A popular play which L.S. Media called ‘One of the most outstanding productions of our time’ and is based on an urban myth about two Mersey seamen who played a unique, albeit fleeting, part in one of best known films of the 20th century is set to return to Liverpool’s Unity Theatre on Tuesday 16th till Saturday 20th April. Waiting For Brando will come to its spiritual home before embarking on a national tour that includes venues in Surrey, Berkshire, Cumbria and Kent. The two-act play, by playwrights Mike Morris and Steve Higginson, is based on an urban myth around the seminal Marlon Brando film, On The Waterfront.
In December 1953 when legendary director Elia Kazan was filming a scene for the Marlon Brando movie in Hoboken, New Jersey, there were two Liverpool Merchant Seamen in the bar who were allowed to stay. You can see the back of their heads through a mirror in one of the scenes from the film, or so the story goes…
Set against the backdrop of the McCarthyist Witchhunts, and the emergence of rock and roll in America, the play tells the story of those two young seamen and two giants of the American stage and screen, director Elia Kazan and playwright Arthur Miller, confronting their past as they prepare for the future. It is a fast tale of brotherhood, betrayal, secrets and showdowns, where only one thing is certain – everything is going to change when Brando arrives.
Waiting for Brando is directed by Carl Cockram and features its original cast of Paul Duckworth (Backbeat, Brookside, Beating Berlusconi); Joe Shipman (Endz – No Word of a Lie; Hatch), Danny Hayes (I Know Where the Dead are Buried, Ker-ching) and Carl Cockram (The Swimming Man, The Scarlet Ball and The Quiet Little Englishman.)
Co-author and producer Mike Morris said, “We are really looking forward to our play being performed again in the city. We were delighted with the success it enjoyed last year. The response we received from the audience and reviewers alike was really overwhelming. It’s a real success for Liverpool that the play is also going to a wider national audience. ‘Whilst in some ways ‘Waiting for Brando’ is a uniquely Liverpudlian tale, it is a terrific story, which coupled with great acting, will have wide appeal.”
Tickets for Waiting For Brando can be purchased from the Unity Theatre Box office on Hope Street, by telephone on 0844 8732888 or online at www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk. Tickets are priced at £10 with concessions available at £8.