When it was first announced, Richard Nelson’s Springwood had a very impressive director indeed attached in the form of the mighty Stanley Tucci. He dropped out shortly thereafter – presumably on account of having famous actor stuff to do – to be replaced by Nelson himself, who is hardly a duff choice, being a seasoned director of his own work. With a long and distinguished career that has included a long stint with the RSC, the US playwright is probably best known for writing the book to the musical Chess and for his Bill Murray-starring 2012 film Hyde Park-on-Hudson, which Springwood is adapted from.
Like the film, it’s a dramatisation of the 1939 visit by King Edward VI to the US to meet with Franklin D and Eleanor Roosevelt at their country estate in Hyde Park, New York, in an effort to drum up American support for a predicted conflict with Germany. But scandal in the shape of the President’s numerous mistresses threatens to derail the trip.
Robert Lindsay will star as Franklin, and Jemma Redgrave as Eleanor, with Andrew Havill as King George VI and Rebecca Night as his wife Elizabeth.
