Theatre News

Plays cast: Lisa Dillon and Sharon Small in RSC's Roaring Girls season, Superior Donuts in Southwark and Hotel Plays

Casting has been announced for the RSC’s ”Roaring Girl” and ”Arden of Faversham”, Tracy Letts’ ”Superior Donuts” and ”The Hotel Plays” at the Langham Hotel

Lisa Dillon
Lisa Dillon
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the cast for the first two plays in the Roaring Girls season this spring. The Roaring Girl by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, and Arden of Faversham written anonymously, will each run at the Swan Theatre from April 2014.

Lisa Dillon stars in the season opener, The Roaring Girl as ‘Governess of London’s underworld’ Moll Cutpurse. The show, directed by Jo Davies, will run at Swan Theatre from 9 April to 30 September 2014.

Arden of Faversham, a 1592 play published by an anonymous source, will be the season's second production, directed by Polly Findlay. Sharon Small will make her RSC debut playing Alice Arden, the largest role for a woman in all Elizabethan drama. The production will run at the Swan Theatre from 30 April to 2 October.

There is cross casting for the two productions which includes Joe Bannister, Ian Bonar, Peter Bray, Elspeth Brodie, Colin Brown, Faye Castelow, Keir Charles, Liz Crowther, Geoffrey Freshwater, Lizzie Hopley, Joan Iyiola, Tony Jayawardena, Christopher Middleton, Ken Nwosu, Tom Padley, Ian Redford, David Rintoul, Jay Simpson, Timothy Speyer and Harvey Virdi.


The UK premiere of Superior Donuts has announced final casting and a full list of creatives. The production will run at the Southwark Playhouse from 11 February to 8 March 2014.

The story, written by Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright Tracy Letts, highlights a shabby donut shop in Uptown Chicago struggling to withstand its more modern competition. Arthur Przybyszewski, played by Mitchell Mullen is pushed to change the way he views his business and the 'American Dream' after hiring an "excitable romantic" Franco Wicks, played by Jonathan Livingstone. They are accompanied by a cast including Sarah Ball (Officer Randy Osteen), Nick Cavaliere (Max Tarasov), Alexander James Simon (Officer James Bailey), Amanda Walker (Lady Boyle), David Partridge (Luther Flynn), Tom Shepherd (Kevin Magee) and TJ Nelson (Kiril Ivakin).

The creative team includes director Ned Bennett, designer Fly Davis, lighting designer Marec Joyce, composer Theo Vidgen, sound designer Giles Thomas, and costume designer Jessica Knight.


Full casting has been announced for the revival of Tennessee Williams' Hotel Plays, showing at the Langham Hotel. The production was last presented at the hotel in 2012, and this year they are bringing back two of the pieces from previous years. The show will run from 11 February to 8 March 2014.

The two shows from 2012, Green Eyes and Sunburst, will be joined by The Pink Bedroom. The Hotel Plays are produced by Defibrillator, a London based theatre company “looking to bring dynamic, thrilling, edge of your seat theatre and performances to audiences around the world.”

Names joining previously announced cast members Aisling Loftus and Gethin Anthony in Green Eyes and Carol Macready and Jack Mann in Sunburst are Helen George, currently starring in Call the Midwife and Gyuri Sarossy in The Pink Bedroom. Other casting includes Daniel Ings and Linden Walcott-Burton in Starburst.