Cast and West End transfer confirmed for Sam Mendes' The Ferryman

Paddy Considine will make his professional theatre debut in Jez Butterworth's new play, The Ferryman, which opens at the Royal Court in April before transferring to the West End in June.

Directed by Sam Mendes (Spectre, Skyfall, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Considine (The Girl with All the Gifts) will be joined in the cast by Laura Donnelly, who starred in Butterworth's The River in 2012, Star Wars actress Genevieve O’Reilly, and Tony Award-winner Bríd Brennan.

The cast will also include Fra Fee, Stuart Graham, Gerard Horan, Carla Langley, Des McAleer, Conor MacNeill, Rob Malone, Dearbhla Molloy, Eugene O’Hare and Niall Wright.

Further casting, which will include 12 children and a baby, is to be announced.

Butterworth's play – which will run for 16 weeks at the Gielgud Theatre after its initial run at the Royal Court – takes place in rural Derry in 1981 and is set in a farmhouse during preparations for the annual harvest.

The production is developed by and co-produced with Sonia Friedman Productions and in association with Neal Street Productions.

Speaking about the production's West End transfer, Friedman said: "It is thrilling to know that wider audiences will now have a chance to see this extraordinary new work from one of our most important writers."

Tickets for the Royal Court run are sold out, general onsale for the West End transfer begins on Friday 10 February.

Click here to buy tickets for The Ferryman

The Ferryman runs at the Royal Court from 24 April to 20 May, and at the Gielgud Theatre from 20 June to 7 October.