David Mamet's New Adaptation of Classic Play The Voysey Inheritance
Theatre 40 at The Reuben Cordova Theatre (241 Moreno Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210)
- Full Price:
- $23.00 - $25.00
- Our Price:
- $11.50 - $12.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for The Voysey Inheritance have expired.
The last date listed for The Voysey Inheritance was Saturday July 18, 2009 / 8:00pm.
Currently at Theatre 40 at The Reuben Cordova Theatre:
Dreams of the Washer King: Memories, Mysteries in Small Town
- Full Price:
- $23.00 - $25.00
- Our Price:
- $11.50 - $12.50
Christopher Wall's Dreams of the Washer King makes its West Coast premiere at Theatre 40 at The Reuben Cordova Theatre. In this small-town drama, 15-year-old sci-fi fan Ryan spends his time creeping around with his tape recorder, searching for "spectral signs" of his deceased dad. When a mysterious stranger and his teenage daughter move in near Ryan and his bank teller mom, dreams become unveiled, memory is explored, and mysteries begin to unravel. Andre Barron directs. Learn More
Goldstar Member Tips
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Goldstar Member on Other
Theatre is in the north-east corner of the parking structure, not in the main buildings.
Goldstar Member Reviews
Victor B.
This is a play written 100 years ago and adapted by David Mamet. It is as relevant today as it was when it was first produced. Staging, costuming and acting were all first rate. This was definitely a very entertaining two hours.Written on Jun 25 2009
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Bobby baby, Bobby boobie
This is one of the very best of David Mamet's plays I've seen (and I've seen many of them). It's absolutely amazing he updated this 100 year old play 4-5 years ago and it is as current today (regarding the Madoff affair and others) as when it was originally written, but updated to keep the play moving and engaging from start to finish. The acting and direction are superb as is the set. The venue itself is a charming and intimate theater which includes free parking just steps away from the theater entrance.Written on Jul 06 2009
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Chase M
The acting was first rate! I believed every word they said and they truly transported me to their time and place. I highly recommend this play. The set and wardrobe was stunning.Written on Jul 19 2009
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Annonymous
Shady practices in financial firms? Quelle suprise! 100 years old and still timely, except perhaps for the ethical qualms of young Edward Voysey and the notion of making reparations, and doing so equitably. The sets and costumes are first-rate; the acting and accents uneven. A tad long and wordy as you might expect from Mamet., though he did cut it down from the original.Written on Jul 16 2009
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More Information About The Voysey Inheritance
Description
Theatre 40 will open its 2009-2010 Season with the Los Angeles Premiere of David Mamet's streamlined adaptation of Harley Granville-Barker's 100-year-old play The Voysey Inheritance. This is a dark play that denounces the greed that it feels is bred into us all. It is a portrait of a family in crisis. The Voyseys have been systematically defrauding the clients of the family financial firm for two generations but as proud members of the British upper classes, they are not about to let the discovery of their ruthless business practices and possible ruin of innocent clients disturb their extravagant lives. The Voysey Inheritance opens at Theatre 40's newly refurbished Reuben Cordova theatre on the Beverly Hills High School Campus.
Old Voysey is on top of the world, reigning with Victorian splendor over his large and spoiled family, but the son he has chosen to take over the family investment firm is in a state of panic. There is nothing of value left on deposit, just a set of cooked books representing years of possible fraud, a closed-circuit Ponzi scheme that will crash bringing ruin to clients ranging from the wealthy to widows and orphans.
"Coolly explaining to his perturbed son the practice of borrowing from one client's account to pay dividends due to another, Voysey père sighs 'Oh, why is it so hard for a man to see clearly beyond the letter of the law!' As any number of recent scandals in the business world remind us, the freedom given to businessmen with good connections and respectable facades to pursue their ruthless ends undisturbed by moral qualms, to say nothing of legal consequences, is a story that remains as fresh as tomorrow's stock options."
Harley Granville-Barker is one of the most unfamiliar British playwrights of the early 20th century. His reputation as a contemporary playwright of the period has been overshadowed by the fame of George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and J.M. Barrie. Granville-Barker has recently come to the forefront through productions in London, Baltimore and New York with revised scripts to suit modern tastes. The Voysey Inheritance was first presented in London in 1905, but the play about greed is as relevant today as it was in Edwardian times.
David Mamet is widely known and respected for his work not only as a Director but also as a Playwright and an Author. His works are known for their clever terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity. He received Tony Award nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize) and Speed-the-Plow. Other plays include Oleanna, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Duck Variations, American Buffalo, The Woods and Edmond. As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict and Wag the Dog. In addition to his Pulitzer, Mamet's awards include: the Joseph Jefferson Award, Obie Award, NY Drama Critics Award, Outer Circle Award, Society of the West End Theatre Award, Dramatists Guild Hall-Warriner Award, American Academy Award and Tony Award.
Veteran Actor and Director Bruce Gray has been chosen to helm Theatre 40's production of The Voysey Inheritance. Gray most recently directed the critically-acclaimed American Premiere of Halo at Theatre 40. Prior to that, he helmed Dangerous Corner and The Little Foxes, a production called "fabulous" by one critic and one which garnered several "Critic's Choices" as a result. Previously he had helmed Somerset Maugham's classic The Constant Wife and two thoroughly modern comedies Chekhov in Yalta (Critic's Choice) and Veronica's Position. Following a five-year hiatus (whence he played a series lead in Lifetime's Traders. Gemini Award), he was invited back to Theatre 40 to direct Plastic for the One Act Festival. He has directed a play each year for the Company, from Neil Simon's moving Chapter Two to Seymour In The Very Heart Of Winter (Critic's Choice). His 9th directorial assignment for Theatre 40 was a revival of Joe Orton's comic masterpiece What The Butler Saw. His earlier productions of Orton's Loot and Enertaining Mr. Sloane received multiple Drama-logue awards, and were nominated for Robbie and LA Weekly awards. The LA Times called his 1982 staging of Blithe Spirit for Theatre 40 'the year's most beautiful production.' Gray has directed at virtually every major Waiver Theatre in town, from his controversial production of My Life In Art at the Tiffany to the AIDS play "seven sundays" (Drama-logue) at Theatre 40 (later transferring to the Odyssey). His 1993 production of the Holocaust play Shayna Maidel was hailed by critics as "wondrous. It doesn't get better than this."
About the Ticket Supplier: Theatre 40
Theatre Forty, Beverly Hills' only resident professional acting company, has provided the community with quality theatre productions since 1964. In 1966, they produced Los Angeles' first Shakespeare in the park, and 1974 saw them move into their current home at Beverly Hills High School. They've won more than a hundred awards from local critics' organizations and publications.