In Bed With Schoenberg

Armstrong Creative presents

In Bed with Schoenberg by Dave Armstrong

at Circa Theatre

Eccentric Austrian composer meets live string quartet

With music by Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Mahler, Lehar, Schoenberg and more.

Playwright Dave Armstrong, Director Conrad Newport and Producer Caroline Armstrong, the team that brought you Rita and Douglas, Central and The Surprise Party, are delighted to present the world premiere of In Bed with Schoenberg. This fabulous combination of theatre and live classical music opens at Circa One on Saturday 25 February.

Los Angeles, 13 July 1951: Austrian exile, composer, numerologist and self-confessed genius, Arnold Schoenberg has taken to his bed, believing that this will be the last day of his life. The clock is ticking toward midnight. Schoenberg is convinced his numerology is never wrong.

Struggling in an unappreciative Hollywood, Schoenberg, with the help of a live string quartet, reflects on his earlier life in Vienna. This is a life of fame and notoriety, filled with glorious Viennese music, where his modern compositions cause riots, where his devoted students excel, where friends and lovers betray him, and a ‘shy country boy’ becomes Fuhrer and forces Schoenberg’s unwanted exile.

With musical direction from Donald Armstrong (Associate concertmaster NZSO) and a stellar performance from Andrew Laing (Wonderful, Gifted) as Schoenberg, In Bed with Schoenberg is a delicious Viennese pastry filled with comedy, drama and exquisite live classical music.

‘We are delighted to be bringing this amazing story to Circa,’ says playwright Dave Armstrong. ‘Schoenberg was one of the twentieth century’s most influential composers yet struggled for both critical acceptance and popular success. My brother Donald, musical director of this play, told me years ago that Schoenberg would make a great character for a play, and he was right. Schoenberg can be outrageously egotistical one moment and warm and tender the next. And he is very funny. This play tells a universal story of love, rejection, exile and the tension between popularity and artistic integrity that every artist still faces today.’

In Bed with Schoenberg opens at Circa Theatre on Saturday 25 February for a strictly limited 3-week season.

Preview – Friday 24 February at 8.00pm

Sunday Special – Sunday 26 February at 4.00pm

Season Saturday 25 February to Saturday 18 March

Tuesday – Thursday at 6.30pm Friday and Saturday at 8.00pm Sundays at 4.00pm

Book at circa.co.nz or phone 04 801 7992

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