DAPHNE du Maurier’s Don’t Look Now, a haunting story of loss and mystery, mainly set in Venice, was memorably filmed with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Now a stage adaptation, by West Country writer Nell Leyshon, comes to Salisbury Playhouse from 29th October to 15th November.
This co-production with the New Wolsey Theatre at Ipswich is directed by Doug Rintoul, artistic director of the Wolsey, with a cast that includes Olivia Carruthers, an award-winning blind actor who plays the mysterious blind sister. The leading roles of John and Laura are played by Mark Jackson and Sophie Robinson.
Nell Leyshon, who was born in Glastonbury, has written several powerful plays, including Comfort Me with Apples and Glass Eels, novels including Black Dirt and The Colour of Milk, and is the deputy chairman of Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2010 her play Bedlam was the first written by a woman to be performed at Shakespeare’s Globe. She is also one of the creators of The Outsiders project, based at Boscombe. Her vision was to show that people sidelined from society can write, perform and create work at the highest level.
Her adaptation of Don’t Look Now was first staged at the Lyceum in Sheffield and later transferred to the Lyric in Hammersmith. She says she has “absolutely loved revisiting Don’t Look Now and moving the focus from the shock ending to the atmosphere and psychological realism of the couple at the heart of the story.
“It’s a remarkably structured piece which is haunting and completely gripping. As the events unfold, you find yourself almost unable to breathe. Du Maurier is such a wonderful writer whose skill with plot often distracts from her real understanding of people and relationships.
“As a fellow West Country writer, it’s a privilege to work with her words. I’m so thrilled to be able to share her work with audiences in both Ipswich and Salisbury. Regional theatre work is extremely important and audiences everywhere deserve to see quality work.”
The other cast members are Alex Bulmer, Kate Męczyńska, Alexander Makar (a Salisbury Stage 65 Youth Theatre alumnus) and Richard Emerson Gould.
Doug Rintoul is returning to Salisbury after directing Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter in April 2023 and Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party in 2018.