“an inspirational triumph”
On Golden Pond
played at the Queen’s Hall from
Wed 26th to Sat 29th Oct 2016
This award winning play by Ernest Thompson was widely felt to be CDS’s best ever production with performances described as “West End quality” and “one of the finest theatrical occasions I have seen”.
- You can read those and other other stunning comments here – if you saw this or any other show it then why not tell us your opinion?
This warm and funny story of ageing and relationships, won prizes on Broadway, before becoming a hit film in 1981.
A modern classic of American theatre it is brilliantly witty and humorous while an undercurrent of heartbreak and suppressed emotion lies beneath.
When life is at its finest…when love is at its fullest…
Each summer the ageing retired professor Norman Thayer and his wife Ethel return to their house on a lake called Golden Pond in Maine. People and generations come and go – like the loons and their offspring living on the lake – but lakeside life continues as it always has.
“You really are the sweetest man in the world,
but I’m the only one who knows it.”
As the increasingly curmudgeonly Norman’s 80th birthday looms their estranged daughter Chelsea arrives with her new partner Bill and his son Billy. Still bitter about an unhappy childhood relationship with her father she has both relationship and self-image issues which she blames on him.
Bill & Chelsea are heading for Europe to marry and leave behind Billy with the old timers. A charming friendship builds between the sharp-witted Norman and the street-smart boy as they learn from each other. When the time comes for Billy to leave Golden Pond some old issues are still to be resolved…
The simplicity of life on Golden Pond provides a backdrop where second childhoods and second chances are possible.
Cast
- Rick Farmer as Norman
- Chrys Tarr as his wife Ethel
- Sophie Bradshaw as their daughter Chelsea
- Paul Ruse as Chelsea’s old schoolfriend
- Peter Bowman as Chelsea’s fiance Bill
- Anton Smith as Billy, Bill’s son.
Director Harriët Sheldon
Assistant Director Philip Robinson
Poster & Flyer
As well as winning several Tony awards on Broadway in 1979 & 2005 the original stage production won multiple Drama Desk awards
But you may remember the hit Film of the play released in 1981 (beaten at the box office only by Rocky III and E.T. !) which earned both Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn Oscars for their performances. It is the only film (to date) where a film’s the lead actors playing a married couple each won the Best Actor and Actress Academy Award.
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