Will Keen, Nancy Carroll, David Morrissey and Steven Mackintosh are to star in the Almeida’s autumn season, while Peter McDonald takes centre stage at the Islington venue’s Summer Festival.
Keen and Carroll star in Samuel West’s revival of Harley Granville Barker’s Waste, which runs from 25 September to 15 November (press night 2 October). A portrait of early 20th century society, Waste tells of radical politician Henry Trebell (Keen), whose personal and political lives collide when his affair with a married woman is brought into the public spotlight, threatening his power and passionate ideals.
Keen was last at the Almeida in Tom And Viv in 2006, and previously in Five Gold Rings. His many London theatre credits include The Arsonists for the Royal Court, Kiss Of The Spider Woman at the Donmar Warehouse, The Changeling at the Barbican and The Coast Of Utopia at the National Theatre.
Carroll has worked frequently with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National, where she was most recently seen in The Man Of Mode and The Voysey Inheritance. She last appeared at the Almeida in King Lear.
Also confirmed in the cast of Waste are Richard Cordery, Patrick Drury, Peter Eyre, Helen Lindsay, Hugh Ross and Michael Thomas. They are directed by West, the former Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres and an accomplished actor himself, with recent London stage credits including The Sea at the Haymarket and Betrayal at the Donmar.
Following Waste, Almeida Artistic Director Michael Attenborough directs Mackintosh and Morrissey in Neil LaBute’s three-hander In A Dark Dark House (20 November- 17 January, press night 27 November).
The pair play brothers Drew and Terry, whose reunion forces them to relive the carefully forgotten memories of their childhood. An encounter with a pretty girl sends out shockwaves that mean their lives will never be the same again.
Morrissey has previously worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cheek By Jowl and was seen in Three Days Of Rain at the Donmar Warehouse and Much Ado About Nothing at the Queen’s. However, he is most recognisable for his many screen credits, which include playing Gordon Brown in Peter Morgan’s The Deal, plus Sense And Sensibility, State Of Play, Blackpool, Linda Green and the recent film The Other Boleyn Girl.
Mackintosh also has an extensive screen CV, having appeared in the films The Jacket, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Land Girls and Good, plus television drama The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. His recent theatre credits include My Zinc Bed at the Royal Court and long-running thriller The Woman In Black at the Fortune.
McDonald will star in the European premiere of American playwright Adam Rapp’s one-man drama Nocturne, which runs for 10 performances from 16-26 July as part of the Almeida’s Summer Festival, before heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Rapp’s play explores the ramifications that follow a teenage boy’s accidental killing of his little sister. As the boy grows into a man, he has to cope with his guilt and the estrangement of his family, while making a desperate search for redemption.
McDonald was last seen on the London stage in David Mamet’s fast-talking drama Glengarry Glen Ross at the Apollo last year. His many other credits include Exiles and Aristocrats at the National, Resurrection Blues at the Old Vic and The Lieutenant Of Inishmore at the Garrick. On television he has appeared in Spooks, Green Wing and Sea Of Souls.
In other Summer Festival news, the Almeida has announced the full line up of playwrights taking part in British African new writing initiative Tiata Delights this year. Joining the already announced Bola Agbaje – whose play Gone Too Far! won a Laurence Olivier Award this year – are playwrights Francis Aidoo, Yvonne Dodoo, Rex Obano, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Ade Solanke. Their plays will be presented from 28 July to 2 August, culminating in an African music concert on 2 August with a line up featuring Jamiroquai’s percussionist Sola Akingbola.
CB