While he doesn’t have a funky bunch and he’s not the most flamboyant person in the entertainment industry, Marky Mark Rylance has been softly, but resolutely creating ripples for a good few years now and his latest venture, Nice Fish at the Harold Pinter Theatre, will see him breaking new ground. Having already taken up the challenge of the Big Friendly Giant in Disney’s live action adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The BFG and scooped an Oscar for his performance as Rudolf Abel in the Coen Brother thriller, Bridge Of Spies, he’s recently added playwright to his list of skills, with his UK debut opening in London this week.
Dates, show times and tickets
Having already impressed during its initial sold out run at St. Anne’s Warehouse in New York earlier in the year, the new comedy will be taking to the stage at the Harold Pinter Theatre on the 25th November 2016 for its full production. The theatre has been running previews of the play since the 15th November, but it will be getting up to its full head of steam for the 25th, taking ticket prices up a little. However, there will still be 100 £15 tickets for every production, which is pretty impressive in itself, but you’ll need to move fast to pick them up. In addition to the £15 tickets, prices range from £49.50 in the stalls to £90 in the dress circle.
The show only has 13 weeks at the Harold Pinter Theatre with closing night on the 11th February 2016, playing Monday to Saturday with 7:30pm performances in the evening and 2:30pm matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tickets are selling out fast, so you should get a wriggle on if you want to see the play. The run time for Nice Fish is 1 hour and 30 minutes with no interval, so you might want to call in somewhere on the way for a little tub of ice cream, or just leave a pot in the freezer for when you get home.
Story
The production is set on a frozen lake in Minnesota, USA as two friends take to the ice and setup sticks to fish for something big as the season draws to a close. With arctic weather conditions all around them, and the barren wilderness as their only eyeliner sight, they work on hauling in their catch, but it’s one that will test them more than they know as their ordinary lives crash headlong into the gaping maw of the extraordinary.
Cast
The New York cast have all transferred to the West End production of Nice Fish with Mark Rylance starring as Ron, one half of the fishing duo, and Jim Lichtscheidl as Erik, the other half of the odd couple. They’re joined by Raye Birk, Kayli Carter and Bob Davis.
Production
Rylance co-wrote the play with American prose poet, Louis Jenkins. The comedy was directed by Mark’s wife, Claire van Kampen, who’s previous work includes Twelfth Night at the Apollo Theatre, London, King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre. She also created all of the original music for the show.
Set design is by Todd Rosenthal, costume design by Ilona Somogyi, lighting by Japhy Weideman and sound by Scott W. Edwards
First impressions
We’re pretty sure that Nice Fish will be a huge comedy hit for the Harold Pinter Theatre. Mark Rylance is an exceptional actor and from what we’ve seen of the first look videos from the play’s time in New York it looks like it’s going to be very funny with elements of deadpan and subtle references to the mundane combining with slapstick and self deprecation. If the sold out run in the US is anything to go by then this should be a fast selling production.
