Ronald Harwood’s Internationally Acclaimed

 The Dresser

 Opens December 20 at

Palm Beach Dramaworks

West Palm Beach, Fla. (Tuesday, December 3, 2024) In 2010, Ronald Harwood spoke at a lecture series hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – better known as BAFTA – and talked about running into John Gielgud when he was on his way to deliver the script of The Dresser to his agent. Gielgud asked him what he’d been up to. “I said, ‘Well, John, I’ve just written a new play about an English actor-manager and his dresser.’ And Gielgud said, ‘Aah, backstage plays never do well.’”

That remark, naturally, rattled Harwood, but the great actor couldn’t have been more wrong. The Dresser opened in Manchester in 1980, transferred to the West End, and went on to Broadway the following year. It has since been performed all over the world, and has been translated into some 40 languages.

The Dresser rings out the old year and rings in the new year at Palm Beach Dramaworks, opening on Friday, December 20 (7:30pm) and continuing through January 5, with specially priced previews on December 18 and 19 (7:30pm). J. Barry Lewis directs.    

Diane and Mark Perlberg are the sponsors of PBD’s 25^th Anniversary Season.

From 1953-1958, Harwood was a member of Donald Wolfit’s Shakespeare Company where, in addition to acting, he served as Wolfit’s personal dresser. He once said in an interview that he “loved being a dresser”; that experience was the inspiration for the play. Set in 1942, when bombs are dropping over England, a renowned but fading actor is bringing Shakespeare to the provinces with a ragtag troupe. Sir, scheduled to give his 227^th performance of King Lear, is in no condition to go on, but his devoted, self-sacrificing dresser, Norman, is determined to get him onstage. Sir and Norman’s co-dependent – if unequal – relationship is the heartbeat of this warts-and-all, tragicomic valentine to the transcendent magic of theatre. 

This is the second time the play is being produced by PBD, which first mounted the show in 2003. It drew a larger audience than any previous production, and over the years there have been many requests for the company to stage it again. Producing Artistic Director William Hayes returns to the role of Norman, with Colin McPhillamy as Sir. Rounding out the cast are PBD veterans Denise Cormier (Her Ladyship), Elizabeth Dimon (who repeats the role of Madge), Kelly Gibson (Irene), Dennis Creaghan (Geoffrey Thornton), Gary Cadwallader (Mr. Oxenby), David A. Hyland (Kent), Cliff Goulet (Gloucester), and John Campagnuolo (Knight). Scenic design is by Anne Mundell, costume design is by Brian O’Keefe, lighting design is by Kirk Bookman, and sound design is by Roger Arnold. Ben Furey is the dialect coach.

The original West End production of The Dresser starred Tom Courtenay as Norman and Freddie Jones as Sir. Courtenay again played Norman on Broadway, this time opposite Paul Rogers. Harwood successfully adapted the piece for film (1983), with Courtenay appearing opposite Albert Finney. In 2015, with Harwood’s approval, Richard Eyre directed and adapted the play for television, with Ian McKellan as Norman and Anthony Hopkins as Sir. It was broadcast in the US the following year.

Ronald Harwood was born Ronald Horwitz in Capetown in 1934. He left South Africa for London when he was 17 hoping for a career in theatre as an actor. He arrived in England with a new name, after a teacher told him his surname was too foreign and too Jewish. Beginning in 1953, he spent five years as a member of Donald Wolfit’s Shakespeare Company where, in addition to acting, he served as Wolfit’s personal dresser. That experience was the inspiration for The Dresser (1980), his best-known and most widely produced play. Harwood had realized early on that he was not a particularly good actor, and began writing in 1960. He would go on to write 21 plays, 10 books, and more than 15 screenplays, most of them adaptations. Plays include A Family, Collaboration, The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest, After the Lions, Another Time, Quartet, Taking Sides, and An English Tragedy. Films: The Browning Version, Cry, the Beloved Country, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Dresser, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (Academy Award for best adapted screenplay), Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and Quartet (an adaptation of his own play), and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Books include Home, a novel; All the World’s a Stage, a history of theatre; and a biography of Wolfit. Harwood was knighted by Queen Elizebeth in 2010. He died in 2020. 

The West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority and West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment District are additional sponsors of PBD’s 25^th Anniversary Season. 

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a professional, nonprofit theatre company founded in 2000 and located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach. Each season, the award-winning company produces five shows and offers a wide variety of programs for students at the theatre and in schools. Committed to fostering the future of theatre, PBD has become a hub for playwrights in Florida and around the country to nurture their work through the Perlberg Festival of New Plays. PBD is a member of Theatre Communications Group, Florida Professional Theatres Association, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, and NNPN. In 2024, PBD was honored as Non-Profit of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches. 



Due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, the performance schedule for The Dresser is somewhat different than usual. During the second and third weeks of the run, Monday matinee and evening performances replace Wednesday matinee and evening performances. All matinees begin at 2pm, all evening performances at 7:30pm. Post-performance discussions follow Thursday matinees. Please go to palmbeachdramaworks.org for more details.

Tickets for all performances are $92, except for opening night of each production ($107) and previews ($72). Student tickets are available for $15 with a valid K-12 or university/college ID, and anyone under 40 pays $40 (no additional fees) with a photo ID. Tickets for educators and active military are half price with proper ID (other restrictions apply). Group rates and subscription packages for four or five plays are also available. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, in person or by phone (561.514.4042 ext 2), and online 24 hours a day at palmbeachdramaworks.org. 

The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street. For ticket information contact the box office at (561) 514-4042, or visit palmbeachdramaworks.org.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Jennifer Sardone-Shiner

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(561) 891-7278

jshiner@palmbeachdramaworks.org 

www.palmbeachdramaworks.org