Sergei Rachmaninoff has it all; world-wide fame from a single composition by the age of 19, commissioned to write his first symphony at 20 and engaged to the love of his life, Natalya. But at 21 he is crippled with a depressive paranoia and anxiety. His world has imploded, his work has stopped, he cannot even lift a pencil to compose a simple melody. Such is the power of the men who sought to destroy him, who haunt his waking nightmares and poison his dreams. And when those men happen to be the greatest artists of their day, how do you come back, how do you escape the darkness and come into the light?

Based on a true story of Rachmaninoff’s sessions of hypnotherapy, Preludes is an extraordinary new musical by three-time Tony Award-nominee Dave Malloy. It examines the crippling debilitation and harm the world can do to people, and how the dramatic and musical process can be used as therapy to restore them back into the fullest of creative lives.

Using live piano and electronics, Malloy uses a hybrid of his own and Rachmaninoff’s compositions to create a dream-like world that takes us to the darkest recesses of Rachmaninoff’s mind.

DahlRebecca Caine

ChaliapinNorton James

NatalyaGeorgia Louise

RachmaninoffTom Noyes

RachKeith Ramsay

The MasterSteven Serlin

DirectorAlex Sutton

Set & Costume DesignerRebecca Brower

Lighting DesignerChristopher Nairne

Sound DesignerAndrew Johnson

ChoreographerSte Clough

Musical DirectorJordan Li-Smith

Casting DirectorDanielle Tarento

Previews 6, 7, 9, 10 September
all tickets £16
From 11 September
£27.50, £22 (conc.)

Concessions
Students, Under 16’s, Unwaged, Registered disabled, Over 65’s Registered disabled patrons can bring one companion free of charge.

No booking fee.

6 SEP - 12 OCT 2019
Monday to Saturdays at 7.30pm
Tuesday and Saturday matinees at 3pm
See website for full schedule

SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE
77-85 Newington Causeway
London SE1 6BD
020 7407 0234

Nearest Tube Stations
Borough / Elephant and Castle