THIS PRODUCTION HAS NOW CLOSED:
For current London West End theatre shows
please use the menu on the left hand side.

Haymarket Theatre Royal: Previewed 29 May, Opened 4 June 2003, Closed 30 August 2003

Play by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Michael Meyer, directed by Adrian Noble with designs by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by Mic Pool, music by Mia Soteriou and movement by Sue Lefton.

Brand, a priest, is the most devout follower of God. Steadfast of will, he will not condone any form of moral compromise, whatever the circumstances.

His sole objective is to serve God and save the souls of his people. So powerful are his convictions, he rejects his dying mother and forbids his wife from mourning their son.

Is the road of extreme sacrifice and suffering truly the road to God and ultimate salvation?

Starring Ralph Fiennes in the title role in Ibsen's passionate portrait of the struggle between faith and human will.

This rarely performed portrait of faith and the search for enlightenment was written by Ibsen in 1866 and is being staged for the very first time at the RSC. Cast from a 'stand alone' company, it performs a six week run in the Swan Theatre before transferring to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London.

Cast: Jim Creighton, Oliver Cotton, James Curran, Alan David, Ian Drysdale, Susan Engel, Sarah Everard, Ralph Fienees, Jane Guernier, Colin Haigh, Sidney Livingstone, Jennifer McEvoy, Alistair Petrie, Claire Price, Laura Rees, Clifford Rose and Karen Traynor.

Ralph Fiennes was most recently seen in London in Christopher Hampton's new play The Talking Cure which was staged at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre from December 2002 to January 2003. His other credits at the National include Fathers and Sons, Ting Tang Mine and Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1987. Since then he has forged an international stage and screen career; his theatre work includes the title roles in Hamlet, Ivanov, Richard II and Coriolanus (all for the Almeida at venues in London and abroad), Edmund in King Lear and Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost (RSC). His many films include Schindler's List, Quiz Show, The English Patient, Oscar and Lucinda, The End of the Affair, Spider and the forthcoming Uptown Girl and Red Dragon.

Other Ibsen plays in London are: Lady from the Sea starring Natasha Richardson at the Almeida Theatre from 8 May to 28 June 2003 and The Master Builder starring Patrick Stewart at the Albery Theatre from 12 June to 17 August 2003.

News about the show

On 25 May 2001: The Royal Shakespeare Company announced a number of major changes to the way that the Company would operate in the future. At the same time the RSC announced that, among it's forthcoming productions, it hoped to present a revival of Henrik Ibsen's Brand starring Ralph Fiennes in the West End. More details.

On 19 November 2002: It was confirmed that the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of Ibsen's Brand starring Ralph Fiennes would open at the Haymarket Theatre on 3 June 2003 following previews from 29 May 2003.

Extracts from the reviews:

"...[Adrian Noble's] swansong production of Ibsen's Brand is a glorious occasion: daring, deeply felt, powerfully affecting and blessed with a truly tremendous performance from Ralph Fiennes in the title role that those who see it will never forget... Noble stages the production on an almost bare stage, making no pictorial attempt to suggest the mountains and fjords and the impoverished village where the action is set. What brings the show alive is the power and simplicity of his direction and the passion and commitment of the acting. Fiennes has never been better than he is here... For all its Nordic gloom, this is a night of theatre that sets the imagination ablaze." The Daily Telegraph

"Noble's production, sparely staged, grasps the point that the play is both about the dangers of moral absolutism and the loneliness of Protestant individualism... And, by placing the action inside a ribbed, semi-circular frame, beautifully designed and lit by Peter McKintosh and Peter Mumford respectively, Noble forces us to focus on the play's unending series of moral choices. This is also Ralph Fiennes's finest hour on stage... In short, a monumental evening." The Guardian

"Casting an actor of such extreme gorgeousness as Ralph Fiennes in the title role of Brand somewhat undermines the plausibility and point of Ibsen's tormented hero... This casting, however, makes Brand's harsh asceticism not only bearable but compelling. Not that Fiennes ever uses his voice seductively, or plays the romantic hero... Adrian Noble has trimmed Michael Meyer's eloquent translation, but Brand still takes nearly three hours. They fly..." The Independent

"...The role of Brand certainly plays to Fiennes's strength as an actor, with the cold disdain of his features and the sardonic quality of his voice. He gives us a restless soul, capable of guarded tenderness but also the sermonising resolve of this self-made martyr. But Fiennes revels in the part with every line, inflection and gesture finely honed, his face a riot of grimaces, curled lips and furrowed brows. He's a virtuoso at describing the exterior results of his inner turbulence but it's hard to be moved by him. That's partly due to Brand himself, a character who constantly alienates our allegiance..." The Times