Cast announced for Terry Johnson's Insignificance at the Arcola

The first London revival of Terry Johnson's Insignificance in 20 years will star Johnson's own daughter Alice Bailey Johnson (The Libertine) when it opens next month.

The show, which sees four American icons gathered in a fantasy 1953 hotel room, will be directed by David Mercatali. It opens at the Arcola Theatre on 18 October.

The cast is completed by Simon Rouse (The Dresser), Tom Mannion (The Patriotic Traitor) and Oliver Hembrough (A Further Education), who take on the roles of Albert Einstein, Senator McCarthy and Joe DiMaggio respectively. Johnson will portray Marilyn Monroe.

Mercatali comments: "When Insignificance premiered, America had a celebrity president in Ronald Reagan. Now it has a celebrity president once again. It's a fascinating time to revive this play about four individuals who are also towering icons, at the top of their games. What's the reality of that for them? And what happens when the fantasies we project on to people become part our reality, part of the world we live in?"

Insignificance premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1982, and won Johnson the Plays & Players Award for Best Play, and the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.

Insignificance runs at the Arcola Theatre from 18 October to 18 November, with a press night on 23 October.