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Home , Almeida Theatre, Carrie Cracknell, Ella Hickson, Gate Theatre (London), Patrick Kennedy (actor), Rufus Norris

OIL CASTING UPDATE

World Premiere OIL a new by directed by Friday 7 October – Saturday 26 November Press Night: Friday 14 October, 7pm

The full cast of OIL, which opens on 14 October, is Anne-Marie Duff, Nabil Elouahabi, Brian Ferguson, Ellie Haddington, , Yolanda Kettle, Tom Mothersdale, Lara Sawalha, Sam Swann and Christina Tam. Playwright Ella Hickson and director Carrie Cracknell make their Almeida debuts with the world premiere of this explosive new play which drills deep into the world’s relationship with this finite resource.

The Stone Age. The Bronze Age. The Iron Age. The Age of Oil. The Stone Age didn’t end for want of stones. One woman and her daughter. What do you do when you know it’s going to run out?

An epic, hurtling crash of empire, history and family – OIL drives our imaginations from 1889 to 2016 and beyond.

Oil will be designed by Vicki Mortimer, with movement by Joseph Alford, lighting by Lucy Carter, composition by Stuart Earl and sound by Peter Rice. The dramaturg is Jenny Worton. Casting is by Julia Horan CDG.

Ella Hickson’s previous plays include Wendy and Peter Pan for the RSC; Boys for Headlong, Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and HighTide Festival, which subsequently transferred to ; The Authorised Kate Bane at the Traverse Theatre; Gift as part of Decade for Headlong; Hot Mess at the Arcola; Precious Little Talent at Trafalgar Studios; and Eight which played at Bedlam Theatre, P.S. 122 New York and Trafalgar Studios, and won the 2008 Fringe First Award. In 2011 Ella was the Pearson writer in residence at the Lyric Hammersmith. She was the recipient of the 2013 Catherine Johnson Award.

Carrie Cracknell’s work includes , and Blurred Lines at the National Theatre; and A Doll’s House at the , which transferred to the West End and Broadway; Birdland, Pigeons and Searched for the Royal Court; and Wozzeck at ENO. Carrie was Artistic Director of the , from 2007 to 2012. She has also previously been Associate Director at both the Young Vic and the Royal Court.

Anne-Marie Duff’s theatre credits include in Macbeth at the Lincoln Centre Theatre; Husbands and Sons, Strange Interlude, , Collected Stories and at the National Theatre; Berenice and Days of Wine and Roses at the ; Cause Celebre at ; The Soldiers Fortune and The Daughter In Law at the Young Vic. Her film credits include Suffragette, Before I Go To Sleep, Molly Moon, Closed Circuit, Nowhere Boy, The Last Station, Is Anybody There? and The Magdalene Sisters. Television includes From Darkness, Murder, The Accused – Mo’s Story, Parade’s End, Margo, The History of Mr Polly, Elizabeth – The Virgin Queen and Shameless.

Nabil Elouahabi’s theatre credits include Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State at the National Theatre; Fireworks at the Royal Court; I Call My Brothers and The Nightmares Of Carlos Fuentes at the Arcola; Love Your Soldiers at , Sheffield; Crossing Jerusalem and The Great Game – Afghanistan at the Tricycle and on tour in the USA. Television includes: The Night Of, The Missing, 24: Live Another Day, Top Boy, Mad Dogs, Generation Kill, The Path To 9/11 and EastEnders. Film credits include Zero Dark Thirty, Charlie Wilson’s War, In This World, Ali G Indahouse and The Sum of all Fears.

Brian Ferguson’s theatre credits include Everything That Gives Off Light for the TEAM and National Theatre of Scotland at the Edinburgh International Festival; Brideshead Revisited for English Touring Theatre & York Theatre Royal; The Broken Heart and The Changeling at Shakespeare’s Globe; at Citizens Theatre; Adler & Gibb at the Royal Court; Earthquakes in London at the National Theatre; Threeway (Invisible Dot for Edinburgh Festival); Ugly Bird and The Game Show at the ; The Aztec Trilogy, Richard III, Dunsinane and Shakespeare in a suitcase for the RSC; Money at The Arches; Black Watch, Rupture and Snuff for the National Theatre of Scotland. Television includes: Line of Duty, Our World War, Field of Blood; Doctors; River City and Taggart.

Ellie Haddington’s theatre credits include and My Mother Said I Never Should for Chichester Festival Theatre and the Young Vic; Taking Care of Baby for Birmingham Rep and ; Denial at the Old Vic; The House of Bernada Alba for Theatr Clwyd; at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Mother Courage and The Sea at the National Theatre; Richard III for the RSC; ; The Winter’s Tale; Anna Christie; The Voysey Inheritance; Female Parts; and Mother Courage & Her Children at Manchester Royal Exchange. Television includes Bad Girls; Dickensian; Ordinary Lies; The Café; Doctor Who; A Very Social Secretary and Coronation Street. Film includes Their Finest; Creation; Sparkle; The Lawless Heart; Breathtaking; Creatures and Bombshell.

Patrick Kennedy’s theatre credits include Photograph 51 in the West End; No Quarter at the Royal Court; The Glass Menagerie for Shared Experience; at the Plymouth Theatre Royal and on tour; Therese Raquin at the National Theatre; Everything Is Illuminated at Hampstead Theatre; at Sheffield Lyceum and the Albany Theatre; and A Midsummer Night's Dream and Les Liasons Dangereuses at the . Television includes The Collection; Churchill’s Secret; The Money; ; Murder On The Home Front; ; Peep Show; Parade's End; Black Mirror: The National Anthem; The 39 Steps; Bleak House; Cambridge Spies and Spooks. Film includes London Has Fallen; Mr Holmes; November Man; Warhorse; Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; The Last Station; Me and Orson Welles; Atonement; In Transit; A Good Year; Mrs Henderson Presents and Munich.

Yolanda Kettle’s theatre credits include The Deep Blue Sea at the National Theatre; at Chichester Festival Theatre; Birdland and Anhedonia at the ; A Doll’s House at the Young Vic and Duke of York’s Theatre, West End; and Pride and Prejudice at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Her television credits include The Collection, Love Nina and Father Brown.

Tom Mothersdale’s theatre credits include Cleansed at the National Theatre; The Glass Menagerie, Boys and Romeo and for Headlong; B, Crave and 4:48 Psychosis at Sheffield Crucible; at the Young Vic; In at Playhouse; Missing Dates at Hampstead Theatre; King Lear at Chichester Festival Theatre and Brooklyn Academy of Music; Iphigenia and The Phoenix of Madrid at Theatre Royal, Bath; An Ideal Husband (West End); The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare’s Globe; A Thousand stars explode in the sky at the Lyric Hammersmith. Television credits include Endeavour, Peaky Blinders and The Missing.

Lara Sawalha’s theatre credits include Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State at the National Theatre; A is for Ali at the Turner Theatre; Nahda and Tunnel for Sandpit Productions; Jordanian Dirty Laundry for the Nabil Sawalha Comedy Group; Return for 3fates; Sour Lips for Paper Tiger; and Rest upon the Wind for AM Productions. Her film includes: Roads to Olympia; Father is doing fine; The Last Friday; and High Heels.

Sam Swann’s theatre credits include Wendy and Peter Pan and Dunsinane at the RSC; Pomona at the Orange Tree, National Theatre, and Manchester Royal Exchange; The Kitchen and Greenland at the National Theatre; Primetime at the Royal Court; and Mercury Fur at Trafalgar Studios. Television includes Mr Selfridge, Jekyll & Hyde, Vicious, The Five, Atlantis, Gothic and Privates. Christina Tam’s television includes Brief Encounters; In the Club; Doctors; Prey; Derek; Scott & Bailey; In the Flesh; At the Sea; Last Tango in Halifax; Give Out Girls; Coronation Street; Body Farm; Hollyoaks; Bedlam; The Accused - Kenny’s Story; Spooks Code 9; Mobile; Innocence; and Bodies. Her film credits includes Limehouse Golem and Automata.

ENDS

For all press enquiries and images, contact Susie Newbery, Press and Media Relations Manager, on 020 7288 4911 or [email protected]

Notes to Editors

ABOUT THE The Almeida Theatre exists to launch the next generation of British artists onto the world stage. A small room with an international reputation, the Almeida began life as a literary and scientific society – complete with library, lecture theatre and laboratory. From the beginning, the building existed to investigate the world. Today, the Almeida makes brave new work that asks big questions: of plays, of theatre and of the world around us.

The Almeida brings together the most exciting artists to take risks; to provoke, inspire and surprise audiences; to interrogate the present, dig up the past and imagine the future. Whether new work or reinvigorated classic, whether in the theatre, on the road or online, the Almeida makes live to excite, enliven and entertain. The Almeida makes argument for theatre as an essential force in an increasingly fragmented society.

Founded by in 1980, his successors were and Ian McDiarmid in 1990, and Michael Attenborough in 2002. Productions including Hamlet with in 2005, ’ , Ruined by Lynn Nottage and most recently , and King Charles III have given the theatre international renown.

In summer 2013, joined the Almeida as Artistic Director. His first production was : a new musical thriller, which transferred to Broadway in 2016. In 2014 the Almeida productions of Ghosts and Chimerica won eight Olivier Awards including Best Actress, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best New Play, Best Director and Best Revival and enjoyed transfers to the West End and Broadway respectively. This was followed by King Charles III, which transferred to the West End at the Wyndham’s Theatre and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2015, transferred to Broadway, and toured the UK and Sydney. Other notable productions as Artistic Director include Richard III, and Medea.

In summer 2015, the Almeida presented Almeida Greeks, which included three major new productions of , Bakkhai and Medea, the latter of which was directed by Goold, with a festival of events, performances, talks and readings running alongside.

He co-directed The Iliad and The Odyssey with Almeida Associate Director . Involving more than 60 readers, The Iliad reached an audience of over 50,000 people across the world, watching online, or in person at the and the Almeida Theatre. The Odyssey followed the huge success of The Iliad, and involved an army of artists in various locations around London. As with The lliad, both theatrical events were live streamed throughout and achieved ground-breaking levels of online engagement.

The Almeida is grateful to its Principal Partner Aspen, in its second term as the Almeida’s most significant corporate supporter. Aspen was established in 2002 and is a leading global insurance and reinsurance company. www.aspen.co

The Almeida is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

ALMEIDA LISTINGS INFORMATION

Friday 7 October – Saturday 26 November World Premiere OIL a new play by Ella Hickson directed by Carrie Cracknell Press Night: Friday 14 October, 7pm

Address Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London, N1 1TA Café Bar The Almeida Café Bar is open from 11.30am -11.00pm, Monday to Saturday

Box Office Online almeida.co.uk Phone 020 7359 4404 (10am – 7pm Monday – Saturday) In person 10am – 7pm, Monday – Saturday Nearest Tube: Angel / &

Oil performances Friday 7 October – Saturday 26 November Performances at 7pm Midweek matinees on Wednesday at 1.30pm from 19 October Saturday matinees at 1.30pm from 22 October

Website almeida.co.uk Twitter @AlmeidaTheatre Facebook facebook.com/almeidatheatre Instagram @almeida_theatre

Access Oil Audio Described Performances: Saturday 12 November at 1.30pm (Touch Tour at 11.15am) Friday 18 November at 7pm (Touch Tour at 5.30pm) Oil Captioned Performance: Friday 11 November at 7pm

Talkback Post-show discussion with members of the company Free to same day ticket holders

Oil Monday 24 October