Ronald Harwood

Drama

6 m., 3 f.

2 ints.

Albert Finney starred in London and Chicago in this play by the author of The Dresser and Interpreters. He played two roles: the adult Leonard Lands, a South African pianist, and Ike, Leonard's father. In Act I, Leonard's mother is finally able to send him overseas for a proper musical education after Ike dies. Act II takes place thirty five years later. Leonard is in a London recording studio with hisalienated teenaged son (played by the actor who was Leonard in Act I). The son wants to return to South Africa, a place Leonard will not go because of the political situation. For Leonard there is no meaning outside of his music; for his son there is no life in England and he, like his father, must follow his own destiny.

"Solid, intelligent, ingeniously constructed.... Has a sure sense of both the comedy and the pathos." Sunday Telegraph.

"Gives us something so subtle in its celebration of the human spirit's mysterious capacity to triumph ... that we leave the theatre moved as much to euphoria as to tears." Daily Mail.

"Marvelous." Chicago Sun Times.

FEE: $75 per performance.