MARILYN Monroe’s life will go from page to stage as it heads to the Whitty Theatre next week.
Dyad Productions is presenting The Unremarkable Death of Marilyn Monroe at the Wokingham venue, on Luckley Road, on Tuesday, October 19.
And it’ll be on at The Haymarket in Basingstoke on Saturday, November 6.
Written and directed by Elton Townend-Jones, who has taken the play to Edinburgh Festival, St James Theatre and Greenwich Theatre, said there’s a lot to enjoy in this story.
Elton first became interested in the Hollywood icon where he was a schoolboy.
“I saw Some Like It Hot and read an article about Marilyn in a Sunday supplement that had been left in the art room for use in making collages and ,” he said.
“From there, I read a few books and found myself identifying with the frailties of this fascinating and admittedly beguiling figure.”
The story explores what’s underneath all the glitz and glamour and how the real person seems to have been lost in all of that.
Elton added that it’s a play about love and how we express that emotion.
“It’s not just a focus on the female experience of life, but it’s about our private troubles, how we treat and are treated by others, kindness and how we don’t do enough of that, how we grow, how we endure our pains and celebrate our pleasures,” he said.
He said Marilyn’s just an ordinary person living in extraordinary circumstances.
“It’s not her death that we should focus on – her life, her vivacity, her vulnerable but brilliant open-heartedness is bigger than that,” he said.
And he added how he wrote himself into the play.
He explained: “As Marilyn is burdened by the pain of her childhood, so am I; and this has resonated into our adult lives.”
The performances starts at 6.30pm.
Tickets cost £14 for adults and £10 for ages 13 to 17.
For more details, or to book, or log on to: dyadproductions.com
