Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Game of Thrones) makes a breathtaking U.S. stage debut in the critically lauded Almeida Theatre production The Hunt (starting February 16, 2024), based on Thomas Vinterberg’s 2012 film Jagten. The Hunt catapults audiences into some of today’s thorniest questions surrounding mob justice. In a performance that has been described as “superb” (Sunday Times), “devastating” (Evening Standard), and “extraordinarily powerful and restrained” (The Stage), Menzies portrays an elementary school teacher accused of misconduct by a child in a rural Danish hunting town. Rupert Goold’s thrilling staging unfolds on Es Devlin’s brilliant set, a literal glass house revolving into anarchy. The Hunt is the second adaptation of a Vinterberg work presented by St. Ann’s Warehouse, following its 2012 U.S. premiere of Grzegorz Jarzyna’s blistering, “viscerally charged” (The New York Times) production of Festen, Vinterberg’s final Dogme 95 film.
Director Rupert Goold, the artistic director of London’s Almeida Theater, where David Farr’s adaptation debuted in 2019, has turned the story into an exercise in inventive staging. In an early scene, members of Lucas’ hunting lodge sing raucous drinking songs and perform what feels like a savage ritual (in the film, they just swam naked in the local lake); later, in an apparent nod to the main community activity of deer-hunting, we see Minotaur-like figures. Es Devlin, the Tony-winning scenic designer for “The Lehman Trilogy,” has created another transparent cube for “The Hunt” – a small one in the middle of the stage that serves as the classroom, the local hunting lodge, the local church with the characters crowded inside, as if to emphasize the (claustrophobic?) closeness of the community. Characters magically appear and disappear in the cube – and not just human ones.
In addition to a winning cast, The Hunt has a best-in-class production design. Es Devlin's set showcases a structure made of smart glass, which frosts instantaneously to allow actors to magically appear and disappear from scenes. (It’s made all the more incredible with a trapdoor beneath the stage.) The glass transforms into the classroom, the hunting lodge, and even the town’s church. As the play moves forward, it fills with more and more townspeople, with Lucas circling the outside on a spinning stage.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Adaptation | David Farr |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Rupert Goold |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play | Tobias Menzies |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play | Es Devlin |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Play | Adam Cork |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | Tobias Menzies |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Rupert Goold |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | The Hunt |
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