This is your final week to see Dame Eileen Atkins deliver yet another brilliant, moving, and studied performance on Broadway. The three-time Olivier Award winner stars opposite Tony and Olivier Award winner Jonathan Pryce in the mysterious new drama The Height of the Storm
. The play about the final years before death in a marriage that lasted 50 years runs at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre through November 24. The highly acclaimed stage and screen star recently told The New York Post, she isn’t sure how many more times she’ll return to Broadway, so you really don’t want to miss this one.To celebrate the Dame’s final week in The Height of the Storm, here are seven video performances of hers through the years that need to be revisited.
Henry VI, 1960
Eileen co-starred as Joan of Arc in the 15-part BBC TV series An Age of Kings, which adapted all eight of Shakespeare’s history plays in sequential order. She appeared in Richard II and Henry VI. It’s a must-see moment.
Wit, 2001
Eileen appeared opposite Emma Thompson in Mike Nichols’ film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Wit. Eileen played the brilliant professor Evelyn Ashford and delivered the play’s memorable “death be not proud” monologue.
Doubt, 2008
Before The Height of the Storm, Eileen’s most recent Broadway credit was replacing Cherry Jones in her Tony Award-winning turn as Sister Aloysius in the Tony-winning Best Play, Doubt. Eileen played the role in the MTC production for seven months, through the show’s closing.
The Lady’s Not For Burning, 1974
Eileen starred as Jennet Jourdemayne, an alleged witch, opposite Richard Chamberlain in the1974 TV adaptation of Christopher Fry’s Middle Ages-set comedy The Lady’s Not For Burning.
Hand of God, 1998
Another BBC gem, Eileen delivered this Alan Bennett monologue about an antiques dealer for the series Talking Heads. Each episode was its own monologue performed by a different actor, and this twisty tale is Eileen’s episode.
The Female of the Species, 2008
In 2008, Eileen led the West End production of Joanna Murray-Smith's The Female of the Species. Eileen starred as Margot Mason, a feminist literary giant who is suffering from an extreme case of writer's block as deadline after deadline comes – and goes – on her next book.
A Room of One’s Own, 1991
Eileen has had a few professional run ins with Virginia Woolf. Outside of appearing in The Hours and writing the screenplay for Mrs. Dalloway, Eileen won a Drama Desk Award for the solo play Vita and Virginia and played the famed author in Patrick Garland’s stage adaptation of A Room of One’s Own, which was filmed for PBS in 1991.
Hurry to Broadway’s Friedman Theatre before November 24 to see Eileen Atkins live on stage in ‘The Height of the Storm’.
