Peter Gill Returns To Cardiff To Direct Chekov's A Provincial Life

Peter Gill, returns to his native city with a portrait of provincial life in 1890s Russia. Based on Chekhov's short story, A Provincial Life follows one young man's struggle to exchange his privileged position for the life of a worker. 

This lavish production will bring a Welsh flavour to Chekhov’s Russia, and will be designed by award-winning production designer Alison Chitty, a long-term collaborator with Mike Leigh and Peter Hall. A Provincial Life will be one of the first productions staged at the newly rebuilt Sherman Cymru building in Cardiff.

The cast of professionals will include Kezia Burrows, Alex Clatworthy, Richard Corgan, Helen Griffin, Lee Haven-Jones, Mike Hayward, Mark Lewis, Sara Lloyd-Gregory, John-Paul Macleod, Liam Mansfield, Clive Merrison, Kenneth Price, Nicholas Shaw, William Thomas and Menna Trussler.

Alongside these will be an ensemble of 12 semi-professional performers from Cardiff, gathered as part of National Theatre Wales’ TEAM programme, with help from Sherman Cymru and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Director Peter Gill was born in 1939 in Cardiff and started his professional career as an actor. A director as awell as a writer, he has directed over 100 productions in the UK, Europe and North America in both the modern and classical repertoires, including plays by Chekhov, Congreve, Otway, Shakespeare, as well as Hampton, Orton, Osbourne, Pinter and Wright. At The Royal Court Theatre in the 1960s, he was responsible for introducing D.H.Lawrence’s plays to the theatre and was the founding director of Riverside Studios and the Royal National Theatre Studio. Classical plays directed include: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Theatre Royal Bath, Tour & Vaudeville Theatre, 2008); Gaslight (Old Vic, 2007), Look Back in Anger (Theatre Royal Bath, 2006), The Voysey Inheritance (NT, 2006), and Romeo and Juliet (RSC, 2004-05). Other directed work includes: The Breath of Life by David Hare (Sheffield Theatres, 2011); The Aliens by Annie Baker (Bush Theatre, 2010); Hens by Aila Bano (Sky Arts Live - Riverside Studios, 2010); Semper Dowland and The Corridor by renowned composer Harrison (Aldeburgh Festival / Southbank Centre, 2009); Epitaph For George Dillon by John Osborne and Anthony Creighton (ATG, 2005); Days of Wine and Roses by J P Miller, in a new version by Owen McCafferty (Donmar Warehouse, 2005), Scenes from the Big Picture by Owen McCafferty (NT, 2003); and Speed the Plough by David Mamet (ATG, 2000).

Peter’s plays include: Another Door Closed (Theatre Royal Bath, 2009); Small Change (Donmar Warehouse, 2008); The York Realist (English Touring Theatre at the Royal Court, 2002); Original Sin (Crucible Sheffield, 2002); The Look Across the Eyes and Lovely Evening (BBC Radio 4, 2001); Certain Young Men (Almeida, 1999); Friendly Fire (NT, 1998/99); Cardiff East (NT, 1995); Mean Tears (NT, 1987); In the Blue (NT, 1985); Small Change (NT, 1983); Kick for Touch (NT, 1983); The Sleepers Den (Royal Court, 1969) and Over Gardens Out (Royal Court, 1969).