The off-kilter comic genius of Told by an Idiot arrives in NYC with the US premiere of MY PERFECT MIND, part of the 2015 Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters

New York, New York May 5, 2015—59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) is thrilled to welcome acclaimed actor Edward Petherbridge to Brits Off Broadway in MY PERFECT MIND, created by Told by an Idiot, written by Kathryn Hunter, Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge, directed by Kathryn Hunter. Produced by Told by an Idiot, Young Vic, and Theatre Royal Plymouth, MY PERFECT MIND begins performances on Wednesday, June 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 28. Press opening is Tuesday, June 16 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; and Sunday at 3 PM. Please note, there is an additional performance on Sunday, June 21 at 7 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to What's On at 59E59 Theaters.



Edward Petherbridge, one of Britain's most esteemed actors (and a two-time Tony Award-nominee), was cast as King Lear, when on the second day of rehearsals he suffered a stroke that left him barely able to move. As he struggled to recover Edward made a discovery: the entire role of Lear still existed word for word in his mind. From being on the brink of playing one of Shakespeare’s most revered roles, to lying in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors, Edward never imagined what tragedies and comedies lay in store for him.



A celebration of the resilience of the human spirit through the prism of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, MY PERFECT MIND is anything but a tragedy. Called "an exquisite piece of tomfoolery" by The Guardian, the play is directed by Told by an Idiot's Kathryn Hunter (who was the first British actress to play Lear). The production earned 4-star reviews in the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph, the Independent, the Evening Standard, the Sunday Times, Time Out London, and the Sunday Express. As the Times said, "There’s nothing quite like it!"



MY PERFECT MIND stars Edward Petherbridge (Olivier Award-winner, two-time Tony Award nominee, the original Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; cofounder, with Ian McKellen, of the Actors’ Company) and Paul Hunter.



Kathryn Hunter (director/co-writer) Born in New York in 1957 to Greek parents, Kathryn has regularly performed in New York throughout her career including: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre for a New Audience, 2013/2014; an astonishing physical performance in Kafka’s Monkey, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 2013; Fragments (Peter Brook), Jerome Robbins Theater, 2013/14. Kathryn won an Olivier Award for her performance in Complicite’s production of The Visit (1991) and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in 2013 for her performance in Kafka’s Monkey. Film and TV include Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Rome. As a director her credits include Othello (RSC), The Birds (National) and Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe). Kathryn was associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company between 2008-2011. Kathryn was the first British actress to ever play King Lear (Haymarket, Leicester. 1997).



Edward Petherbridge (actor/co-writer) made his New York debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1974, playing the Fool in King Lear for the Actors’ Company, which he co-founded with Ian McKellen. Edith Oliver of the New Yorker declared: ‘Edward Petherbridge’s heartbroken, quicksilver fool … is the Fool forever; the part IS permanently his.’ In the 1980s, he appeared in two epic productions on Broadway: as Newman Noggs in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s landmark Nicholas Nickleby and as Charlie Marsden in Eugene O’Neill’s experimental Strange Interlude. Both performances earned him Tony Award nominations and the latter a Drama Desk Award nomination. In London, Edward began his tenure at the National Theatre with walk-on parts in Laurence Olivier’s Othello in 1964. Three years later he created the role of Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. His other major roles on stage include Gaev in The Cherry Orchard; the Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi; Alceste in The Misanthrope; Frank Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor; Malvolio in Twelfth Night, King Cymbeline in Cymbeline; Dr. Dorn in The Seagull; Krapp in Krapp’s Last Tape; Sir Anthony Blunt in Single Spies; and Donner in Artist Descending a Staircase. On television Edward was a definitive Lord Peter Wimsey in the BBC’s Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries, which aired in the US on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. Other leading television roles include Osborne in R. C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End. He also reprised the role of Charlie Marsden for American Playhouse on PBS. He is a winner of the Olivier and London Drama Critics’ Awards and the Sony Award for Best Actor in a Radio Drama. In 1989, he was awarded an Honorary D.Litt. by the University of Bradford. His book of autobiographical essays, Slim Chances and Unscheduled Appearances, was published in 2011 and has been described by theatre critic Michael Coveney as ‘unputdownable.' Last year, Edward had a painting accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.

Paul Hunter (actor/co-writer) is co-founder and artistic director of Told by an Idiot. Paul has worked on all Told by an Idiot shows to date as director/devisor/performer. Other acting credits include: Tartuffe (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, The Globe Mysteries, Troilus and Cressida, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare's Globe); Rapunzel and the Red Shoes (Kneehigh); Under the Black Flag (Shakespeare's Globe); The Water Engine (Young Vic/Theatre 503); The Play What I Wrote (West End); Oliver Twist and Pinocchio (Lyric Hammersmith); Into Our Dreams (Almeida); the title role in Richard III (English Shakespeare Company); Animal Farm and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Northern Stage); Les Enfants du Paradis (RSC); and the title role in The Servant With Two Masters (Sheffield Crucible). Directing credits include: Every Last Trick (Royal & Derngate Northampton); The Mouse and His Child (RSC); Low Pay, Don’t Pay (Salisbury Playhouse); Senora Carrar’s Rifles (Young Vic); Not With That Hand (BAC); Ordago (For Punto Finco in Bilbao). As Associate Director at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Paul directed: The Venetian Twins, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Best Production, Manchester Evening News Award), Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick. Film and TV credits include: Cinderella (directed by Kenneth Branagh); Pan (directed by Joe Wright); Alice Through the Looking Glass; Marvellous (BBC).

The Brits Off Broadway run of MY PERFECT MIND is supported by British Airways.