Vincent River (play)
Play written by Philip Ridley
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Vincent River is a one act stage play by Philip Ridley. It was Ridley's fourth stage play and premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London on 6 September 2000.[1] The production was the last major collaboration between Ridley and director Mathew Lloyd, who had previously directed the majority of Ridley's other theatrical works.[2][3]
Davey (male)
| Vincent River | |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Written by | Philip Ridley |
| Characters | Anita (female) Davey (male) |
| Subject | Hate crime: homophobia |
| Setting | "A run-down flat in Dagenham, East London" |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 6 September 2000 |
| Place | Hampstead Theatre, London |
Plot
The story plays out in realtime and is set in a rundown flat in Dagenham.
A woman called Anita is moving in following the death of Vincent, her son who was killed in a homophobic attack, which resulted in her discovering that he was a homosexual.
In the play, she interacts with Davey, a boy who claims to have been the first to find Vincent's corpse and who wants to know as much as he can about Vincent from Anita.
Notable stage productions
| Country | Date | Location | People | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 6 September 2000 | The Hampstead Theatre, London | Directed by Matthew Lloyd.
|
World premiere |
| Slovenia | 26 October 2007 | SKUC Theatre, Ljubljana | Directed by Alen Jelen.
|
Slovenian premiere |
| England | 30 October 2007 | Trafalgar Studios, London | Directed by Rebecca McCuheon.
|
West End premiere[4][5][6] |
| America | 10 June 2008 | 59E59 Theaters, New York | Directed by Steve Marmion.
|
American premiere
Performed as part of the Brits Off-Broadway festival.[8][9] |
| Australia | 4 January 2009 | Tamarama Rock Surfers, Bondi Beach | Directed by Jonathan Wald.
|
Australian premiere[10] |
| England | 18 May 2010 | Landor Theatre, London | Presented by Thomas Hopkins and Theatrica Ltd.
Directed by Robert McWhir.
|
"10th anniversary production" (2010 London revival)[11][12] |
| England | 2 November 2010 | Old Red Lion Theatre, London | Presented by Charmers productions.
Directed by Gary Reid.
|
2010 London revival (2nd London revival of 2010)[13][14]
|
| Israel | 7 August 2015 | Tahel Theatre |
|
Israeli premiere[16] |
| England | 27 February 2018 | The Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. | Directed by John Young.
|
England "regional premiere" (Manchester 2018) |
| England | 20 March 2018 | The Park Theatre, London. | Directed by Robert Chevara.
|
2018 London revival[17] |
| Wales | 19 September 2018 | A site-specific production at Jacob's Market, Cardiff | Produced by No Boundaries Theatre.
Directed by Luke Hereford.
|
2018 Cardiff production |
| America | 28 November 2018 | The Crane Theater Studio, Minneapolis, MN | Produced by Arrow Theater.
Directed by Grant Sorenson
|
First US non-festival production. |
| Australia | 13 October 2020 | Christ Church, Milton, Brisbane | Produced by The Curators' Theatre
Directed by Michael Beh
|
Queensland premiere
|
| America | 22 September 2021 | Richard Triangle Players, Virginia. | Produced by Richmond Triangle Players
Directed by Vinnie Gozalez
|
Virginia, USA premiere |
| Belgium | 20 October 2021 | The Bridge Theatre, Burssels | Produced by the Bridge Theatre, Brussels.
Directed by Robert Chevara
|
2021 Belgium premiere[20] |
| England | 14 October 2022 | Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester | Produced by Green Carnation
Directed by Dan Ellis and Dan Jarvis
|
Manchester revival 2022[21] |
| England | 23 June 2023 | Greenwich Theatre, London | Produced by the Greenwich Theatre
Directed by James Haddrell
|
2023 London Revival[22] |
On film
In 2005 Marianne Epin and Cyrille Thouvenin starred in the play at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris, which was also filmed and released as a television movie. It is available on region 2 DVD.
The play has been compared to the 2014 film Lilting, starring Ben Whishaw, Cheng Pei Pei and Andrew Leung and written and directed by Hong Khaou. The story, similar to the play, is about a man who approaches the mother of his deceased gay lover to try and connect and understand their loss.