Theatre News

Cast: Bradley in Moonlight, Get Santa, .45 & Bea

| London's West End |

20 October 2010

Casting has been announced for the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Harold Pinter’s Moonlight which will open on 12 April (previews from 7 April) and run until 28 May 2011. Olivier Award winner David Bradley, who recently starred in The Caretaker at Sheffield before it transferring to London’s Tricycle Theatre, will lead the cast as Andy.

A tragic comedy of family dysfunction, Moonlight sees Bradley return to the Donmar, having previously appeared in the Donmar’s repertoire productions of Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night in 2002. Bradley, who won the Olivier for Best Supporting Actor for King Lear in 1991, has recently played caretaker Argus Filch in the Harry Potter film series. His extensive stage credits include Endgame at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, The Homecoming and Mother Courage at the National Theatre and Julius Caesar and Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The play is directed by Bijan Sheibani, an associate director of the National Theatre and former artistic director of ATC, whose previous credits include Eurydice and The Brothers Size at the Young Vic and Gone Too Far at the Royal Court.

North London’s Hampstead Theatre, under the new artistic directorship of Edward Hall, have released the details of a season of experimental theatre productions in the theatre’s new downstairs space.

The first two pieces of new writing announced are Gary Lennon‘s .45 directed by Wilson Milam and Small Hours written by Lucy Kirkwood and Ed Hime, directed by Katie Mitchell.

Launching the space, .45 is a story of one woman’s struggle for survival in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen in the Seventies and how obsession, addiction and abuse leads her to execute an elaborate plan of revenge. The play will run from 2 to 27 November 2010.

The cast have been announced as Daniel Caltagirone, who appeared in the 2002 Roman Polanski film The Pianist; Natalie Dormer whose credits include Sweet Nothings at the Young Vic earlier this year; Chris Reilly whose stage credits include Hobson’s Choice at Chichester Festival Theatre; Katie Wimpenny who appeared in Harvest at Oxford Playhouse and on tour, and Emma Powell whose credits include The Fox at the Arcola.

Writer Gary Lennon is an American stage and screen writer whose credits including American television drama The Shield. This is the first time one of his plays has been produced in the UK. Fellow American Wilson Milam is a Tony Award nominated director for his production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway. His British credits include Harvest at the Royal Court and Othello for Shakespeare’s Globe.

Casting has been announced for the Royal Court Theatre’s first ever family Christmas show, Get Santa! which runs from 1 December 2010 to 15 January 2011.

Written and directed by the award-winning Anthony Neilson with music by Nick Powell, the cast includes Bill Buckhurst, Imogen Doel, Tom Godwin, Amanda Hadingue, Gabriel Quigley, David Sterne and Robert Stocks.

Written for children 7 year-old and older, Get Santa! follows a ten-year old girl, Holly, in her quest to find the perfect family, meeting a host of weird and wonderful characters along the way.

Renowned for his new work, Anthony Neilson’s work at the Royal Court includes The Wonderful World of Dissocia which was winner of Best Production in both the TMA and Scottish Theatre Awards and The Censor, which won the Writers Guild and Time Out Award.

The full cast has been announced as Bill Buckhurst (Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe), Tom Godwin (Earthquakes in London at the National Theatre), Amanda Hadingue (Here Lies Mary Spindler for the RSC), Gabriel Quigley (Bliss/Mud at the Tron Theatre), David Sterne (Nation at the National Theatre), Robert Stocks (Chatroom at the National Theatre) and Imogen Doel.

Composer Nick Powell previously collaborated with Neilson on Relocated at the Royal Court. He created musical The Wolves In The Walls for the National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable.

The production will be designed by Miriam Buether. Lighting is designed by Chahine Yavroyan with sound by Nick Powell.

Tom Basden‘s Joseph K, which runs from 17 November (previews 11 November) until 18 December 2010 at the Gate Theatre, has announced its cast as Pip Carter, Sian Brooks, Tim Key and Basden himself.

Directed by Gate associate director Lyndsay Turner, Joseph K is a darkly absurd new play based on Kafka’s novel The Trial and tells the story of a man who wakes on the morning of his 30th birthday to find he has been arrested with no idea of what he’s done wrong.

Basden is an award-winning comedy writer and comedian, who brought his one-man show Tom Basden Won’t Say Anything to the Garrick in 2007 after a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

He appears with his regular collaborator, comedian and poet Tim Key and are joined in the ensemble by Pip Carter whose stage credits include The White Guard and We Knew Nothing of Each Other at the National and Sian Brooks who was recently seen in Wanderlust at the Royal Court and The Birthday Party at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Casting has been announced for Bea at the Soho Theatre with Pippa Nixon taking on the title role. Written and directed by Mick Gordon, the show opens on 7 December (previews from 1 December 2010) for a limited run until 8 January 2011.

Telling the story of a woman who suffers from MS and the impact the debilitating condition has on those around her, the full cast will include Al Weaver and Paula Wilcox. Weaver, who plays Ray, was recently seen in the BBC television series Sherlock Holmes. Wilcox, who plays Mrs James, is best known for her role in seventies TV drama Man about the House and more recently appeared in A Touch of Frost and Emmerdale.

Director Mick Gordon is the artistic director of On Theatre, who co-produce with Soho Theatre. He was formally artistic director of the Gate Theatre and was Trevor Nunn‘s associate at the National Theatre. On Theatre’s previous productions include On Ego, On Religion and On Emotion.