Mrs. Klein

By: 
NIcholas Wright
Directed By: 
Ryan H. Case
October 21, 2012 - October 26, 2012
October 29, 2012 - October 30, 2012
Cast: 
Natasha Williams - Mrs.Klein
Stephanie Pistello - Melitta
Lisa Mendez - Paula

Witty, taut and rich in psychological insights, Mrs. Klein tells of a brilliant and unorthodox woman whose single mindedness threatened to destroy those closest to her. Melanie Klein 1882 1960 came to Britain from Berlin to extend psychoanalysis to young children. The action is set in 1934 when, at the peak of her career, Mrs. Klein is shattered by the news that her son has died in a climbing accident. Her daughter, also a psychoanalyst who publically challenges her mother's theories, thinks he committed suicide to defy their overbearing mother. The battle between these two women spills over into their professional lives, and the childhood events which lie at the heart of the conflict are exposed while a third remarkable woman, a young psychoanalyst on the run from Hitler, enters as a detached observer. Mrs. Klein transferred to the West End after its sell out run at London's Royal National Theatre and has since been internationally acclaimed.

"How rare and refreshing it is to encounter a new play which is so literate, intelligent, amusing and, finally, so moving." - Daily Telegraph
Ticket Price: 
$18 (Students: $12)
SHOWTIME: 8pm each performance
About The Playwright: 

Nicholas Wright (1940, Cape Town, South Africa) is a British dramatist. He opened and ran the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and is a former literary manager and associate director of the Royal National Theatre. Wright began acting as a child, and trained at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). His publications include 99 Plays, a survey of drama from Aeschylus to the present day, and Changing Stages, co-written with Richard Eyre.

The Balagula Theatre continues its 2012-2013 Season with the production of “Mrs. Klein” by Nicolas Wright directed by Ryan Case and starring Natasha Williams as Melanie Klein, Stephanie Pistello as her daughter Dr. Melitta Schmideberg and Lisa Mendez as Paula Heimann . “Mrs. Klein” continues Balagula’s exploration of theatric portrayal of historic figures --- perhaps the most challenging task for actors and directors who take an organic rather than presentational approach.  Case, who starred as Van Gogh in another one of Nicholas Wright’s historic plays “Vincent in Brixton” (AGL production of 2005), finds Wright’s work not only compelling and dynamic thematically, but dramatically potent, offering rich opportunities for nuanced acting and wide range of expression. Melanie Klein (1882-1960), a child psychoanalyst whose views remain controversial even today, is a fascinating figure to explore. She defied every convention of her era:  from her petit bourgeois background of a Jewish woman from a provincial Central European town to her open conflict with Anna Freud at the British Psychoanalytical Society. Her personal life with its unhappy childhood, divorce, numerous affairs, emigration and professional standoff with her daughter Melitta creates a powerful background to her unorthodox approach to interpreting human psyche as dynamic and never settled rivalry of internal forces that we carry on from the cradle. The play focuses on an evening in 1934 when Mrs. Klein, her daughter and her new assistant explore the circumstance of her son Hanz’s tragic death. The extremely emotional event brings to the surface  numerous aspects of this unusual mother-daughter tandem. Can three professional psychoanalysts figure it out, resolve their conflicts and find the ways to recover and heal their deep seated wounds? “Mrs. Klein” is a powerful and emotionally textured play full of complexity and depth of self exploration that the best British theatre is well known for. “When played well, it is as engaging and easy to follow as the best action drama,” says Natasha Williams, who appears in the title role, “It is an action drama, only the action is the one deep within”.

SHOW SPONSORS

Production of “Mrs.Klein” is sponsored by One Horizon.

Directing is sponsored by Dupree Financial Group

PohlRosaPohl and DTK are “Deliver the Arts Sponsors”

LexArts has provided funding support for Balagula Theatre’s 2012-2013 Season through its Funds for the Arts.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency provides operating support to The Balagula Theatre Company with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

WUKY is Season 2012-2013 Media Sponsor.

 

Community Partners


The OISI (pronounced !Hoy Sí! which means in Spanish Today Yes!) is a place of solidarity in the immigrant community of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Here we build a community that takes care of its own problems and seeks solutions that allow us to grow together

We just opened our Office of the Immigrant – Solidarity and Information nearby Versailles Rd.  in Lexington, at 1400 Alexandria Drive. This office will be a place of solidarity where we will be working in building community by promoting solidarity, sharing information needed by the community about immigration related-issues such as detentions, deportations, and the very fresh Deferred Action program for youth DREAMers. The OISI will be a place available to any organization or individual who works for immigrant rights.
 

Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Inc. (KRM) http://www.kyrm.org/ , a non-profit organization, is dedicated to providing resettlement services to refugees through faith- and agency-based co-sponsorship in order to promote self-sufficiency and successful integration into our community.  KRM is committed to offering access to community resources and opportunities and to promoting awareness of diversity for the benefit of the whole community.