Plays Cast: Grandage’s Privates, Arabian Nights, Old Money & Promise

Full casting has been announced for Privates on Parade, the first production in the Michael Grandage Company’s glittering West End season at the Noel Coward Theatre.

As previously announced, the production, which runs from 10 December 2012 (previews from 1 December) to 2 March 2013, will star Simon Russell Beale.

Joining him will be: Chris Chan (Lee), Sophiya Haque (Sylvia Morgan), Harry Hepple (Lance Corporal Charles Bishop), Mark Lewis Jones (Sergeant-Major Reg Drummond), John Marquez (Corporal Len Bonny), Brodie Ross (Leading Aircraftman Eric Young-Love), Sam Swainsbury (Flight-Sergeant Kevin Cartwright), Joseph Timms (Private Steven Flowers), Sadao Ueda (Cheng) and Angus Wright (Major Giles Flack).

Russell Beale plays the cross-dressing Captain Dennis whose performances
of Marlene Dietrich, Vera Lynn and Carmen Miranda form the centrepiece
of Peter Nichols‘ award-winning 1977 comedy set against the murderous backdrop of
the Malaysian campaign at the end of the Second World War.

Michael Grandage directs Privates on Parade, which is followed at the Noel Coward by Peter and Alice starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, The Cripple Of Inishmaan starring Daniel Radcliffe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Sheridan Smith as Titania and David Walliams as Bottom, and Henry V starring Jude Law.

In other casting news:

Lu Kemp‘s production of The Arabian Nights at the Tricycle Theatre, which runs from 30 November to 12 January, will feature an ensemble cast comprising: Jonathan Bonnici (Madman/Ensemble), Denton Chikura (Harun Al Rashid/Ensemble), Tunji Falana (Prince of Fools/Ensemble), Sandy Grierson (Sharyar/Aziz), Éva Magyar (Azizah/ Ensemble), Itxaso Moreno (Jester’s Wife/Ensemble), Adura Onashile (Perfect Love/Ensemble), Tahirah Sharif (Dunyazade/Ensemble), Harmage Singh Kalirai (The Wazir), Ony Uhiara (Scheherezade/Sympathy) and Hemi Yeroham (Jester/Ensemble).

Maureen Lipman and Tracy-Ann Oberman will be joined in the cast of Old Money at Hampstead Theatre by Nadia Clifford, Geoffrey Freshwater, Eve Pearce and Timothy Watson. Billed as “an astute comedy of personal discovery”, Sarah Wooley‘s play – her first in the main space at Hampstead – is directed by Terry Johnson and runs from 29 November to 12 January.

The Promise, the first production in the final Donmar Trafalgar season at Trafalgar Studios 2, will star Max Bennett (Marat), Gwilym Lee (Leonidik) and Joanna Vanderham (Lika). Penelope Skinner’s new version of Aleksei Arbuzov’s play – translated by Ariadne Nicolaeff – is directed by Alex Sims and runs from 15 November to 18 December 2012.