Passion Play is a 1981 play by British playwright Peter Nichols dealing with adultery and betrayal, unusual in that the two leading characters are each portrayed by two actors for public speech and private thoughts.
It was originally intended to open the Royal Shakespeare Company's new Barbican Theatre but was produced by them at the London's Aldwych Theatre in 1981.[1]
It was revived at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre in 1984 before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre, at the Donmar Warehouse in 2000 before transferring to the Comedy Theatre, and at the Duke of York's Theatre in 2013.[2]
| Character | Played by (1981) | Played by (1984) | Played by (2000) | Played by (2013) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kate | Louise Jameson | Heather Wright | Nicola Walker | Annabel Scholey |
| James | Benjamin Whitrow | Leslie Phillips | James Laurenson | Owen Teale |
| Eleanor | Billie Whitelaw | Judy Parfitt | Cherie Lunghi | Zoe Wanamaker |
| Agnes | Priscilla Morgan | Patricia Heneghan | Gillian Barge | Sian Thomas |
| Jim | Anton Rodgers | Barry Foster | Martin Jarvis | Oliver Cotton |
| Nell | Eileen Atkins | Zena Walker | Cheryl Campbell | Samantha Bond |
It opened, as Passion, on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on 7 May 1983, where it closed on 8 August 1983 after 97 performances. The Broadway production was directed by Marshall W. Mason and starred Cathryn Damon as Eleanor, Frank Langella as Jim, Stephanie Gordon as Agnes, Bob Gunton as James, Roxanne Hart as Kate, and E. Katherine Kerr as Nell.