Theatre News

Cast: Stewart-Jarrett in Arcola Disney, Officer, Master Class

Misfits star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett will feature alongside Chris New, Mariah Gale and Steve Guadino in the Arcola’s forthcoming 21st anniversary revival of Philip Ridley’s controversial play The Pitchfork Disney.

The production, which runs from 1 February to 17 March 2012 (previews from 25 January), will be directed by Edward Dick, who directed a revival of Ridley’s The Fastest Clock in the Universe at Hampstead Theatre in 2009.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Curtis Donovan in Channel 4’s Misfits. His theatre credits include Wig Out! (Royal Court), The History Boys (National Theatre/West End) and Big White Fog (Almeida). He will play Cosmo Disney in The Pitchfork Disney.

Chris New, who plays Presley Stray, can currently to be seen in the multi award-winning film Weekend, while his previous stage credits include Prick Up Your Ears and Bent.

Mariah Gale, who recently played Juliet in Rupert Goold’s Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia to David Tennant’s Hamlet, will play Haley Stray, with the Italian film and theatre actor Steve Guadino as Pitchfork Cavalier.


Full casting has been announced for The Recruiting Officer, Josie Rourke’s inaugural production as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, which opens on 14 February 2012 (previews from 9 February).

Joining the previously announced Nancy Carroll, Mackenzie Crook, Mark Gatiss, Gawn Grainger, Tobias Menzies and Rachael Stirling are Nicholas Burns, Kathryn Drysdale and Aimee- Ffion Edwards.

It’s with the promise of money, glory and adventure that Captain Plume (Menzies) is recruiting the men of Shrewsbury for the King’s army. He’s also determined to make a conquest of Sylvia (Carroll), but as she’s now an heiress she can afford to put him to the test. All the while, the scheming Melinda (Stirling) is toying with the affections of Captain Brazen (Gatiss) and the gentleman Mr Worthy (Burns).

From military manoeuvring to sexual strategies, Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer, written in 1706, is an unashamed celebration of love, lustiness and victory in battle and in the bedroom.

It runs at the Donmar until 14 April, and will be followed by a revival of Robert Holman’s Making Noise Quietly (19 April to 26 May), directed by Peter Gill; and completing the season is Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s satirical drama The Physicists (31 May to 21 July) in a new version by Jack Thorne, who worked with Rourke at the Bush Theatre.


Full casting has also been announced for the West End transfer of Stephen Wadsworth’s Broadway production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class, starring Tyne Daly as the legendary opera soprano Maria Callas.

Joining Daly are Gerard Carey (Stagehand), Jeremy Cohen (Emmanuel Weinstock), Naomi O’Connell (Sharon Graham), Dianne Pilkington (Sophie De Palma) and Garrett Sorenson (Anthony Candolino).

Master Class, which won the Tony for Best Play in 1996, is based on the master classes Callas gave in the early 1970s in New York, after her final stage performances. As the diva works with three young singers just venturing into their professional careers, she reminisces on her past on-stage and off.

It runs at the Vaudeville from 7 February (previews from 21 January) to 28 April 2012.