Our Town, Almeida Theatre

Bursting with charming characters from the omniscient figure of the Stage Manager to gentle and high-spirited Emily Webb, Our Town is no epic but rather a celebration of small-town American life and the everyday triumphs and tragedies of ordinary people. 
A three-act play, set in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, Our Town introduces its various inhabitants directly to the audience, inviting them into the cosy stage world. We meet Emily and George, first as children, then as adults falling in love. And we come to know the hopes and dreams of both their families. But Grover’s Corners is not a utopia; it is just like any other town where neighbours die and people struggle to find meaning in the mundane. As Emily says “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it every, every minute?''
The History...
It took two years for Thornton Wilder to write Our Town before it opened in New York in 1938, with Wilder starring in it himself. A film adaptation was made in 1940 and since then it has soared in popularity. A Fiftieth Anniversary revival of the play on Broadway garnered several awards. Now the revival comes to to the intimate space of the Almeida, 76 years since the show's first staging. 
Award-winning director David Cromer’s reimagining of the play, which ran on Broadway in 2009, was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a “re-creative landmark, at once arrestingly original and essentially faithful in its approach to the author's well-loved text.” He transposes his characters to the modern-day — or rather, to a non-specific time period, letting the characters and story live for the moment onstage, unconstrained by mannerism or style. 
The Production...
Cromer has announced that he will be repeating his exciting move of both directing and starring as the Stage Manager; something of which the playwright would doubtless approve. He'll be joined on stage by a large cast of experienced stage and screen actors. Award-winning designer Stephen Dobay will once again take aesthetic control, so we can expect the same beautiful stripped-back set and close proximity to the audience, with cast members moving in between the aisles and bringing the town to the audience.