PRESS RELEASE Monday 24 October
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PRESS RELEASE Monday 24 October MARY STUART CASTING UPDATE As rehearsals begin today, the full cast of MARY STUART at the Almeida Theatre is announced. Playing both Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams trade the play’s central roles, decided at each performance by the toss of a coin. Joining them will be Alexander Cobb, Rudi Dharmalingam, Vincent Franklin, David Jonsson, John Light, Carmen Munroe, Eileen Nicholas, Daniel Rabin, Sule Rimi and Alan Williams. Following his critically acclaimed productions of Uncle Vanya and Oresteia, Associate Director Robert Icke will adapt and direct Friedrich Schiller’s play. Two queens. One in power. One in prison. It’s all in the execution. Schiller’s political tragedy takes us behind the scenes of some of British history's most crucial days. Mary Stuart will be designed by Hildegard Bechtler, with lighting by Jackie Shemesh, original composition by Laura Marling, sound by Paul Arditti, and video by Tim Reid. Casting is by Julia Horan CDG. The Associate Director is Daniel Raggett. Alexander Cobb’s theatre credits include Red Velvet for the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company; The Seagull for Headlong; The Magistrate at the National Theatre; Goodbye To All That at the Royal Court Theatre; The Two Gentlemen Of Verona for Rash Dash at Royal & Derngate; and Wasted for Paines Plough. Television includes Indian Summers; The Mimic; Ripper Street; Mr Selfridge; Call The Midwife and Parade’s End. Film includes A Storm in the Stars; and Whitehawk. Rudi Dharmalingam’s previous Almeida credits include Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios) and 1984 at the Playhouse Theatre; Hamlet at the Barbican; Dara, England People Very Nice, Playing with Fire, Rafta Rafta and The History Boys (also on Broadway) at the National Theatre; X and Hope at the Royal Court; Worst Wedding Ever at Salisbury Playhouse; The Events for the Young Vic, Edinburgh Fringe and on UK Tour; The Seagull and The English Game for Headlong Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company and in the West End. Television credits include Doctor Who and Coronation Street. Film includes Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them; radio includes The Events; Tommies; and The Shape of Things (all for BBC Radio 4). Vincent Franklin’s theatre credits include This House at the National Theatre and That Day We Sang for Manchester International Festival. His television credits include Cucumber and Banana for Channel 4; Twenty-Twelve; The Thick of It; Happy Valley series 2; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Grandma's House; The Wrong Mans; Being Human; Doc Martin; Oliver Twist; Never Better; Lead Balloon; The Life & Times Of Vivienne Vyle; Elizabeth - The Virgin Queen; Casanova; The Worst Week Of My Life; Green Wing and The Office. Films include I Do; Mr Turner; The Riot Club; Bright Star; The Illusionist; Confetti; Vera Drake; The Bourne Identity; From Hell; and Topsy-Turvy. This is David Jonsson’s professional debut. Theatre while training includes Pigeon English for Bristol Old Vic at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Romeo and Juliet at Riverside Studios; and Ghosts at Theatre Bankside. John Light’s previous Almeida credits include Carmen Disruption, The Master Builder, Certain Young Men, The Cenci and The Tower. Other theatre credits include Three Days in the Country and The Night Season at the National Theatre; Taken At Midnight at Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe; Luise Miller at the Donmar Warehouse; and Julius Caesar, The Tempest and The Seagull for the RSC. Television credits include Atlantis; Love in a Cold Climate; Cambridge Spies and Silk (all BBC). Film credits include Albert Hobbs; Heights; The Lion in Winter; and Benedict Arnold. Carmen Munroe’s theatre includes Richard III at the New Diorama; Mother Courage at Nottingham Playhouse; Cain for the RSC; The House of Bernarda Alba for Brixton Shaw Theatre at the Greenwich Theatre; Trouble In Mind, Fabulation, Gem of the Ocean, Walk Hard - Talk Loud and The Owl and the Pussycat at the Tricycle Theatre; The Amen Corner for the Tricycle Theatre in the West End; Period of Adjustment at the Royal Court and Wyndham’s Theatre; and El Dorado; Strange Fruit and The Blacks for Theatre Royal Stratford East. Carmen’s television credits include Desmonds; The Dumping Ground; Final Passage; The Chain; Song at Twilight; The Wasted Years; Crown Court; Mixed Blessings; Playschool; General Hospital; Rainbow City; and The Fosters. Carmen is a founder member of Talawa and was awarded the OBE in 2007 for her major role in the development of black theatre in Britain. Eileen Nicholas’ theatre credits include All About My Mother at the Old Vic; Endgame at the Donmar Warehouse; Del Gesu's Viola and It's Only Words at Oran Mor; Every One at Battersea Arts Centre; I Killed Rasputin for Avalon at George Square Theatre; I Didn't Always Live Here at Finborough Theatre; Buried Child Upstairs At The Gatehouse; A Chorus of Disapproval for Theatr Clywd; Cutting a Rug at the Young Vic Theatre; American Bagpipes at the Royal Court; and Request Programme at the Bush Theatre. Television includes Broken; Midwinter of the Spirit; Half Broken Thing; Widow Maker; Between The Lines; and Dr Finlay's Casebook. Films include Blackwood; The Quiet Ones; Trainspotting; and Regeneration. Daniel Rabin has previously appeared in 1984 for the Almeida in the West End. Other theatre includes Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, King John, Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Anthony and Cleopatra and Holy Warriors at Shakespeare’s Globe; Oedipus for Nottingham Playhouse and the Spoleto Festival; Ignorance at Hampstead Theatre; Blue Remembered Hills at Chichester Festival Theatre; and The Bomb at the Tricycle Theatre. Television includes The Royals; Game of Thrones; Ambassadors; Our Men; Henry - Mind of a Tyrant; The Roman Mysteries; and Money Can't Buy You Love. Film includes Lilac's Laughter; Mind The Gap; and Two's Company. Sule Rimi has recently appeared at the Almeida as Oudry in They Drink It In The Congo. Other theatre credits include The Suicide at National Theatre; The Rolling Stone at the Royal Exchange and West Yorkshire Playhouse; Boardergame for National Theatre Wales; Downtown Paradise for Welsh Fargo Theatre Company; Othello for Fluellen Theatre Company; Muscle for ShocknAwe; Serious Money for Waking Exploits; and New Arrivals for Sherman Theatre Company. Film credits include Francis; Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box; The Machine; Elfie Hopkins and the Gammons; Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection; Panic Button; Eastern Promises; and Starter for Ten. Television includes Unforgotten; Stella; Crash; and Doctor Who. Juliet Stevenson returns to the Almeida Theatre having previously appeared in Duet for One alongside Henry Goodman. Most recently she played Winnie in Beckett’s Happy Days at the Young Vic. Other theatre credits include The Seagull, Private Lives, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Hedda Gabler and Yerma at the National Theatre; Les Liaisons Dangereuses, As You Like It, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the RSC; and The Heretic, Alice and Death and The Maiden (Olivier Award for Best Actress) at the Royal Court. Her film credits include Departure; Mona Lisa Smile; Bend it Like Beckham; Emma; Truly Madly Deeply; and the upcoming Let Me Go. Her television credits include One of Us; The Enfield Haunting; The Village; White Heat; The Accused; The Road from Coorain; and The Politician’s Wife. She was awarded a CBE in 1999 for her services to drama. Alan Williams previously appeared in The Jew of Malta for the Almeida. Other theatre includes As You Like It, Here We Go, Light Shining In Buckinghamshire, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and War Horse at the National Theatre; The Crucible at West Yorkshire Playhouse; The Ritual Slaughter Of Gorge Mastromas, The President Has Come To See You, Talk Show, Mint, Memory, Stoning Mary, Lucky Dog, Crave and The Local for the Royal Court; A Thousand Stars Explode In The Sky and The Birthday Party at Lyric Hammersmith; and A Number at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Television includes: Father Brown; The Crown; Utopia; Luther; Shameless and Vera. Film includes The Dreamlike Path; Trespass Against Us; War Horse; London Boulevard; Vera Drake; The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers; and Bright Young Things. Lia Williams returns to the Almeida having previously appeared in Oresteia (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress) and Harold Pinter’s Celebration. Other theatre credits include Old Times in the West End; Arcadia and Skylight on Broadway, at the National Theatre and in the West End (Tony and Olivier Award nominations for Best Actress); Earthquakes in London, The Hothouse and Mappa Mundi at the National Theatre; Oleanna, King Lear and My Child at the Royal Court; The Homecoming at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in the West End and on Broadway; and The Lover and The Collection at the Donmar Warehouse. Her television credits include The Crown; Secret State; Doc Martin; May 33rd; The Russian Bride; Imogen’s Face; A Shot Through the Heart; Flowers of the Forest; Seaforth; and Mr Wroe’s Virgins. Film includes: Jonathan Toomey; The King is Alive; Different for Girls; The Fifth Province; Firelight; Dirty Weekend; and La Suite Blanche-Neige. As Director, her credits include The Match Box for the Liverpool Playhouse and the Tricycle Theatre and films Feathers, The Stronger, Dog Alone, and the feature documentary Nanabozhung. Since joining the Almeida in 2013, Associate Director Robert Icke has created and directed new adaptations of Uncle Vanya, Oresteia (also West End; winner of the Olivier, Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director) and the multi-award winning 1984 with Duncan Macmillan (also West End as well as UK, USA and international tours) at the Almeida.