Three-time Olivier Award winner Alex Jennings (Netflix’s The Crown), in Chicago rehearsing for his upcoming role in the Tony Award-winning musical “The Light in the Piazza” at the Lyric Opera House Dec. 14-29, will make a special appearance at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (164 N. State St.) following the National Theatre Live screening of the engrossing new work, “Hansard,” in which he co-stars with Olivier and Tony Award-winning actress Lindsay Duncan (Private Lives), Friday evening, December 6, at 7:45 p.m. Jennings will be on hand afterwards to answer questions about his acclaimed Broadway, West End, and TV career.
“Hansard,” a witty and devastating portrait of the ruling class by Simon Woods, portrays a summer’s morning in 1988, as Tory politician Robin Hesketh (Jennings) has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with Diana (Duncan), his wife of 30 years. But all is not as blissful as it seems. Diana has a stinking hangover, a fox is destroying the garden, and secrets are being dug up all over the place. As the day draws on, what starts as a gentle ribbing and the familiar rhythms of marital scrapping quickly turns to blood sport. Directed by Simon Godwin as part of National Theatre Live, this brand new play is part of an initiative operated by the Royal Theatre in London, which broadcasts performances of their productions live via satellite to cinemas and arts venues around the world.
Tickets for “Hansard” at the Gene Siskel Film Center are on sale now and are priced at $14 (general) and $8 (members/students). “Hansard” will be screened Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:45 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m.; Jennings will appear following the Dec. 6 screening only. For more information, please visit http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/nt-live-hansard.
Tickets for the limited holiday engagement of “The Light in the Piazza” at Chicago’s Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Drive), December 14-29, 2019, start at $49 and are on sale now. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.lightinthepiazzathemusical.com.
For information about Gene Siskel Film Center, visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
