Page 1062 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Jez Butterworth returns with The Hills of California. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer
It’s a guaranteed gold rush for The Hills of California, a new play by Jez (Jerusalem)
Butterworth, especially as it’s directed by Sam Mendes: the two worked together on The
Ferryman, the fastest-selling production in the Royal Court’s 60-year history. Tracing
the life of a family through several generations, Butterworth’s new drama (Harold
Pinter, London, 27 January to 15 June) takes off from the heat of Blackpool in 1976,
where in the driest summer for 200 years, two sisters return to their dying mother’s
down-at-heel guesthouse in the back streets: “It’s called Sea View… You can’t see the
sea.” The cast is led by Leanne Best, Laura Donnelly, Ophelia Lovibond and Helena
Wilson. The designer is Rob Howell and the sound designer and arranger is Nick Powell
– both of whom worked on The Ferryman. SCl

Art
Take in the Tate Modern’s blockbuster shows