FIVE decades since the release of the iconic film, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Curve – in association with Simon Friend and Gavin Kalin Productions – is presenting The Graduate.
With acclaimed director Lucy Bailey (Great Expectations, Dial M for Murder), whose work spans classics at the Globe and RSC to West End productions, The Graduate will star Catherine McCormack as Mrs Robinson and Jack Monaghan as Benjamin.
Pictured here in character for the first time, Catherine and Jack take up their roles 50 years since the runaway success of Mike Nichols’ hit film, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.
Lucy Bailey said: “The Graduate is a satire on the values and lifestyle of middle class suburban America.
“The world seen through Benjamin’s eyes is a heightened surreal version of reality, at times grotesques and absurd. It’s a coming of age play – painfully funny and deeply human.”
West Yorkshire Playhouse artistic director, James Brining, said: “Our productions this season return to the journey for voice and identity.
“Benjamin, The Graduate’s central character, is completely disaffected and alienated until he begins to break with convention and take his own path.
“In the hands of the talented Lucy Bailey, whose celebrated production of Great Expectations at the Playhouse thrilled audiences, this promises to be a smart and stylish telling, rich in wry humour.”
Based on Charles Webb’s novel, The Graduate sees an educated young man swept into an illicit encounter with an older married woman, setting them both on a thrillingly destructive course. The cast is completed by Emma Curtis playing Elaine, Tom Hodgkins as Mr Braddock, Rebecca Charles as Mrs Braddock and Richard Clothier playing Mr Robinson.
The Graduate runs from April 28 to May 27. Call 0113 213 7700 to book tickets.
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