''An Evening with Lucian Freud'' is a 2015 play written by

Laura-Jane Foley Laura-Jane Foley is a British playwright and art historian. Her play '' An Evening with Lucian Freud'' played at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2015. She is a former lecturer at the University of Cambridge in History of Art and Creative Writin ...

. It is a one-woman show with video cameos based on a real life encounter the playwright had with the artist

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

. The play made its world premiere on 19 May 2015 at the West End's

Leicester Square Theatre The Leicester Square Theatre is a 400-seat theatre in Leicester Place, immediately north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It was previously known as Notre Dame Hall, Cavern in the Town and The Venue. The theatre hosts st ...

where it ran until 6 June 2015.

Synopsis

The play is based on a real life encounter the playwright

had with the artist

. In the 65-minute one-act play with video cameos, the character Laura recounts the evening she spent with the 82-year-old artist. The narrative is broken up with five video cameos from characters including

Dora Maar Henriette Theodora Markovitch (22 November 1907 – 16 July 1997), known as Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, and poet. A romantic partner of Pablo Picasso, Maar was depicted in a number of Picasso's paintings, including his '' Por ...

and

Leigh Bowery Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, and fashion designer. Bowery was known for his flamboyant and outlandish costumes and makeup as well as his (sometimes controversial) perfor ...

Original West End Production

Casting for the play took place in April 2015, and was formally announced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

on 22 April.

Cressida Bonas Cressida Curzon Bonas (born 18 February 1989) is an English actress and model, known also for her relationship with Prince Harry between 2012 and 2014. Early life and education Bonas was born in Winchester, Hampshire, the only child of 1960s ...

was cast as Laura. The play also featured video cameo appearances from

Maureen Lipman Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakesp ...

Alastair Stewart Alastair James Stewart OBE (born 22 June 1952) is an English former journalist and newscaster. Formerly presenting for ITV News, he joined GB News as a presenter in 2021. He has won the Royal Television Society's News Presenter of the Year awa ...

Russell Grant Russell John Dammerall Grant (born 5 February 1951) is a British astrologer and media personality. He has written several books on astrology, provides syndicated newspaper horoscopes and operates premium rate astrology phone lines. In March 20 ...

Shana Swash Shana Frances Swash (born 28 July 1990) is an English actress, and the sister of actor and television presenter Joe Swash. She is best known for playing Demi Miller in the long-running BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders'' from 2004 to 2006. Acti ...

and

Benjamin Ramm Benjamin Ramm FRSA (born 12 June 1982) is a writer and journalist for the BBC and openDemocracy. He is former editor of '' The Liberal'' magazine. In December 2005, as editor of '' The Liberal,'' Ramm organised a "Kennedy Must Go" campaign to uns ...

. The play was produced by Wonderful Artful Theatre and was directed by

Ella Marchment Ella Marchment (born 30 May 1992) is a British opera director, artistic director, and an associate professor. She is a co-founder of the campaign charity SWAP'ra, Supporting Women and Parents in Opera, and the artistic director of Opera Festival ...

and designed by Lily German. The

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

announced that filming for the video cameos took place on 11 May. The play ran at the

. The opening night was 19 May and the play ended on 6 June.

Press Attention

Prior to Press Night there had been a lot of press interest due to the casting of

in her first major theatrical role. Details of the play were not released prior to the opening and due to the libidinous reputation of the eponymous

, there was much speculation in the press about the nature of the production. The

wrongly stated that the play "features explicit sex scenes". The play and Bonas's portrayal of the playwright were widely termed 'fascinating' and 'charming'. Jane Shilling in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

praised the "charm and energy of Bonas’s performance'.

Principal roles and original cast

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evening with Lucian Freud Plays based on real people 2015 plays British plays Autobiographical plays Plays for one performer Plays based on actual events West End plays