Several major upcoming plays in London – and slightly further afield – have recently announced casting updates…
At the West End’s Apollo Theatre (See News, 30 Oct 2009), Stephen Campbell Moore, Jemima Rooper and Daniel Lapaine will join David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker for Howard Davies’ new revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, which opens on 27 May 2010 (previews from 19 May). Joe Keller (Suchet) has sacrificed his honour to maintain his family’s prosperity. His wife Kate (Wanamaker) has managed to hide her knowledge of Joe’s previous crimes, but things come to a head when their son Chris (Moore) decides to marry the former fiancée of his lost brother.
Also in the West End, at Trafalgar Studios 1 from 4 May to 3 July 2010 (previews from 23 April), Australians Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes will make their West End debuts reprising their starring roles in the UK premiere of Oz hit Holding the Man (See News, 27 Jan 2010). Tommy Murphy’s award-winning adaptation of the best-selling memoir by the late Australian actor, writer and activist Tim Conigrave tells the love story of Conigrave (Edmonds) and John Caleo (Zeremos). Simon Burke (whose West End credits include The Sound of Music and La Cage aux Folles) also stars in the cast, along with Kath and Kim’s Jane Turner.
At Shakespeare’s Globe (See News, 15 Feb 2010), Elliot Cowan and Laura Rogers will be joined in Macbeth by: Karen Anderson, Christian Bradley, Michael Camp, James Clyde, Nick Court, Keith Dunphy, Julius D’Silva, Janet Fullerlove, Simone Kirby, James McArdle, Ian Pirie, Frank Scantori, Ken Shorter and Craig Vye. Macbeth, directed by Lucy Bailey], starts the season off on Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April, and runs until 27 June. It’s choreographed by Javier De Frutos.
For Headlong Theatre company (See News, 21 Sep 2009), Zawe Ashton will play the title role opposite Con O’Neill’s King Herod in Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Oscar Wilde’s 1896 verse tragedy Salome, based on the Biblical tale about King Herod’s step-daughter who performs the dance of the seven veils in return for the head of John the Baptist. A co-production with Leicester Curve, the production opens Leicester from 6 to 15 May 2010, before visiting Guildford, Richmond, Oxford, Newcastle and Brighton before concluding with a London season at Hampstead Theatre from 22 June to 17 July. Also in the cast are Jaye Griffiths (as Herodias), Tom Byam Shaw, Vyelle Croom, Sam Donovan and Seun Shote.
At Hampstead (See News, 14 Dec 2009), Salome is preceded by from 17 May to 12 June 2010, by the premiere of Canary, the new play by Beautiful Thing author Jonathan Harvey, which is co-produced by Hampstead, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and English Touring Theatre and directed by Hettie MacDonald. Set in Liverpool and London over five decades, the hard-hitting tale of forbidden love explores changing attitudes to homosexuality. It’s advised for ages 16+. Canary opens first in Liverpool, from 23 April to 15 May, and embarks on a regional tour after Hampstead. Paula Wilcox is in the cast, which also includes Sean Gallagher, Philip Mcginley, Jodie Mcnee, Hugh Ross and Kevin Trainor.
And, one to travel for, Nigel Harman and John Light will alternate in the roles of feuding brothers in Paul Miller’s revival of Sam Shepard’s 1980 play True West, which runs from 18 May to 5 June 2010 (previews from 13 May) at Sheffield Crucible (See News, 23 Sep 2009). Austin, a screenwriter, and Lee, a small-time crook, battle it out in the family’s Mojave Desert homestead. Role assignments for press night will be decided by the toss of a coin. The play has famously encouraged such role-swapping in the past, with renowned productions at the Donmar Warehouse in 1994 (starring Mark Rylance and Michael Rudko) and on Broadway (with Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C Reilly) in 2000.
