Full cast announced for The Painkiller

The full cast joining Rob Brydon and Kenneth Branagh in the upcoming production of The Painkiller has been announced.

Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser, Mark Hadfield and Alex Macqueen will star in the comedy, which is directed and adapted by Sean Foley.

Blakley (Rules for Living, Chimerica) will play Michelle, Hadfield (Matchbox Theatre, Made in Dagenham) will play Vincent, Macqueen (Two Bears – A Response to Two Kings, The Laws of War) plays Dent and Fraser will be making his professional debut as the policeman.

The Painkiller is an adaptation of Francis Verber's French farce where Branagh and Brydon play two men in two lonely hotel rooms with an adjoining door. One of them is a killer and one of them wants to die.

The play makes up Branagh's seven-play season which has features Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh in The Winter's Tale, Zoe Wanamaker in Harlequinade and All On Her Own and the revival of Red Velvet.

The Painkiller opens on 17 March and runs until 30 April.