By Mark Shenton
05 Nov 2009

Fiona Shaw is to reprise her performance of T.S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land, at Wilton's Music Hall, beginning a run Dec. 30 prior to a gala performance Dec. 31, for a run through Jan. 10, 2010.

She previously presented it there in 1997, after presenting it the year before at the Liberty Theatre on West 42nd Street, New York City, in 1996. She now reprises it as part of Wilton's Music Hall's 150th year celebrations. The production is directed by Deborah Warner, with lighting by Jean Kalman.

"The Waste Land" was published in 1922 and is generally regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century, with many phrases that have entered the language, such as "April is the cruellest month" and "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

Shaw and Warner are currently represented in London by their collaboration on Mother Courage and Her Children, running at the Naional's Olivier Theatre to Dec. 8. They have also previously collaborated at the National Theatre on Beckett's Happy Days (which subsequently also toured to Paris, Madrid and Epidaurus and then on to Washington, New York, Amsterdam, Epidaurus again and Dublin), Richard II, The Good Person of Sichuan (winning Shaw the Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress) and The Powerbook. Elsewhere, they have collaborated on productions of Medea (West End and Broadway), Electra (RSC) and Hedda Gabler (Abbey Theatre, Dublin and West End).

Shaw will also appear next at the National Theatre in Dion Boucicault's London Assurance, directed by Nicholas Hytner; while Warner is currently Handel's The Messiah for the ENO at the Coliseum, opening Nov. 27.

The running time for The Waste Land is 40 minutes only; there will be two performances nightly at 7:30 PM and 9 PM, with performances on Sundays at 6 PM.

To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7702 2789, or visit www.wiltons.org.uk