''Prism'' is a play by Terry Johnson, first performed in 2017, about the life of

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

-winning cinematographer

Jack Cardiff Jack Cardiff, (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009) was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, to fi ...

Production

The play made its world premiere at the Hampstead Theatre, London on 6 September 2017 where it ran until 14 October. The production was directed by Johnson and starred Robert Lindsay as Jack Cardiff and

Claire Skinner Claire Skinner (born 1965) is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom for her television career, particularly playing Sue Brockman from the BBC television series ''Outnumbered (British TV series), Outnumbered''. Early life Claire Skin ...

as Nicola/Katie. It received four-starred reviews in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', whose reviewer Michael Billington described Lindsay's performance as "riveting". The play is touring the UK from 3 October 2019, opening at the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

, with Lindsay reprising the role of Jack Cardiff and

Tara Fitzgerald Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald (born 18 September 1967) is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage. She won the New York Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Opheli ...

as Nicola/Katie.

Cast

{, class="wikitable" , + !Character !Hampstead (2017) !UK tour (2019) , - !

, colspan="2" , Robert Lindsay , - !Nicola/Katie ,

, - !Lucy/Betty/Marilyn ,

Rebecca Night Rebecca Night (born Rebecca Hardwick; 13 July 1985) is an English actress who starred in the title role of James Hawes's BBC Four adaptation ''Fanny Hill''. Night and Stockard Channing co-starred as Jessie and Thelma in Marsha Norman's Pulitze ...

, Victoria Blunt , - !Mason/Bogie/Miller , Barnaby Kay , Oliver Hembrough

References

2017 plays British plays Plays based on real people