Opening the Jermyn Street Theatre’s Scandal season, Lanie Robertson’s play arrives in London from the 17th January. 

Peggy Guggenheim collected art — and artists. Married to Max Ernst, lover of Samuel Beckett, champion of Jackson Pollock and Pablo Picasso, Peggy’s love life was as colourful as her art collection. She moved to Venice in the late 1940s and quickly became one of its most glamorous, scandalous residents.

Directed by Austin Pendleton, Woman Before a Glass brings Peggy Guggenheim’s remarkable story to life, revealing how her passionate loyalties changed the face of 20th Century art.

This UK premiere is set to star off Broadway veteran Judy Rosenblatt (The Cobbler; The Sopranos; The Biscuit Club, The Cell Theatre).

Set in Venice, this one woman show aims to capture Peggy Guggenheim’s punky spirit and examines her choice to live life on her own terms. The audience will see Guggenheim at four different moments in time: 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1968. Each year offers a snapshot into her vibrant life as she experiences a political situation, an exhibition opening, a loss and a touching moment of reflection.

Talking about the production director Austin Pendleton said: “Woman Before a Glass is a one-woman play, but it has the richness of a play with many people in it. It’s about Peggy Guggenheim, and the moments in her life that it selects to tell us about encapsulate the whole emotional, intellectual, artistic, sexual, and parental richness in that woman’s life, the tragedy of it, and the sometimes howling comedy. To work with an actress of the range, craft, and dazzling electric vulnerability of Judy Rosenblatt only magnifies for me the excitement of working on such a play.”

The production features the original designs by Giovanni Villari, original lighting by Stephen Petrilli, costume design by Catherine Siracusa and sound by Giovanni Villari.

Woman Before a Glass will play at the Jermyn Street Theatre from the 17th January until the 3rd February. For more information visit: http://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/woman-before-a-glass/