''Ben Hur Live'' is a 2009 stage adaptation of

Lew Wallace Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Walla ...

's 1880 novel '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ''. Produced by Franz Abraham with music and narration by

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with the Polic ...

, it premièred on 17 September 2009 at the

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena, London * O2 Arena, Prague *The 3Arena, Dublin, formerly known as The O2 *The Uber Arena, Berlin, formerly known as O2 World *The Barclays Arena Barclays Arena (originally known as the Color Line Arena an ...

in London, the first date of its European tour. The show's dialogue is in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, and it includes a sea battle and

gladiatorial combat A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

, as well as the

chariot race Chariot racing (, ''harmatodromía''; ) was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, ancient Greek, Roman Empire, Roman, and Byzantine Empire, Byzantine sports. In Greece, chariot racing played an essential role in aristocratic funeral games from ...

for which ''Ben Hur'' is famous. It is based primarily on the book as its source material rather than the 1959 Academy Award-winning adaptation which starred

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...

Reception

After its London première, it received mixed reviews from theatre critics.

Creative Team

*Concept and Production - Franz Abraham *Direction - Philip Wm. McKinley *Music and English Narration - Stewart Copeland *German Narration - Ben Becker *Design - Mark Fisher and Ray Winkler *Horse Training and Stunt Coordination - Nicki Pfeifer *Lighting Design - Patrick Woodroffe *Choreography - Liam Steel *Fight Direction - Rick Sordelet *Book -

Shaun McKenna Shaun Patrick McKenna (born 5 April 1957 in Maidstone, Kent) is an English dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter. Biography Shaun McKenna studied at Maidstone Grammar School and the University of Bristol (1975–1978). He was an actor for a fe ...

*Costumes - Ann Would-Hard

2009 Principal Cast

Judah Ben-Hur Judah Ben-Hur, shortened to Ben-Hur, is a fictional character, the title character and protagonist from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ''. The book covers the character's adventures and struggle against the Roman Empire ...

- Sebastian Thrun *Messala - Michael Knese *

Esther Esther (; ), originally Hadassah (; ), is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and ma ...

- Lili Gesler *Quintus Arrius - Anton Grünbeck *

Sheik Ilderim ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'' is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century". It became a best-selling American novel, surpass ...

- László Rókas *Miriam
Marina Krauser
*Tirzah - Nina Wilden

References

External links

* * http://michaelknese.wordpress.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143627/http://geslerlili.szinhaz.org/ * http://www.marina-krauser.de/ * 2009 plays Plays based on novels Plays set in ancient Rome Plays set in Israel Works based on Ben-Hur {{Europe-theat-stub