Joan Plowright and Oliver Ford Davies star in Absolutely! (perhaps)
This dreamlike and hilarious play will leave you wondering whether to trust your own eyes. There are enigmatic newcomers in town: the dark, intense, ‘Ponza’, his shy, rather eccentric mother-in-law ‘Signora Frola’; and his reclusive young wife. No one understands their bizarre living arrangements. Everyone has a different theory as to the truth - and no one will countenance any other explanation. No one, that is, except for the wry and elegant ‘Laudisi’. He mischievously offers to establish the truth - and takes delight in his neighbours' growing frustration as they watch: "fantasy and reality dancing together, rather gracefully in fact - and suddenly you can't tell the difference between them".
The show reunites the incredibly successful partnership of Franco Zeffirelli and Joan Plowright. They have worked together in both film and theatre, including the seminal production of Saturday, Sunday, Monday which co-starred Laurence Olivier and Filumena Arturano , for which Plowright won the Society of West End Theatre Best Actress Award, both at the National Theatre. Amongst their films are Jane Eyre and Tea with Mussolini, which also starred Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Cher.
Franco Zeffirelli is one of the best-known directors in the world, whose work has encompassed film, theatre and opera. In cinema his name is linked with such international successes as The Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet with Mel Gibson and Glenn Close. His British theatre work includes Romeo and Juliet which launched the career of the young Judi Dench and Much Ado About Nothing with Maggie Smith and Albert Finney. Zeffirelli’s opera productions in the major theatres of the world are countless. His most memorable productions include Aida and La Boheme at La Scala in Milan, Tosca, Turandot and La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Carmen at the Arena di Verona.