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Acclaimed Broadway Hit “Sea Wall/A Life” to Become an Audible Original

On a theatre stage, Jake Gyllenhaal sits playing a piano downstage right with a large light on him while Tom Sturridge sits on a rolling ladder upstage left looking out at the audience. An image is projected on the wall behind them to make it look like an apartment building with lots of lit windows framed by curtains.

Audible today announced that it will record the Broadway hit Sea Wall/A Life, starring Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Tony Award nominee Tom Sturridge, two of the finest actors of their generation, as an Audible Original production, to be made available for millions of listeners globally.

Meet Alex, a photographer on a holiday with his family in the south of France, and Abe, a music producer with a baby on the way. Two men – both fathers, husbands, and sons – take us on a journey you will never forget.

Beautifully acted – Tom Sturridge is so natural and convincing. Jake Gyllenhaal is priceless.
Jesse Green in a New York Times Critics Pick

Sea Wall/A Life is a heart-filled exploration of the beauty of life and meaning of love. Sturridge, in his third collaboration with Tony and Olivier winner Simon Stephens, who wrote this gripping play, performs Sea Wall, an astonishing monologue about love and the human need to know the unknowable. Gyllenhaal continues his artistic collaboration with Olivier Award nominated playwright Nick Payne in A Life, an emotional examination of how sons become fathers and the transformative power of love. Together, Sea Wall/A Life is a must-see performance of dramatic storytelling at its best.

“I speak for both Tom and myself when I say that it has been one of the great privileges of our respective careers to be a part of this show and to perform these exquisite pieces of writing,” said Gyllenhaal. “There is something utterly unique about them both separately and together that has connected us to audiences in a way that somehow unlocks the undeniable truth that we are all connected by love and the inevitable impermanence of life. These pieces connected so personally and profoundly with audiences every night,” said Gyllenhaal. “It’s exciting that with Audible’s release those who weren’t able to catch Sea Wall/A Life during the Broadway run will still be able to experience it in a meaningful way and that this play will live on and continue to connect us to one another.”

An evening that will emotionally wreck you, convince you of Sturridge’s acting prowess, and further consider that Gyllenhaal is one of the finest actors of his generation.
Entertainment Weekly

The release of Sea Wall/A Life in audio is a continuation of Audible’s commitment to fostering creative talent in theatre and bringing theatrical productions to new audiences, which includes its $5 million Emerging Playwright Fund to commission and produce works by emerging playwrights from around the world driven by language and voice. Information about the first 25 commissions can be found here.

Critically acclaimed and award-winning Audible performances of captivating stage productions starring Billy Crudup, Carey Mulligan, Judith Light, John Lithgow, Patti Smith, Billy Crystal, Kit Harington and others are available at www.audible.com/theater.

The powerful writing is excellent in this emotional, stark production. Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal are commanding.
Variety
ABOUT JAKE GYLLENHAAL:

JAKE GYLLENHAAL (Abe). Broadway: Constellations (Drama League Award nomination), Sunday in the Park With George. Off-Broadway: Sea Wall/A Life (Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), Little Shop of Horrors(Encores!), If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Lucille Lortel and Drama League Award nominations). West End: This Is Our Youth (Evening Standard Theatre Award). Films include Spider Man: Far From Home, Velvet Buzzsaw, Wildlife, The Sisters Brothers, Stronger, Okja, Nocturnal Animals (BAFTA nomination), Nightcrawler (Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG nominations), Brokeback Mountain (Academy Award nomination and BAFTA Award), Southpaw, Prisoners, Demolition, Enemy, Everest, End of Watch, Jarhead, Zodiac, Proof, The Good Girl, Moonlight Mile, Lovely and Amazing, October Sky, Source Code, Love & Other Drugs (Golden Globe nomination), Brothers and Donnie Darko. Upcoming: Sunday in the Park With George (West End). Sea Wall/A Life marks Gyllenhaal’s third collaboration with playwright Nick Payne.

ABOUT TOM STURRIDGE:

TOM STURRIDGE (Alex) can most recently be seen in Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, John Malkovich, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Billy Magnussen and Daveed Diggs. Broadway: 1984, Orphans (Tony Award nomination). West End: American Buffalo (Olivier Award nomination). Film: Mary Shelley (opposite Elle Fanning), Journey’s End (with Paul Bettany and Sam Claflin), On the Road (opposite Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund), Far From the Madding Crowd (opposite Carey Mulligan), Song to Song (opposite Ryan Gosling) and Pirate Radio (opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman). TV: “The Hollow Crown” (BBC, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Dame Judi Dench).

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