Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist to lead Brokeback Mountain West End adaptation
The adaptation will run from 10 May until 12 August 2023 at Sohoplace.
Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist will star in a stage adaptation of Brokeback Mountain on the West End.
The world premiere stage adaptation of Annie Proulx’s novel has been penned by Ashley Robinson.
With songs by Dan Gillespie Sells, the show will be directed by Jonathan Butterell (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie).
Faist (BAFTA nominated for West Side Story) will play the part of Jack Twist. Hedges (Manchester By The Sea) will play Ennis Del Mar.
The play will chronicle the hidden love story of the two men over twenty years. Set in Wyoming in 1963 amid rural poverty and conservative communities, Ennis and Jack’s time in the mountains changes their lives forever.
Brokeback Mountain is described as a play with music and will run at the Sohoplace Theatre in the West End for a 12-week season from May 10 to 12 August 2023.
Producer Nica Burns has stressed this West End is based on Proulx’s original story, not the 1997 Ang Lee film starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The film is regarded as a monolith of queer cinema, so the show has big shoes to fill.
“Ashley’s script is fresh and deeply moving”
Of this new announcement, Proulx shared: “Brokeback Mountain has been recreated in several different forms, each with its own distinctive moods and impact. Ashley’s script is fresh and deeply moving, opening sight lines not visible in the original nor successive treatments.”
Robinson added: “I’m honoured to be entrusted by Annie Proulx to bring new life in new form to her timeless and universal story. A story that means so much to so many, and will surely mean as much to a whole new generation.”
Furthermore, Brokeback Mountain will be the first world premiere play to be originated at Sohoplace Theatre.
Burns added that in the intimate setting of sohoplace, “our production concentrates on the relationship between our two lead characters.”
“To have Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges, two outstanding young American actors playing Jack and Ennis is a real coup. We are thrilled.”
Tickets for Brokeback Mountain at Sohoplace Theatre are available here.