PRESS RELEASE – 18 OCTOBER 2019 IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @UncleVanyaPlay www.unclevanyaplay.com Sonia Friedman Productions Gavin Kalin Productions, Rupert Gavin, Patrick Gracey/Scott M. Delman, 1001 Nights Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions in association with Len Blavatnik, Eilene Davidson Productions, Louise & Brad Edgerton present UNCLE VANYA By Anton Chekhov In a new adaptation by Conor McPherson Directed by Ian Rickson Rosalind Eleazar, Aimee Lou Wood, Anna Calder-Marshall, Dearbhla Molloy, Peter Wight and Ciarán Hinds will join Toby Jones and Richard Armitage in a major new production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Sonia Friedman Productions today announced further casting for Conor McPherson’s (The Weir, Girl from the North Country), new adaptation of Uncle Vanya directed by Ian Rickson (Jerusalem, The Seagull). Rosalind Eleazar (The Personal History of David Copperfield, Deep Water, The Starry Messenger), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education, Downstate), the Emmy Award-winning Anna Calder-Marshall (LOVE, Evening at the Talk House, Male of the Species), the Olivier and Tony-award nominated Dearbhla Molloy (The Ferryman, Dancing at Lughnasa, Juno and the Paycock), Peter Wight (The Birthday Party, Hamlet, The Red Lion) and Olivier Award-nominated Ciarán Hinds (Translations, Game of Thrones, Girl from the North Country) will perform alongside the previously announced Toby Jones and Richard Armitage. The production will run for sixteen weeks at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 14th January 2020 with Opening Night on Thursday 23rd January 2020. Tickets are on sale now. In the heat of summer, Sonya (Aimee Lou Wood) and her Uncle Vanya (Toby Jones) while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally only by the local doctor Astrov (Richard Armitage). However, when Sonya’s father Professor Serebryakov (Ciarán Hinds) suddenly returns with his restless, alluring, new wife Yelena (Rosalind Eleazar) declaring his intention to sell the house, the polite facades crumble and long repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences. Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson’s stunning new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece, Uncle Vanya, is a portrayal of life at the turn of the 20th century, full of tumultuous frustration, dark humour and hidden passions. Critically acclaimed director Ian Rickson returns to Chekhov for the first time since his landmark production of The Seagull in 2007, reuniting with BAFTA and Olivier Award-winner Toby Jones (The Birthday Party) alongside Richard Armitage, who returns to the UK stage six years after his Olivier Award-nominated performance in The Crucible. Uncle Vanya is the eleventh collaboration between Ian Rickson and Sonia Friedman Productions, with previous productions including Rosmersholm, Jerusalem, The River, Betrayal and The Children’s Hour. Uncle Vanya is designed by Rae Smith, with lighting by Bruno Poet, music by Stephen Warbeck, sound by Ian Dickinson and casting by Amy Ball CDG. Rosalind Eleazer will play the role of Yelena. Born in London, Rosalind graduated from LAMDA in 2015, winning the Spotlight Prize for Best Drama School Graduate. She went on to make her stage debut in Plaques & Tangle at the Royal Court Theatre. Her television credits include the series Deep Water for Kudos, in which she co-stars with Anna Friel and Sinead Matthews, Breeders, two series of Harlots, Howards End, Rellik, NW, National Treasure and Lore. She makes her feature film debut in The Personal History of David Copperfield, directed by Armando Iannucci, which has just opened the London Film Festival and is due for general release in January 2020. Most recently Rosalind appeared at Wyndham’s Theatre in The Starry Messenger opposite Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern. Aimee Lou Wood is a UK actress, who came to international attention as Aimee in Netflix’s Sex Education, starring opposite Gillian Anderson, Asa Butterfield, and James Purefoy. Aimee also recently wrapped on the biopic Louis Wain, directed by Will Sharpe and staring Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Sharon Rooney, Stacey Martin and Hayley Squires. Earlier this year, she starred as Effie in the acclaimed Downstate at the National Theatre. Aimee graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2017. Dearbhla Molloy will perform the role of Grandmaman. Dearbhla was recently nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (Royal Court/Gieldud/Bernard B. Jacobs, Broadway). Her other theatre credits include In Celebration, Arcadia, Hamlet, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing (West End), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Drama Desk Award and Irish Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress), Hinterland, On the Ledge (National Theatre), The Hostage, Shadow of a Gunman, Lovegirl and the Innocent (RSC); Ditch (Old Vic Tunnels), The Seagull (Edinburgh Festival), Doubt (Tricycle), Juno and the Paycock for which she won the London Critics’ Award for Best Supporting Actress (Donmar/Roundabout), Macbeth (Bristol Old Vic), All My Sons (Liverpool), Trojan Women (Gate, London), And No More Shall We Part (Hampstead), Dancing at Lughnasa ( Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, Drama Desk Award, Theatre World Special Award), A Touch of the Poet, Outside Mullingar (Broadway), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Atlantic Theatre / US Tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Guthrie Minneapolis), Afterplay (Irish Rep, New York), Moment (Studio Theatre, Washington DC), Translations, Aristocrats, The Misanthrope, Ivanov, Living Quarters, Mrs Warren’s Profession, A Life (Irish Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress) (Abbey Theatre), Phaedre, Uncle Vanya, The Philanthropist, Come on Over (Gate, Dublin); The Plough and the Stars (Gaiety). Dearbhla’s television credits includes Women on the Verge, Acceptable Risk, Scandal, Family Tree, Quirke, Casualty, Coronation Street, Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War, Waking the Dead, New Tricks, 55 Degrees North, Stan, Touch of Frost, Sex and the City, The Fragile Heart Her film credits include Wild Mountain Thyme, 3096, No Reservations, The Damned United, Tara Road, The Blackwater Lightship, Home for Christmas, Bloom, Frankie Starlight, Run of the Country, Loaded and This is the Sea. Dearbhla was the recipient of the US Audie Award for Best Female Solo Narration for My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain for which she also received a Grammy Award nomination. Anna Calder-Marshall will play the role of Nana. Anna is an award-winning stage and screen actress, whose theatre credits include Lost Without Words, LOVE, Evening at the Talk House, The Secret Rapture, The Seagull (National Theatre); The Philistines (RSC); Temple, Salt, Root & Rose (Donmar); Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Saint Joan, Peer Gynt (Birmingham Rep); The Lady's Not for Burning, Caesar and Cleopatra (Chichester); The Bargain, Troilus and Cressida (Theatre Royal Bath); Open Court: Death Tax, Uncle Vanya (Royal Court Theatre); The Herd (Bush Theatre); The Wild Duck (Lyceum); Antigone (Old Vic); A Kind of Alaska, Tejas Verdes (The Gate, London); The Importance of Being Earnest (Oxford Playhouse); Bird Calls (Sheffield Crucible); Comfort Me With Apples (Hampstead Theatre); Pastoral (Soho & Hightide); Danger: Memory! (Jermyn Street Theatre); The House of Bernada Alba (Hammersmith Lyric) Anna’s extensive television credits include Harlots, Les Misérables, Casualty, Scott and Bailey, New Tricks, The Bill, Holby Blue, Poirot, Dalziel and Pascoe, Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders, Witness Against Hitler, Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Lovejoy, Heartbeat, Blood Royal: William the Conqueror, Rules of Engagement, Inspector Morse, Titus Andronicus, Strangers and Brothers, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Hammer House of Horror, Bloomers, Matilda's England, A Woman's Place?, The Duchess of Duke Street, Crown Court, Under Western Skies, Affairs of the Heart, Play for Today, Male of the Species for which she won an Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Sanctuary, Love Story, The Wednesday Play. Her film credits include Last Christmas, Us Among the Stones, Love, Trespass Against Us, 13 Steps Down, Anna Karenina, Saints-Ex, Zulu Dawn, Wuthering Heights Peter Wight will play the role of Telegin. Peter’s theatre credits include Rosmersholm (Duke of York Theatre), The Birthday Party (Harold Pinter Theatre), Hamlet (Almeida/Harold Pinter Theatre), The Red Lion, Ivanov, Sleep With Me, Murmuring Judges, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Black Snow, Waiting for Godot (National Theatre), The Seagull (Royal Court/Broadway), Trelawny of The Wells (Donmar Warehouse), Otherwise Engaged, Chekhov's Women (West End), The Spanish Tragedy, Much Ado About Nothing, Barbarians, A Clockwork Orange, Hamlet (RSC), In The Republic of Happiness, In Basildon, Face to the Wall, Not A Game for Boys (Royal Court), The Caretaker (Globe Theatre Warsaw), Edward II, Mouth to Mouth (Royal Exchange Manchester), Dearly Beloved, Grace (Hampstead Theatre), A State of Affairs, Othello, Commedia, Progress (Lyric Hammersmith), Julius Caesar (Riverside Studios), A Passion in Six Days, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Nest (Sheffield Crucible), King Lear, The Three Sisters (Birmingham Rep), Hard To Get (Traverse Edinburgh). His television credits include A Confession, This Time with Alan Partridge, Vanity Fair, Brief Encounters, I Want My Wife Back, Our Zoo, The Mimic, The Paradise, Hit and Miss, Public Enemies, Titanic, Money, Monday Monday,