The actor’s nightmare. Dementia. The learning of lines and memorising staging directions are bedrock of an actor’s craft and when they become allusive it is indeed the end. The facing up to the career final curtain is the spine of THE GREAT LILLIAN HALL.
Portrayed by the two time Academy Award winner Jessica Lange in a captivating “there but for the grace of good fortune but aware of ambush” performance, Lillian Hall is a beloved and seasoned actress on the brink of a career topping performance in a production of Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard on the Broadway stage.
As opening night approaches, rehearsals are rocked by Lillian’s lapses. Lack of focus precipitating prompts, confusions, frustrations and hallucinations, the producer is seriously considering pulling, the director having conniptions.
A trip to a specialist medico confirms a deterioration into dementia but for Lillian, the show must go on.
For this celebrated star of the stage, the sweet bird of youth has flown, but the sweet star of desire, for the theatre, to perform, shines bright.
With the unwavering support of her lifelong friend and assistant Edith, played by the incomparable Kathy Bates and inspiration from next door neighbour and painter, Ty, played with louche silver fox charm by Pierce Brosnan, Lillian is determined to defy the odds before the curtain finally comes down on her career.
There is also the matter of repairing, or at least addressing, the relationship Lillian has with her daughter, Margaret, who always thought she came in a poor third after her mother’s love of the theatre and her husband, a theatre director already borne for that undiscovered country. This strand of the story offers an extra poignancy to her plight and gives rise to a simmering character portrayal by Lily Rabe as Margaret.
THE GREAT LILLIAN HALL is a triumphant antidote to the notion that there is no future in optimism and nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
THE GREAT LILLIAN HALL starts screening in cinemas from Thursday 5th June 2025.
