Theatre News

Kenneth Cranham and Alun Armstrong star in Bath autumn season

The Theatre Royal Bath has announced stellar casting for its autumn season in the Ustinov Studio

Alun Armstrong will star in Exit the King
Alun Armstrong will star in Exit the King
© Dan Wooller

Greg Hicks, Sally Dexter, Kenneth Cranham, Lia Williams and Alun Armstrong are among the stars of the autumn season at Theatre Royal Bath's Ustinov Studio.

They are appearing in a trilogy of European black comedies; Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Play Strindberg, Florian Zeller’s The Father and Eugène Ionesco’s Exit The King.

Hicks and Dexter open the season in Play Strindberg, starring alongside Richard Clothier in Nancy Meckler's production.

Running from 11 September to 11 October 2014, Dürrenmatt's 1968 play is a free adaptation of Strindberg's The Dance of Death, with Hicks and Dexter taking the role of warring married couple Alice and Edgar.

Hicks' myriad stage credits include his recent King Lear for the RSC; Dexter has appeared in Sam Mendes' West End production of Oliver! and Patrick Marber's Closer.

Next, Kenneth Cranham and Lia Williams will perform in Florian Zeller’s Moliere award-winning play, The Father (Le Père), which runs from 16 October to 15 November.

Kenneth Cranham’s numerous stage credits include An Inspector Calls and The Cherry Orchard (National Theatre), The Homecoming (Almeida) and West End productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, The Birthday Party and Gaslight. Lia Williams was recently seen in the West End in a revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times.

Written in 2012, The Father (Le Père) centres on an ageing tap dancer and his daughter Anne. James Macdonald's production uses a new translation by Christopher Hampton.

Rounding off the season, from 20 November to 20 December, is artistic director Laurence Boswell's revival of Ionesco's absurdist comedy Exit The King, in a new translation by Jeremy Sams.

The cast will be led by Alun Armstrong, who spent nine years with the RSC, originated the role of Thenardier in Les Miserables and won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd. His numerous television credits include Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Garrow’s Law, Penny Dreadful and New Tricks.