Girl With a Pearl Earring Tickets

The Theatre Royal in Haymarket will be the home of the world premier of Girl With a Pearl Earring from 24th September 2008 to the 1st November 2008. This is the stage adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s best selling novel (also adapted into a film with Scarlett Johannson and Colin Firth). Adrian Dunbar (Hear My Song, The Crying Game), Kimberley Nixon (Cranford) and Niall Buggy star in the production with Olivier Award-winning actress Sara Kestelman. All in all this night is a highly recommended West End show.

Johannes Vermeer (Dunbar) is the greatest painter of his generation. He needs a house help and so hires Griet (Nixon), but it is not long before she begins to help Johannes with his art – he realises that she has knowledge of colour and artistic composition as she watching the master at work and learning the craft behind painting. Secretly, Vermeer begins to paint her and eventually she becomes the model for his greatest work – the Girl With A Pearl Earring. As this happens, their relationship grows closer and at the same time the marriage between Vermeer and his wife is affected. As time goes on, the sessions upon which the painting is created are filled with sexual tension between the two lustrous people.

The play is based on the real life painting Girl With a Pearl Earring which hangs in The Mauritschuis in The Hague. It is so famous in mainland Europe that it is known as ‘The Mona Lisa of the North’. Little is known about the painting, nor is there much known about the painter – the real life Johannes Vermeer. It is assumed that the piece was not meant as a conventional portrait, which is what inspires the story in the play. Before it was a play, however, it was a highly acclaimed book by Tracy Chevalier, which fictionalising the background of the painting, which is no surprise considering the mystery surrounding the entire affair.

The play is directed by Joe Dowling under the writing of David Joss Buckley. Brian Eastman and Andrew Welch produce the piece whilst Peter Mumford heads the design and lighting. Fotini Dimou is in charge of sound whilst the music is by Christopher Gunning. Further cast members include Lesley Vickerage, Maggie Service, Jonathon Bailey and Flora Spencer-Longhurst.

The Theatre Royal in Haymarket has been putting on crowd-pleasing shows for three centuries and is the perfect place to experience this brilliant event.