Woman Before a Glass

Opening Jermyn Street Theatre’s Spring SCANDAL Season, and following a highly acclaimed New York revival in 2011, Lanie Robertson’s 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, directed by Pulitzer Prize winning director Austin Pendleton, will star off Broadway veteran Judy Rosenblatt (The Cobbler; The Sopranos; The Biscuit Club, The Cell Theatre).

After moving to Venice in the late 1940s, Peggy Guggenheim quickly became one of its most glamorous and scandalous residents. Guggenheim collected both art and artists; she was married to pioneering Dadaist Max Ernst, the lover of Samuel Beckett, and champion of Jackson Pollock and Pablo Picasso.

This energetic one woman show captures Peggy Guggenheim’s punky spirit and examines her choice to live life on her own terms. She dedicated her life to introducing like-minded artists, saving priceless masterpieces, and assembling the world's finest collection of 20th Century art in her Venetian Palazzo, but at what personal cost?

Set in Venice, 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.