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Cast: McNeice & More King's Speech, Hawkins ConstellationsDate: 18 November 2011
Further casting has today (18 November 2011) been announced for the national tour of David Seidler's The King's Speech which tours from Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre on 10 February (previews from 2 February 2011), directed by former RSC artistic director Adrian Noble.
Emma Fielding, Joss Ackland and Ian McNeice will join the previously announced Charles Edwards and Jonathan Hyde in the first stage production of the play, which became an Oscar-winning phenomenon on the big screen.
Ian McNeice plays Churchill - a figure he has portrayed in the National Theatre's Never So Good as well as on screen in Doctor Who. Know for his role in ITV's Doc Martin, McNeice has also been seen in Jonathan Creek and Doctor Who in addition to extensive stage credits.
Fielding, who plays Queen Elizabeth, will be well-known to fans of television's Cranford and The Ghost Squad and has also appeared in numerous RSC and National Theatre. She was Olivier Award-nominated for her role in Private Lives in 2002, transferring with the production to Broadway.
Joss Ackland plays George V. As well as creating the role of Juan Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita and starring in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Ackland has appeared in over 130 films in a career going as far back as 1949.
The King’s Speech tells of how King George VI conquered his debilitating stammer with the help of maverick Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. Charles Edwards and Jonathan Hyde take on the roles on screen by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.
The tour kicks off at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford on 10 February (previews from 2 February 2011) before travelling to Nottingham Theatre Royal, Bath Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal Brighton and Richmond Theatre, winding up at Newcastle's Theatre Royal on 17 March 2012.
Director Adrian Noble was the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003. Among myriad directing credits he has helmed several West End musicals including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Secret Garden and is signed on to helm The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Bath next season.
Full casting has also today been confirmed for Nick Payne's fourth play, Constellations with Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Hawkins joining previously announced Rafe Spall in the two-hander.
Michael Longhurst helms the production, which runs from 19 January (previews from 13 January) to 11 February 2012 at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs and follows Payne's Wanderlust at the Sloan Square venue.
Hawkins picked up her Golden Globe for her performance in Mike Leigh's 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky and she returns to the Royal Court for the first time since appearing opposite opposite Jerome Flynn, Robert Glenister and Daniel Mays The Winterling in 2006. Hawkins was last seen on stage making her Broadway debut in Mrs Warren’s Profession with the Roundhouse Theatre Company in 2010.
Her other credits include Romeo And Juliet and The Cherry Orchard. Her film appearances include Made In Dagenham, An Education and Never Let Me Go and she has been seen on TV in Tipping The Velvet, Fingersmith and Persuasion.
Payne's other credit include One Day When We Were Young for Paines Plough at Sheffield Theatres and If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet at the Bush Theatre.
- by Andrew Girvan
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