Plays Cast: Sharp Leads X at Court, Sucker, Black
The Royal Court has announced casting for two forthcoming premiere productions – Nick Grosso’s Ingredient X and Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch.
Lesley Sharp, James Lance and Indira Varma will lead the cast of Ingredient X, which runs in the Theatre Upstairs from 26 May to 19 June 2010 (previews from 20 May).
The play, which is directed by Deborah Bruce, is a tough new comedy about addiction centring on recovering alcholic Frank (Lance), his X-Factor addict neighbour Rosanna (Sharp – who recently starred in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice alongside X-Factor contestant Diana Vickers), and Frank’s wife Katie (Varma).
Opening in the Theatre Downstairs on 18 June (previews from 11 June), Sucker Punch looks back on “what I was like to be young and Black in the 80s” through the prism of amateur boxing. In the red corner is Leon Davidson – Black British champ or Uncle Tom? In the blue corner: Troy Augustus – American powerhouse or naïve cash cow?
Two young ‘actors-turned-boxers’, Daniel Kaluuya (Oxford Street) and Anthony Welsh (Pornography), will portray Leon and Troy respectively. They’ve been training under the tutelage of former British boxer and European champ Errol Christie, in order to be “fighting fit” for Sacha Wares‘ production, which will see the Theatre Downstairs transformed into a boxing arena.
In other play casting news, long running thriller The Woman in Black has announced a new cast, who begin performances on 6 April 2010 at the Fortune Theatre.
Michael Mears will take over from Julian Forsyth as Arthur Kipps and Orlando Wells will replace Christopher Naylor as The Actor in the two-hander, which is adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill’s book.
Mears’ London theatre credits include All’s Well That End’s Well, Nation and Harper Regan at the National, while Wells was recently seen in the West End run of The History Boys.
The Woman in Black is directed by Robin Herford, designed by Michael Holt with lighting by Kevin Sleep. As well as the West End run, the show is currently also on its tenth national tour (See News, 23 Dec 2009).
