After 18 years, David Grindley has taken on the challenge of directing the Olivier Award Winning play by John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic.
The premise of the play is simple, that everyone is connected in some way and is based on the true story of a con artist who was able to convince some wealthy residents of Manhattan that he was in fact the son of the legendary actor Sidney Poitier.
The first time the play was performed was in 1990, and it became critically acclaimed after 1993 when it was made into a motion picture starring Will Smith, Stockard Channing, and Donald Sutherland.
The playwright, John Guare, has a long list of successful plays behind him including Bosoms and Neglect, The House of Blue Leaves, and Lydie Breeze. Over the course of his career Guare has received four Tony awards, two New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, and the Oliver Play Award.
Director David Grindley also has plenty of credits to his name including The American Plan, National Anthems, What the Butler Saw, Loot, Pygmalion, The Philanthropist, Journey’s End, and The American Plan. He also won a Tony Award in 1997 for Best Revival.
Lead actor Obi Abili is somewhat newer to the stage as a fresh graduate of RADA and has acted in Dido Queen of Carthage, Angels in America, and Brothers Size.
Lead actress Lesley Manville is known for her work with director Mike Leigh although she has a plethora of stage credits which include Her Naked Skin, All or Nothing, All About My Mother, His Dark Materials, and Vera Drake.
