LOVESONG sees acclaimed theatre company Frantic Assembly join forces with celebrated writer Abi Morgan for a new play about lifelong love. After initial ambitions to become an actress herself, she decided to become a writer while reading drama and literature at Exeter University. [5] She then took a postgraduate writing course at the Central School of Speech and Drama. [4] Writing career [ edit ] Theatre [ edit ] White Girl, part of White (2008) – with Hettie Macdonald, won the TV Spielfilm Award at the Cologne Conference Ravindran, Manori (27 January 2020). "Writer Abi Morgan Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020 . Retrieved 13 March 2020. It’s an incredibly well-cast production. The actors are well-matched in their respective incarnations of the couple. The play is directed by Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, and the physical elements, the use of choreography, is superb throughout; the use of movement allows these two versions of the same couple to express themselves. Sian Phillips and Sam Cox in particular show their versatility as performers, undertaking a series of energetic moves that belie their maturity. The use of dance is well judged and works with the text, never overstaying its welcome or distracting from the overall work.

Siân Phillips is one of Britain's most respected actors. Her recent stage work includes the role of Juliet in Juliet and her Romeo (Bristol Old Vic), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Broadway) and Calendar Girls (West End/tour). Her screen work includes her BAFTA-winning role in I, Claudius (BBC TV), as well as such seminal works as Goodbye Mr Chips, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Dune. She has also performed live with musician Rufus Wainwright at the Old Vic.

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LEANNE ROWE’S theatre credits include Dirty Dancing (West End), Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Mysterious Skin (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh). Her film credits include Jane Eyre (dir. Franco Zeffirelli) and Oliver Twist (dir. Roman Polanski. Frantic Assembly is celebrated at home and abroad for creating thrilling, energetic and unforgettable theatre. The company attracts new and young audiences with work that reflects contemporary culture. Vivid and dynamic, Frantic Assembly’s unique physical style combines movement, design, music and text. Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett formed Frantic Assembly in 1994. Scott and Steven have since performed in or directed all of the company’s work. They seek to collaborate on original ideas with today’s most exciting artists. Sam Cox's recent stage work includes Anne Boleyn, All's Well That Ends Well (both Shakespeare's Globe), Inherit the Wind (Old Vic), Arcadia (West End), God in Ruins (RSC/Soho), Macbeth and King John (both RSC). His film and TV work includes Doctor Who (BBC TV), Prime Suspect (Granada) and Hippy Hippy Shake.

But the writing is sometimes vague or twee where it needs to be vivid. The desire to speak generously of universal experiences robs the play of a dense and satisfying specificity. Of the characters only William - played with great conviction and fluency by Edward Bennett - feels truly magnetic. Miss Morgan has written a portrait of love that starts out as two simple stories following a couple Bill and Maggie, viewed at stages of their lives over forty-odd years apart. What's going on between Abi Morgan and Kristin Scott Thomas?". www.standard.co.uk. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021 . Retrieved 13 April 2021. SAM COX’S recent stage work includes Anne Boleyn, All’s Well That Ends Well (both Shakespeare’s Globe), Inherit the Wind (Old Vic), Arcadia (West End), God in Ruins (RSC/Soho), Macbeth and King John (both RSC). His film and TV work includes Doctor Who (BBC TV), Prime Suspect (Granada) and Hippy Hippy Shake.

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SIÂN PHILLIPS is one of Britain’s most respected actors. Her recent stage work includes the role of Juliet in Juliet and her Romeo (Bristol Old Vic), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Broadway) and Calendar Girls (West End/tour). Her screen work includes her BAFTA-winning role in I, Claudius (BBC TV), as well as such seminal works as Goodbye Mr Chips, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Dune. She has also performed live with musician Rufus Wainwright at the Old Vic. Growing old and dying are two things that haunt us all. I fear that as I get older, the person I once was will begin to disappear. I worry about the fragments of my life that I will leave scattered behind me – will they be worth it? I worry that I won’t be remembered and that growing old will only bring me closer to my death. This, in many ways, is a direct reaction to Love Song, Frantic Assembly’s latest production at Lyric Hammersmith. I feel sure that many members of the audience had the same experiences, because Abi Morgan’s play so naturally captures universal fears. The finished product is an unforgettable, elegiac drama that gets the Lyric (not to mention co-producers Frantic Assembly, The Drum in Plymouth and Chichester Festival Theatre) off to a storming start to 2012.

a b c "Writer Abi Morgan has last laugh at the Emmys". Wales Online. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013 . Retrieved 23 September 2013. While they are very much in love, Bill's drinking and their inability to bear children begin to take their toll so that each seeks escape, though always rather ineffectually. All in all, this might be seen as a typically ordinary existence but is well drawn. LOVESONG sees acclaimed theatre company Frantic Assembly join forces with celebrated writer Abi Morgan for a new play about lifelong love. Lovesong intertwines a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in this haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness. There's sensitive work around him from Leanne Rowe, Sam Cox and the spry Siân Phillips. The production is deftly constructed, and some sequences are delicately balletic. Many people will find it deeply moving, and the subject matter is undeniably poignant.’ This play is a brilliant portrayal of the love shared between two individuals. How it is bittersweet and unfortunate but also fills you with a particular warmth. I think being able to see the characters both in the 20s/30s and then later on in life was really effective. This is because when they were on stage together you can see the parallels between their situations and how often young love corresponds to the feelings when you are about to lose a loved one.She met Jacob at a party. She’d always vowed not to get involved with an actor, but there he was: they collided with “absolute velocity”. By their fifth date, he’d virtually moved in. Their relationship wasn’t without its complications – their daughter was a baby when they first had counselling – but she was also certain about him, this energetic, joy-chaser of a man. Her parents (her mother is the actor Pat England, her father the theatre director Gareth Morgan) divorced when she was small, though they remained friendly, and somehow this has worked in her favour. “I’ve always felt less, rather than more, likely to separate,” she says. “Though I am curious about the legacy of divorce, for children.” Having not dared to show any of her writing "to anyone for five years", her first professional stage credit was in 1998 with Skinned at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. She has written plays for the Royal Exchange Studio Theatre Manchester, the Royal Lyceum Theatre, the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Court, London. [6] Her 2001 play Tender commissioned by Birmingham Rep Theatre and co-produced with the Hampstead Theatre gained her a nomination as "most promising playwright" at the 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards.