Generously laced with humour, sexual tension and a famous, very unusual nude scene, Lambert House Enterprises presents Keith Bunin’s tantalising hit play, The Credeaux Canvas at El Rocco Café and Theatre, Kings Cross from Thursday 23 July 2020.
Winston, a young painter, shares an East Village apartment with Jamie – the son of a prominent art dealer. With the death of Jamie’s father, who has disinherited him, sets him spinning into the depths of despair. It seems that neither Winston nor Jamie’s girlfriend, Amelia, can do anything to help him.
But then Jamie has a brilliant idea. On his way home from the reading of the will Jamie ran into Tess, one of his father’s richest, most important collectors. Jamie lied to Tess, telling her that his father left him one in a series of the rarest of all of Credeaux’s canvases and that she must buy it.
Convinced that they will all three be set, Jamie talks Winston (who is studying Credeaux) into inventing this painting with Amelia as the model. The relationships between the three begin to shift as their needs and desires become more evident. Once the painting is completed, and Tess enters their lives, everything comes out in the open, and no one escapes unscathed – the damage, tragically done.
The Credeaux Canvas was first produced off-Broadway in 2001 and given its first non-American premiere in Sydney under Lambert’s company banner at the Stables Theatre in February 2002. There was subsequently a revival of the play at the Seymour Centre ‘Reginald’ in early 2015.
This new production brings a totally new approach with the play placed within a small café-like setting. As the audience head downstairs into the historic El Rocco room they will be entering the world of ‘Winston’ with his art decorating the walls. Directed by Les Solomon, with Isaac Broadbent assisting, The Credeaux Canvas features Samson Alston, Jasper Bruce, Rachel Marley, Tom Kelly and Beth Daly as Tess.
The production, believed to be the first post-lockdown play to open, will be presented with strict COVID health directives in place. Each performance will be limited, initially at least, to 24 people – all socially distanced and placed at the back of the room – a considerable distance from the actors.
Producer / Director Les Solomon says – that as restrictions change and ease – it’s ‘a moveable feast’ and more adjustments will be made as the season progresses. “I’m confident this brilliant cast of actors will deliver a highly intimate, bold and totally absorbing version of this great play,” he says. “There are great moments of both irony and tragedy that have kept audiences around the world enthralled for nearly twenty years.”
Keith Bunin is an American playwright and screenwriter. His plays include 10 Million Miles (Linda Gross Theatre); Sam Hendrix at the Bon Soir (City Theatre Hamburg Studio); The Unbuilt City (Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater); and The Credeaux Canvas, The World Over, and The Busy World is Hushed (Playwrights Horizons).
He wrote the screenplay for the film Horns, based on the novel by Joe Hill and starring Daniel Radcliffe, and co-wrote the screenplay for the film Which Brings Me to You with Richard Brown. Bunin also wrote an episode for season 2 of the HBO series In Treatment.
“One of the finest contemporary dramas to come out of the US. . . The brushstrokes are deft and expressive, and its aspiring characters are keenly-observed. The economy of the language is worth savouring.” – The New York Times
The Credeaux Canvas
El Rocco Café and Theatre, 154 Brougham Street, Kings Cross
Season: 23 July – 23 August 2020
Information and Bookings: www.trybooking.com
Image: Samson Alston and Rachel Marley to star in The Credeaux Canvas – courtesy of Lambert House Enterprises