Pieter Toerien and Gloucester Productions present Same Time, Next Year, the Tony award-winning, international hit play by Bernard Slade, at Theatre On The Bay from 30 August to 16 September 2023.
The hilarious romantic comedy was one of the longest running hits on Broadway. Same Time, Next Year focuses on two people, George and Doris, married to others, who meet for a romantic tryst once a year, for 25 years. During this time they develop a profound emotional bond. Despite meeting only once a year, they manage to maintain a level of emotional intimacy that goes beyond what might be expected from such limited interactions.
As they spend time together, they share personal details about their lives, discussing topics like births, deaths, marital problems, and adapting to the evolving societal changes around them. It’s a heartwarming, but comical look at friendship, connection, love, and growing older. A 1978 film adaptation directed by Robert Mulligan starred Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda.
International popularity
In this production, award-winning actor and comedian Alan Committie teams up with celebrated stage and TV actress Sharon Spiegel-Wagner to play George and Doris, respectively. Same Time, Next Year is directed by Christopher Weare, with design by scenographer Niall Griffin. The play was written in 1975, and spans the decades from 1951 to 1975, making it a period piece and an opportunity to glimpse at those decades and their changing attitudes.
Author Bernard Slade was surprised by the play’s international popularity. “I felt I was writing a fantasy. Then I started to get letters from people that had had this sort of relationship….The curious thing is how successful it was in other countries. I saw the French production, the Spanish production. In France – where how excited could they get about an extramarital affair- the only thing they didn’t quite understand were the psychiatric references.”
What: Same Time, Next Year
Where and when: Theatre on the Bay from 30 August to 16 September 2023
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
