Harry Melling, known for playing Dudley Dursley in the Potter films, has been cast in the new play I am a Camera.  He will be portraying the title character Christopher Isherwood, an English-American novelist. I am a Camera is based on Isherwood’s memoirs Goodbbye to Berlin which documents his experiences during pre-Nazi Germany and the people he met. A synopsis of the play may be read below.

Based on Christopher Isherwood’s memoirs ‘Goodbye to Berlin’, and the inspiration for the musical ‘Cabaret’, I am a Camera is part glamorous whirlwind of Berlin Bohemia, part harrowing depiction of the Nazi’s rise to power.

I am a Camera’s title is a quote taken from Isherwood’s first page – “I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking”. The play’s Broadway premiere in 1951 was a triumph for Julie Harris as the insouciant Sally Bowles, winning her the first of her four Tony Awards for Best Leading Actress in a play. A subsequent 1955 film adaptation was also called ‘I Am a Camera’. With a screenplay by John Collier and music by Malcolm Arnold, it starred Julie Harris, Laurence Harvey and Shelley Winters. The play and film in turn went on to inspire the musical ‘Cabaret’ in 1966 by John Kander and Fred Ebb and the1972 film ‘Cabaret’ with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York.

The play will run for three weeks at The Vault at Southwark Playhouse, from Wednesday September 5 – Saturday September 22. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit the Southwark Playhouse website.