The Inheritance is a play by Matthew López that is inspired by the 1910 novel Howards End by E. M. Forster. The play premiered in London at the Young Vic in March 2018, before transferring to Broadway in November 2019.
| The Inheritance | |
|---|---|
 Cover to the ebook script, based on the original poster for the Young Vic production | |
| Written by | Matthew López |
| Based on | Inspired by Howards End by E. M. Forster |
| Directed by | Stephen Daldry |
| Date premiered | March 28, 2018 |
| Place premiered | Young Vic, London |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Early AIDS Crisis, generational trauma, queer culture |
| Setting | |
Productions
editOff-West End (2018)
editThe play was commissioned by Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut.[1] The play was produced in London at the Young Vic Theatre under the direction of Stephen Daldry in March 2018. The play was staged in two parts of over three hours each, intended to be viewed sequentially and reimagines E. M. Forster's Howards End as "a lovingly wry portrait of New York’s gay community",[2] "with gay men from different generations standing in for Forster’s straight people from different classes".[2] Lopez found parallels between his own life and Forster's closeted existence before the partial-decriminalisation of homosexuality, telling The New Yorker: "We’re so far apart, and yet when I read his diaries—that’s me. That’s me, a hundred years ago, as a closeted white man in England". Lopez has described that the greatest theatrical influence, despite comparisons with Tony Kushner's Angels in America[2] as being Gatz, Elevator Repair Service's 2-part, 8-hour adaptation of The Great Gatsby, inspiring his use of "self-narration".[2]
The Inheritance examines love between gay men in contemporary New York a generation after the Early AIDS Crisis.[3] It asks what the current generation owes to its forebears[4] with Rebecca Read writing in The New Yorker that lead character Eric Glass, "as the grandson of Holocaust survivors, has a personal connection to generational catastrophe, and is therefore better primed to comprehend the history of the gay community’s devastation".[2]
West End (2018)
editThe production transferred to the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End on 21 September 2018 and was produced by Tom Kirdahy, Sonia Friedman, and Hunter Arnold.[5]
The Inheritance won Best Play at the London Evening Standard Theatre Award 2018.[6] The Inheritance also won Best New Play, Best Director for Stephen Daldry and Best Actor for Kyle Soller at both the 2019 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards, also winning an Olivier for Best Lighting for Jon Clark.[7]
Broadway (2019-2020)
editThe play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 27 September 2019 in previews, with the official opening on 17 November.[8] The production features Lois Smith as Margaret, with Kyle Soller and John Benjamin Hickey, among others, reprising their roles from the London production.[9]
In December 2019, it was announced that Tony Goldwyn would replace Hickey for a four-month stint beginning in January 2020, while Hickey was set to direct a revival of Plaza Suite.[10] However, in February 2020, it was announced that The Inheritance would close on March 15, after 46 previews and 138 regular performances.[11][12] On March 12, the final four performances were cancelled when all Broadway theatres closed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]
Other notable productions
editA German language production of The Inheritance titled Das Vermächtnis, directed by Philip Stölzl, premiered at Munich's Residenztheater on January 30, 2022.[14][15] The production was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen as one of ten "noteworthy" productions of 2022.[16] Das Vermächtnis also premiered in Hanover on 22 April 2022, as well as at the Theater Münster on 3 December 2022 and most recently at the E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Theater in Bamberg on 6 October 2023.[17] Part one of the Bamberg production was invited to the Bayerische Theatertage in 2024.[18]
A West Coast premiere production directed by Mike Donahue opened at Geffen Playhouse on September 13, 2022, and had an extended run until November 27, 2022.[19] The play was cited as "better in Los Angeles than on Broadway"[20] by Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty. An audio adaptation[21] was later released by Audible Theater in March 2023.
ARV, the Swedish version of The Inheritance had it's premiere the 5th of November 2022 at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. It was chosen to be part of the theatre biennale 2023 and won the Nöjesguiden award for best performance 2023 and was nominated for a QX-award for best production 2023. It ran again in 2024/2025 in a partly new version at The Royal Dramatic Theatre. ARV was directed by Carl Johan Karlson.
Brazilian Portuguese language production of The Inheritance, called A Herança, premiered at Teatro Vivo, São Paulo, on March 9, 2023, and ran until April 30, 2023. The play was translated into Portuguese by Zé Henrique de Paula, who also directs and produces it. Bruno Fagundes, the other local producer, performs the role of Eric Glass in the Brazilian version. Due to its success, a new season, this time placed at Teatro Raul Cortez, São Paulo, premiered on June 1, 2023, and ran until July 30, 2023.
A Danish language production of The Inheritance named Arven premiered at the Royal Danish Playhouse March 25, 2023 and ran until May 13 the same year. The production was staged by Thomas Bendixen.[22] The production won the 2023 Reumert Award for Best Performance[23] and opened again August 24, 2024 as part of the Royal Danish Theatre's 2024/2025 season.[24]
In April 2023 Canadian Stage announced that, as part of its 23/24 season, it would stage a production in Toronto. The production was directed by Brendan Healy, Canadian Stage's artistic director, and ran at the Bluma Appel Theatre, Front Street East, Toronto in March and April 2024.
In January 2024, The Inheritance had its Australian premiere at Melbourne's fortyfivedownstairs in a production directed by Kitan Petkovski.
Cast and characters
edit| Role | Off-West End | West End | Broadway | Los Angeles | Toronto Premiere | Australian Premiere |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2022 | 2024 | 2024 | ||
| Eric Glass | Kyle Soller | Adam Kantor | Qasim Khan | Charles Purcell | ||
| Toby Darling | Andrew Burnap | Juan Castano | Antoine Yared | Tomáš Kantor | ||
| Adam / Leo | Samuel H. Levine | Nicholas L. Ashe | Stephen Jackman-Torkoff | Karl Richmond | ||
| Walter / Morgan | Paul Hilton | Bill Brochtrup | Daniel MacIvor | Dion Mills | ||
| Henry Wilcox | John Benjamin Hickey | Tuc Watkins | Jim Mezon | Hunter Perske | ||
| Jasper | Hugo Bolton | Kyle Harris | Kasey Mahaffy | Salvatore Antonio | Joss McClelland | |
| Toby's Agent | Robert Boulter | Jonathan Burke | Eddie Lopez | Gregory Prest | Christian Taylor | |
| Young Henry | Hubert Burton | Carson McCalley | August Gray Gall | Ben Page | Alexander Thew | |
| Tristan | Syrus Lowe | Jordan Barbour | Jay Donnell | Hollywood Jade | Javon King | |
| Jason 1 | Michael Marcus | Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr. | Israel Erron Ford | Aldrin Bundoc | Iopu Auva’a | |
| Young Walter | Luke Thallon | Jack Riddiford | Dylan Frederick | Miguel Pinzon | Landon Nesbitt | Rupert Bevan |
| Jason 2 | Michael Walters | Arturo Luís Soria | Avi Roque | Breton Lalama | Juan Gomez | |
| Margaret | Vanessa Redgrave | Lois Smith | Tantoo Cardinal | Louise Pitre | Jillian Murray | |
Notable replacements
editBroadway (2019-2020)
edit- Henry Wilcox: Tony Goldwyn[10]
Critical response
editThe reviewer for The Daily Telegraph called the play “perhaps the most important American play of this century.” [25]
The Variety reviewer wrote the play is a "vast, imperfect and unwieldy masterpiece that unpicks queer politics and neoliberal economics anew. In addressing the debt gay men owe to their forebears, it dares to ask whether the past hasn’t also sold the present up short."[3]
Michael Billington, The Guardian reviewer, wrote: "While Lopez’s play has a literary framework, it teems with life and incident...Lopez is also unafraid to periodically stop the plot and clear the stage for an impassioned debate: one of the most intense is about the status of gay culture which, having fought so long against oppression, now finds itself in danger of being co-opted."[26] In a later article, Billington also praised Paul Hilton's performance in the Young Vic Theatre production in a list by The Guardian writers of the 50 greatest theatre shows since 2000, in which The Inheritance placed 15th.[27]
The show received mostly mixed reviews on Broadway. As Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times: "Its breadth doesn't always translate into depth." He praised the acting of many in the large cast and noted the continued experiential relevance of the AIDS crises, stating "That effort to conjure a nightmare era in danger of being forgotten by many young people today captures what’s best in 'The Inheritance'.”[28]
Writing in The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead drew comparisons to Angels in America, the two-part epic play by Tony Kushner, also examining the Early AIDS Crisis in New York, describing The Inheritance as "less intellectually demanding" and "strik[ing] an upper-middlebrow tone" and also comparing the play with Hanya Yanagihara's 2015 "gay-trauma" novel A Little Life.[2]
Terrence McNally, author of the 1994 play Love! Valour! Compassion!, which addressed the AIDS Crisis contemporarily, said that "as an 80-year-old survivor, observer, and participant of the many years covered in the play" he had never had such a strong response,[2] referring to the experience of watching a play about the Early AIDS Crisis amid an audience of gay men of both the survivors' generation and the subsequent generation, that of the protagonists.[2]
Awards and nominations
editOriginal London production
edit| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Evening Standard Theatre Award[29][6] | Best Play | Matthew Lopez | Won |
| Best Actor | Kyle Soller | Nominated | ||
| Best Director | Stephen Daldry | Nominated | ||
| Critics' Circle Theatre Award[7] | Best New Play | Matthew Lopez | Won | |
| Best Actor | Kyle Soller | Won | ||
| Best Director | Stephen Daldry | Won | ||
| 2019 | Laurence Olivier Award[30] | Best New Play | Won | |
| Best Actor | Kyle Soller | Won | ||
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Vanessa Redgrave | Nominated | ||
| Best Director | Stephen Daldry | Won | ||
| Best Set Design | Bob Crowley | Nominated | ||
| Best Lighting Design | Jon Clark | Won | ||
| Best Sound Design | Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement in Music | Paul Englishby | Nominated | ||
| South Bank Sky Arts Award[31] | Theatre | Won | ||
Original Broadway production
editReferences
edit- ^ Serratore, Nicole (June 2018). "A Gay Inheritance That's Generations in the Making". American Theatre. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mead, Rebecca (September 2, 2019). "How Matthew Lopez Transformed Howards End Into an Epic Play About Gay Life". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
- ^ a b Trueman, Matt (2018-03-29). "London Theater Review: The Inheritance". Variety. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
- ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura; Deb, Sopan; Trueman, Matt (2018-02-20). "3 Young People to Watch in Theater This Spring". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
- ^ "The Inheritance (West End)". Young Vic. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ a b Thompson, Jessie (2018-11-19). "Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2018 – The Winners". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
- ^ a b Wiegand, Chris (2019-01-29). "The Inheritance wins best new play at UK Critics' Circle awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ^ McPhee, Ryan. "Two-Part, Gay-Themed The Inheritance Will Play Broadway". Playbill, June 6, 2019.
- ^ Hetrick, Adam (August 15, 2019). "Kyle Soller and John Benjamin Hickey to Reprise Performances in The Inheritance on Broadway; Full Cast Set". Playbill.
- ^ a b Evans, Greg (December 9, 2019). "Tony Goldwyn Joining Broadway's The Inheritance For Four-Month Stint". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ^ Lang, Brent (February 20, 2020). "The Inheritance Closing in March After Box Office Struggles". Variety. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ^ "Supersized play The Inheritance sets Broadway closing date". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
- ^ Keller, Ilana (March 12, 2020). "Coronavirus: Broadway shuts down all shows immediately". Asbury Park Press. USA Today. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ^ "Das Vermächtnis (The Inheritance) – Teil 1 | residenztheater.de". www.residenztheater.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ "Das Vermächtnis (The Inheritance) – Teil 2 | residenztheater.de". www.residenztheater.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ Festspiele, Berliner. "Das Vermächtnis (The Inheritance) – Theatertreffen". www.berlinerfestspiele.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ "Das Vermächtnis". Fischer Theater Medien (in German). Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ "Überblick über die eingeladenen Inszenierungen". Stadttheater Ingolstadt (in German). 2023-12-20. Archived from the original on 2024-02-09. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
- ^ ""The Inheritance" at Geffen Playhouse". Geffen Playhouse. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ^ "Review: Tony-winning 'The Inheritance' is better in Los Angeles than on Broadway". Los Angeles Times. 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ^ The Inheritance.
- ^ "The Inheritance". DET KGL. TEATER. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ^ "Årets Reumert 2023: Her er alle vinderne" (in Danish). BILLED-BLADET. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ^ "The Inheritance". DET KGL. TEATER. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ^ Cavendish, Dominic (29 March 2018). "The Inheritance, Young Vic review: perhaps the most important American play of the century so far". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Billington, Michael (28 March 2018). "The Inheritance review – Angels in America meets Howards End". The Guardian.
- ^ Billington, Michael; Soloski, Alexis; Love, Catherine; Fisher, Mark; Wiegand, Chris (2019-09-17). "The 50 best theatre shows of the 21st century". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (November 18, 2019). "'The Inheritance' Review: So Many Men, So Much Time". The New York Times.
- ^ "Read the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2018 shortlist in full". Evening Standard. 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "Winners list for the Olivier Awards 2019 with Mastercard". Laurence Olivier Awards. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "The Inheritance, Lenny Henry and Jessie Buckley win South Bank Sky Arts awards". What's On Stage. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
- ^ "The Tony Award Nominations". Tony Awards. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "The Inheritance, Strange Loop, Moulin Rouge Among Drama Desk Award Winners". Variety. 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "Nominations Announced for 86th Annual Drama League Awards". Broadway.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "Awards History". The Drama League. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ "2019-2020 Awards". New York Drama Critics' Circle. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ^ Clement, Olivia (May 11, 2020). "Moulin Rouge! Leads 2020 Outer Critics Circle Award Honorees". Playbill.
- ^ "The Nominations for the 31st Annual GLAAD Awards". GLAAD. Retrieved June 10, 2020.