Theatre
2015 | Caroline | Tomcat |
Southwark Playhouse | Kate Hewitt |
2014 | Mary Tyrone | Long Day’s Journey into Night |
Royal Lyceum Theatre | Tony Cownie |
2011 | Madre Marguerita | The Heresy of Love | Royal Shakespeare Co | Nancy Meckler |
2009 | Kate Keller | All My Sons | Leicester Curve Theatre | Walter Meierjohann |
2008 | Mrs Mullins | Carousel | Stanhope Productions | Lindsay Posner |
2008 | Eugenia | Breaking the Silence | Nottingham Playhouse | Esther Richardson |
2007 | Miss Fenway | Lovely and Misfit | Fishwick Productions | Anna Ledwich |
2005 | Phaedra | Phaedra’s Love | Bristol Old Vic/ Barbican | Anne Tipton |
2003 | Caesonia | Caligula | Donmar Warehouse | Michael Grandage |
2001 | Lady Flippant | Love in a Wood | Royal Shakespeare Co | Tim Supple |
2001 | Floss | The Prisoners Dilemma | Royal Shakespeare Co | Michael Attenborough |
2000 | Hannah | Arcadia | Salisbury Playhouse | Rupert Goold |
1999 | Daphne | Talk of the City | Royal Shakespeare Co | Stephen Poliakoff |
1998 | Elegant Lady | Roberto Zucco | Royal Shakespeare Co | James McDonald |
1992 | Sheila | An Inspector Calls | Royal National Theatre | Stephen Daldry |
1991 | M. de Merteuil | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Ambassadors Theatre | David Leveaux |
THE HERESY OF LOVE by Helen Edmundson
Directed by Nancy Meckler. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company at The Swan Theatre, Stratford On Avon. Opened February, 2012.
Cast included: Catherine McCormack, Stephen Boxer, Raymond Coulthard, Dona Croll, Catherine Hamilton.
Inspired by the story of a 16th century nun who was also a playwright. Diana played MADRE MARGUERITA, the Mother Superior of the convent.
ALL MY SONS by Arthur Miller
Directed by Walter Meierjohann. Produced by the Leicester Curve Theatre. Opened September 2009.
Cast included: Ian Redford, Phil Cheadle, John Dougall, Lisa Jackson, Emily Houghton.
Meierjohann took a fresh approach to this classic about a successful businessman’s family haunted by scandal and disgrace. Critical reactions to the production were good, and it made a strong impression on those who saw it, but it was unfortunately underpublicised.
Diana played KATE KELLER, one of Miller’s most challenging roles, a mother and wife who is hiding from a truth she doesn’t want to face.
CAROUSEL by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Directed by Lindsay Posner. Opened at the Savoy Theatre, London, December 2008. Classic American musical about love and redemption amongst small-time carnival folk at the turn of the century.
Cast included: Lesley Garrett, Jeremiah James, Alexandra Silber.
Diana played MRS MULLINS, owner of the carousel; a non-singing role and the rival love interest for the central male protagonist.
BREAKING THE SILENCE by Stephen Poliakoff
Directed by Esther Richardson. Opened at the Nottingham Playhouse in May 2008. Poliakoff’s biographical play about the Russian Revolution and the development of moving pictures. (Rehearsal photo shown)
Cast included: Ilan Goodman, Celia Meiras, Jim Findley, Philip Bretherton
Diana played EUGENIA, the long suffering wife of an eccentric inventor, trying to hold her family together in difficult circumstances.
LOVELY AND MISFIT by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Anna Ledwich. Opened at the Trafalgar Studios in London in March 2007.
Cast included: David Hartley, Jennifer Higham, Edward Hughes and Matt Ryan.
A collection of Tennessee Williams short plays. Diana appeared as a neurotic mother, MRS FENWAY in ‘Summer At The Lake’ which foreshadows many of the themes of ‘The Glass Menagerie’.
PHAEDRA’S LOVE by Sarah Kane
Directed by Anne Tipton as part of the Young Genius Season. Produced by the Bristol Old Vic and transfered to the Barbican, London, where it opened November 2005. A radical retelling of Seneca’s tragedy by a controversial young playwright.
Cast included: Laurence Penry-Jones, Alexandra Moen, Daniel Gosling, Nadia Williams
Diana played PHAEDRA, the queen incestuously obsessed with her stepson.
CALIGULA by Albert Camus
Directed by Michael Grandage. Opened at the Donmar Warehouse in London in April 2003. Camus’ play, in a new translation by David Greig, is a meditation on the absurd using the life of the decadent Roman emperor to explore philosophical questions.
Cast included: Michael Sheen, Geff Francis, Bernard Gallagher, Raymond Coulthard, Olivia MacDonald
Diana played the role of CAESONIA, the emperor’s mistress and advisor.
LOVE IN A WOOD by William Wycherley
Directed by Tim Supple. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company at The Swan Theatre, Stratford On Avon. Opened May 2001.
Cast included: Amanda Drew, Paul Bentall, Claire Cox, Louis Hillyer.
An early comedy by this acerbic restoration playwright. Diana played LADY FLIPPANT an arch and conniving man-eater desperate to find a husband.
THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA by David Edgar
Directed by Michael Attenborough. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company. Opened July 2001 at The Other Place Theatre, Stratford On Avon. Transferred to the Pit, Barbican, January 2002.
A challenging and thought provoking play based on real life situations about the dilemmas of peace negotiation in a Balkans style conflict.
Cast included: Penny Downie, Zoe Waites, Robert Bowman, David Wilmot.
Diana played FLOSSIE an idealistic actress who is forced to make a terrible choice and live with its consequences.
ROBERTO ZUCCO by Bernhard Marie Koltes
Directed by James MacDonald. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company. Opened November 1998 at The Other Place Theatre. Transferred to the Pit, Barbican, 1999. A savagely nihilistic modern european play by this controversial writer which a large company handled with panache.
Cast included: Zubin Varla, Penny Leyden, Jimmy Chisholm.
Diana played RICH LADY, an archetypal bourgeious character in the style of Bunuel, who is drawn to the murderous hero even though he kills her son.
TALK OF THE CITY by Stephen Poliakoff
Directed by Stephen Poliakoff. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company at The Swan. Opened 1998. Transferred to the Young Vic, 1999. Poliakoff’s play is about the heydays of radio in the 1940’s and the burgeoning power of the media in public life.
Cast included: David Westhead, John Normington, Polly Martin.
Diana played DAPHNE, a conventional radio producer who becomes involved, at first unwillingly, in a radically different light entertainment show.
LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES by Christopher Hampton
Directed by David Leaveaux. Produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company. Opened at The Ambassadors Theatre, London, September 1991.
Cast included: Daniel Travanti, Nicola King, Julie Graham.
This elegant and witty play about 18th century intrigue had already enjoyed a successful run by the time Diana took over the role of the MARQUISE DE MERTEUIL. It was a challenge to step into after several well-known actresses but Christopher Hampton personally recommended her for the part after seeing Diana in Figaro Gets Divorced.
AN INSPECTOR CALLS by J.B. Priestley
Directed by Stephen Daldry. Designer Ian MacNeil. Produced by The Royal National Theatre. Opened Lyttelton Theatre, 11th Spetember 1992. Cast included: Richard Pasco, Louis Hilyer, Barbara Leigh Hunt, Vivienne Burgess, Robert Bowman, Kenneth Cranham.
Diana first played the role of SHEILA BIRLING in Stephen Daldry’s radical reinterpretation of this Priestley classic at the York Theatre Royal in 1989. The play had always been considered something of a theatrical warhorse; a well crafted “chamber” piece, beloved of repertory companies because its small cast and one set made it cheap to produce.
Daldry took on the job of directing it as an assignment but quickly began to apply his imagination to the task. Amongst his first discoveries was that Priestley had never liked or approved of the naturalistic style in which his play had been produced in front of English speaking audiences; much preferring the heightened “social realism” of the original Russian production.
From this and other sources, Daldry found the means to re-shape the play; opening it out and developing it into a stunning theatrical tour de force. The cast played a significant part in this process of exploration and the result was a production considered to be a great success, both on a critical and populist level, although its audience was necessarily limited by its location.
When approached by the National Theatre to direct a play, Daldry put forward AN INSPECTOR CALLS as a possible choice. It puzzled them but they eventually conceded, thinking it would at least be inexpensive to mount. They were not prepared for the large cast of extras or for the size of the set.
Daldry took two actors from the original production, Diana and Robert Bowman, to “seed” his new cast. With the added resources at his disposal, he recreated and exceeded his original vision. The play was hugely successful, both nationally and internationally.
Other theatre
1994 | Aquilina | Venice Preserved | Manchester Library Theatre | Gregory Hersov |
1992 | Marguerite | The Stick Wife | Gate Theatre | Nancy Duiguid |
1991 | Madame De Sade | Madame De Sade | Almeida Theatre | Tal Rubin |
1990 | Katherine | The Secret Rapture | Manchester Library Theatre | Chris Honer |
1989 | Susanna | Figaro Gets Divorced | Gate Theatre | Stephen Daldry |
1989 | May | Fool for Love | Millstream Theatre | Chris Masters |
1988 | Curly’s Wife | Of Mice & Men | Manchester Library | Stephen Daldry |
1988 | Karin | Panorama | King’s Head Theatre | Penny Cherns |
1986 | Tina | The Traveller | Almeida | Keith Boak |
1983 | Jane | Crystal Clear | Great Eastern Stage | Ian McKeand |
1983 | Sarah | Bitter Milk | Temba Theatre Co | Barry Phillips |
OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck
Directed by Stephen Daldry. Produced by Manchester Library Theatre, Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe. Opened 8th November 1988.
Cast included: David Fielder, Tony Pritchard, Mark Spalding.
A typically innovative production by Stephen Daldry with an atmospheric set by Bruno Santini.
Diana played CURLY’S WIFE, a naive woman trapped in a life of poverty who dreams of becoming a movie star.
FIGARO GETS DIVORCED by Odon von Horvath.
Directed by Stephen Daldry. Produced by Gate Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, Filthy Lucre.
Cast included: Roger Sloman, Joanna Wake, Mark Spalding.
A “sequel” to The Marriage of Figaro with Horvath’s mordant humour and politicised perspective on the story given full rein. Diana played SUSANNA, Figaro’s wife
THE SECRET RAPTURE by David Hare.
Directed by Christopher Honer. Produced by Manchester Library Theatre. Opened February 1990.
Cast included: Amanda Parfitt, Amanda Boxer, Ronan Vibert.
David Hare’s examination of grief, families and eighties materialism. Diana played KATHERINE, a self-destructive alchoholic.
VENICE PRESERVED by Thomas Otway.
Directed by Gregory Hersov. Produced by Manchester Royal Exchange. Opened March 1994 at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre.
Cast included: Helen McRory, David Ryall, Jonathan Cullen.
A rare revival of this Jacobean play with its surprisingly contemporary themes. Diana played AQUILINA, a Venetian courtesan who specialises as a dominatrix.
MADAME DE SADE by Yukio Mishima.
Directed by Tal Rubin. Opened 1991 at the Almeida Theatre, London, with costumes designed by Katherine Hammnet. Mishima’s strange poetic piece applies japanese sensibility to western themes in an original fashion. This was the first revival of this play in the UK for many years.
Cast included: Miriam Cyr, Natasha Parry, Julie Legrand
Diana played MADAME DE SADE, the wife of the notorious Marquis, a complex and demanding role with its formal language and extreme emotions.
FOOL FOR LOVE by Sam Shepard
Directed by Christopher Masters. Produced by Millstream Theatre Co. Opened 1988 in Guildford. Sam Shepard’s quirky portrait of a brother and sister relationship that may be more than it seems on the surface.
Cast included: Derek Hoxby, Tim Earle, Patrick Waldron.
The role of MAY was ideally suited for Diana. She brought a special quality to this strange, intense love story between a step-brother and sister.
BITTER MILK by David Clough
Directed by Barry Phillips. Produced by Temba Theatre Co. Opened at the Drill Hall, London in November 1983. A play that looks at the politics in a triangular relationship between two women and a man, two black people and a white person.
Cast included: Alton Kumalo, Decima Francis.
A contemporary play about exiled South Africans. Diana played SARAH, a white South African who agrees to an arranged marriage with a black South African to get him a passport, unaware that he is inviolved with another woman.
Hi Diana,
Just saw Heavenly Creatures (again) as it was shown on TV over the weekend.
Great film which looks like a classic now and really enjoyed your performance. Good casting too, as unlike many films, I could really see you as Kate Winslet’s mother in terms of a family resemblance!
I’ll look out for your forthcoming projects with anticipation.
Barney
Barney,
Thanks for your message. Heavenly Creatures was an interesting experience. Kate was only seventeen when she made it. Melanie Lynskey has also gone on to make some interesting films since.
Diana
Ahhh, Figaro Gets Divorced I haven’t seen these images for a long time, I remember thinking you had a very sexy bottom in your 30’s dress and wondered if it would have done the same for me! Thank you for sharing them.
PS I thought we were not allowed to mention the York version of Inspector... 😉