Cast for Going the Distance online premiere revealed

Casting for Yasmeen Khan and Henry Filloux-Bennett's new play Going the Distance, set to premiere online in October, has been revealed.

Co-produced by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, The Dukes and The Watermill Theatre and directed by Felicity Montagu (making her directorial debut), the piece follows a community centre fighting to save its future by staging a fundraising production inspired by (but, for rights purposes, not based on) The Wizard of Oz.

Sara Crowe stars as Em, Nicole Evans as Billie, Shobna Gulati as Vic, Sarah Hadland as Rae, Merch Husey as Kem, Matthew Kelly as Frank, Emma McDonald as Gail, and Penny Ryder as Maggie with Stephen Fry as the Narrator.

Fry, who has appeared in three previous digital productions created by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, said today: "My involvement with the Lawrence Batley Theatre over three brilliantly imaginative, innovative and original lockdown dramas was one of the features that made the months of sourdough, banana bread and general weirdness bearable.

"Henry Filloux-Bennett and his team managed to find the heart of what theatre and dramatic performance are even in the heart of a tumultuously difficult and uncertain time. It helped so many of us keep the faith in theatre and what it can be."

The piece's creative team is to be revealed by the production.