Catherine McCormack will make her RSC debut
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Cast: Bush Books, McCormack Heresy, Metcalf Journey

The Bush Theatre opens its new home, the old library on Uxbridge Road, next month (14 October 2011) with a spectacular 66-writer, 23-director, 130-actor, 24-hour production of Sixty-Six Books.

The cast will include Samuel Barnett, Billy Bragg, Nicholas Burns, Arthur Darvill, Peter De Jersey, Mariah Gale, Beverly Klein, Ralf Little, Pauline McLynn, Hattie Morahan, Bill Paterson, Claire Price, Rafe Spall and Michelle Terry, to name a few.

Sixty-Six Books features writers from a range of disciplines, including Jeanette Winterson, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Wole Soyinka, David Edgar, Tim Rice, Billy Bragg, Carol Ann Duffy and even the Archbishop of Canterbury, who have each crafted an individual and contemporary response to an ancient text.

Outgoing artistic director Josie Rourke said: “I can't imagine a better way to celebrate the opening of the new Bush Theatre. This is an explosion of actors. It feels very right to begin the life of the new Bush with a performance that incorporates the work of over 200 writers, actors, directors and artists.”

Sixty-Six Books previews from 10 October, and runs until 29 October. The performance cycle will also spill out of Shepherd’s Bush for a special 12-hour overnight performance at Westminster Abbey on 21 October.

Catherine McCormack will make her Royal Shakespeare Company debut in the world premiere of Helen Edmundson’s The Heresy of Love, which opens on 8 February 2012 (previews from 2 February) in the Swan Theatre.

McCormack plays Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the 17th-century nun with a gift for writing poetry and plays (including The House a Desires, which was performed as part of the RSC’s Spanish Golden Age Season in 2004). Cruz was celebrated by the court but her success created alarm and jealousy within the Church.

McCormack’s films include Loaded, Braveheart, Spy Game and Dangerous Beauty. Amongst her recent stage credits are: The 39 Steps, Nora in A Doll’s House directed by Peter Hall at the Theatre Royal Bath and the UK tour of Headlong’s Six Characters in Search of an Author.

The Heresy of Love will be directed by Nancy Meckler and designed by Katrina Lindsay, the same team that produced the RSC’s current production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

American actress Laurie Metcalf will join David Suchet in Anthony Page’s West End revival of Eugene O'Neill Long Day's Journey Into Night, which transfers to the Apollo Theatre from 3 April to 18 August 2012 following a run at Richmond Theatre.

O'Neill's 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama tells the story of the Tyrones, a family on the edge, with a druggie mother, penny-pinching father and alcoholic son. The last major West End production, in 2000, also ran on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the Lyric Theatre, with Jessica Lange as mother Mary Tyrone (the part Metcalf will play) and Charles Dance as father James (the part Suchet will play).

Metcalf, who is widely known for playing Jackie Harris in the sitcom Roseanne, was last on the London stage in 2001 when she appeared in All My Sons at the National Theatre. Her most recent stage credits in New York include her Tony-nominated appearance in David Mamet's November.

- Theo Bosanquet & Natalie Generalovich

Related Content

Booking Tickets & Show Listings
	Sixty-Six Books Listing Page
	The Heresy of Love Listing Page
	Long Day's Journey into Night Listing Page

Internal Links
	Review Round-up: Suchet & Metcalf triumph in Long Day's Journey - 11th Apr 2012 roundup
	1st Night Photos: David Suchet returns to Apollo for Long Day's Journey - 11th Apr 2012 photos
	Long Day's Journey into Night - 11th Apr 2012 reviews
	Year of the Producer: Kim Poster's Eureka Moment for Long Day's Journey into Night - 10th Apr 2012 interviews
	Show Pics: David Suchet & Laurie Metcalf take a Long Day's Journey into Night - 4th Apr 2012 photos
	'West End Rules!' in latest issue of Time Out magazine - 22nd Mar 2012 news
	The Heresy of Love (RSC) - 13th Feb 2012 reviews
	Hitting the headlines - 10th Feb 2012 blog
	20 Questions With ... Catherine McCormack - 8th Feb 2012 interviews
	66 Books - 17th Oct 2011 reviews
	Singalong in Halifax - 11th Oct 2011 blog
	Cast: NT King James Bible, RSC Heart of Robin Hood - 22nd Sep 2011 news
	David Suchet Takes Another Long Journey to West End - 28th Jul 2011 news
	Bush Appoints Madani Younis as New Artistic Director - 6th Jul 2011 news