The Mountaintop is an intimate, funny and revealing drama set on the last night of Martin Luther King’s life.
First produced on the London fringe before travelling to the West End, Broadway and beyond, elevating its writer, Katori Hall, to huge success as a writer for stage and screen, The Mountaintop is now coming to The Theatre Chipping Norton as an in-house production.
“It is crucial that this period of history, and its resonances to the present day, are explored and discussed in the rural theatres and market towns of our country”
Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010, it depicts Dr King, exhausted and self-doubting, returning alone to his Memphis motel room and ordering room service.
The charismatic waitress who appears with his coffee takes the evening in unexpected direction.
So why this particular play and why now? Director John Terry said: “We have assembled one of the most exciting, diverse and creative production teams in our history, and can’t wait to bring the fruits of this process to life onstage.
“The Mountaintop is intimate, human and spirited. It captures a sense of the man behind the iconic public persona”
“It is crucial that this period of history, and its strong, vital resonances to the present day, are explored and discussed in the rural theatres and market towns of our country, and not just confined to the big cities.
“Theatre’s great capacity is to take us into the most dramatic, significant moments in people’s lives (whether real or fictional), and in doing so, allowing us to learn a little more about the human condition and ourselves.
“In The Mountaintop, we are a fly on the wall of a run down motel in Memphis, on a hot night in 1968, when the world was about to change forever.
“Unlike so many other theatrical imaginings of Dr King, The Mountaintop is intimate, human and spirited. It captures the importance of the civil rights struggle that King had become the de facto figurehead for, and, more crucially, it captures a sense of the man behind the iconic public persona.
“Katori Hall’s genius is to explore the more poetic, epic importance of King to those around him, and the wider world,” he adds.
The cast features Luke Wilson as Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Boni Adeliyi as Camae. Luke recently starred as Benedick in the acclaimed new Afro-futurist production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Royal Shakespeare Company, to rave reviews. Luke will be joined by talented newcomer Boni Adeliyi, snapped straight up as she graduates from Guildhall School of Music and Drama this summer.
THE MOUNTAINTOP runs at The Theatre Chipping Norton from May 5-14. Age Recommendation: 14+. To book go to https://www.chippingnortontheatre.com/whats-on/the-mountaintop
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