audience was clearly awestruck." - The Huffington Post, Read More
"Frankly, thrilling. [Red Velvet] burns the place down." - Time Out New York, Read More
"...the best new play of the 2013-14 season." - Showbiz 411, Read More
"A terrific tantalizing zest in the writing and a great sense of humour." - The Sunday Times, Read More
"It’s a cracker of a play: gripping, intelligent and passionate." - Financial Times, Read More
"...fresh and sparky" - The Observer, Read More
"Chakrabarti tells her story with wit and clarity." - The Daily Telegraph, Read More
Videos
Red Velvet preview
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Red Velvet returns - Tricycle Theatre from Jan 2014
Licensing & Materials
- Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
Authors
Lolita Chakrabarti
Lolita Chakrabarti is an award winning Actress and Writer. She has worked extensively as an actress on stage and screen.
As a writer Red Velvet is her debut play. (Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright 2012; Critics Circle Award for Most Promisi ...