Verbatim play ”Grenfell: System Failure” reveals initial cast

Casting has been announced for the upcoming production of Grenfell: System Failure, a follow-up piece to 2021’s five-star staging of Grenfell: Value Engineering.

Leading the company and reprising his role as Richard Millett QC, lead counsel to the Inquiry, will be Olivier Award nominee Ron Cook (Andor). He will be joined by returning cast members Derek Elroy (as Leslie Thomas QC), Sally Giles (as Kate Grange QC), David Michaels (as Andy Roe/Nick Hurd), and Thomas Wheatley (as Sir Martin Moore-Bick).

New additions include Nicholas Chambers (as Adrian Pargeter), Sophie Duval (as Sarah Colwell), Tanveer Ghani (as Imran Khan), Shahzad Ali (as Hisam Chouchair), Madeleine Bowyer (as Deborah French) and Howard Crossley (as Eric Pickles), with further casting still to be confirmed.

The not-for-profit production has described the show’s intention to “interrogate why the testing regime failed to warn of the danger of installing inflammable materials, why manufacturers promoted such products with no regard to safety, why government regulations ignored the dangers and were not updated, and why politicians failed to ensure proper oversight.” It is adapted by Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicolas Kent, with Kent also on directing duties.

Grenfell: System Failure features set design by Miki Jablkowska and Matt Eagland, lighting design by Matt Eagland, sound and video design by Andy Graham, costume design by Carly Brownbridge, casting by Amy Ball CDG with community liaison from Suresh Grover, and production photography by Beresford Hodge.

The new piece will run at the Playground Theatre (18 February to 25 February), The Tabernacle (27 February to 12 March) and Marylebone Theatre (14 March to 26 March).

The production will also run a series of panel discussions alongside the run with organisations such as Grenfell United, Justice4Grenfell, Next of Kin and Lancaster West, while also providing £5 ticket options for residents local to the Grenfell Tower.

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