Cast announced for Caryl Churchill’s Blue Heart

    Tobacco Factory Theatres and the Orange Tree Theatre are delighted to be embarking on a new co-producing partnership to stage the first major revival of Blue Heart by Caryl Churchill, one of the UK’s greatest living playwrights.

    Expanding their individual in-house production portfolios on this joint project, the two organisations are thrilled to work again with key creatives David Mercatali (Director) and Angela Davies (Designer) who have worked on previous projects with both organisations, together with a stellar cast that has just been announced.

    Stars of stage and screen Gillian Axtell, Alex Beckett, Amanda Boxer, Amelda Brown, Maroussia Frank, Mona Goodwin, Janet Henfrey, Tracey Lee Sharples and Andy de la Tour will appear in the production which plays at Tobacco Factory Theatres from Thu 22 September – Sat 01 October and at the Orange Tree from Thu 13 October – Sat 19 November.

    Caryl Churchill is one of the country’s foremost contemporary playwrights. Her incredible and prolific career includes the renowned plays Top Girls, Cloud Nine, A Number and Escaped Alone.

    Award-winning and esteemed director David Mercatali returns to Tobacco Factory Theatres and the Orange Tree following his previous direction of highly acclaimed productions at both theatres. At Tobacco Factory Theatres, David directed Philip Ridley’s Dark Vanilla Jungle in 2014 and the première, in spring 2015, of Radiant Vermin which transferred for a run in New York earlier this year. At Orange Tree Theatre, David directed the world première of Alice Birch’s Little Light. He has also directed the premières of four other Philip Ridley plays (Tonight with Donny Stixx, Tender Nepalm, Feathers in the Snow and Moonfleece) in addition to other productions including Cargo (Arcola); Johnny Got His Gun, Our Ajax (Southwark Playhouse); and Black Jesus and Coolatully (Finborough).

    Gillian Axtell’s theatre credits include Broken Hearted (Derby); Vieux Carre (Manchester Library Theatre); Too Far to Walk (King’s Head); and Suddenly Last Summer (Nottingham Playhouse). TV Includes 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover, EastEnders, Doctors and Casualty. Films include Blackwood.

    Alex Beckett’s theatre credits include Edward II (National Theatre); The Changeling (Young Vic); Praxis Makes Perfect (National Theatre Wales); Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s); Caryl Churchill’s Fen (Finborough). TV includes W1A, Twenty Twelve, I Live with Models, Cuffs, The Scandalous Lady W and A Touch of Cloth. Films include Youth and Survivor.

    Amanda Boxer’s theatre credits include Medea, The Odyssey and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida); Relative Values (Bath/West End); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Vaudeville); The Pain and the Itch (Royal Court); and The Graduate (Gielgud). TV includes Doctors, Casualty, Silent Witness, The Queen, Bodies, The Shellseekers, The Commander and Trial and Retribution. Films include Chatroom, United 93, Russian Dolls and Saving Private Ryan.

    Amelda Brown’s theatre credits include Adler & Gibb (Royal Court); Gone to Earth and The Clearing (Shared Experience); and Abigail’s Party (West End). TV includes HG Wells: The Moth, Call the Midwife, Waking the Dead, Ashes to Ashes, Spooks, Derailed and Bleak House. Films include Monochrome, Love in the Post, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Boat That Rocked, V for Vendetta and My Sister in This House.

    Maroussia Frank’s work in theatre includes The Last Confession and Heartbreak House (Chichester); Looking for Vi (Riverside Studios); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night (Oxford Playhouse/European tour).

    Mona Goodwin’s work in theatre includes The Conspirators, Julius Caesar and The Tempest (Orange Tree); The Snow Queen (Royal & Derngate); Sundowning (Pursued by a Bear); Finding Noor (Citizens, Glasgow); Far From the Madding Crowd, Where Have I Been All My Life (New Vic, Stoke); Cling to Me Like Ivy (Birmingham Rep); Spring Awakening: The Musical (Novello). TV includes Capital, Marvellous and Black Mirror. Films include Brighton Rock, Infliction and Freefall.

    Janet Henfrey’s theatre credits include Man (Young Vic), Baby Doll (Nuffield), All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Vaudeville); Robert Wilson’s The Black Rider (Barbican/San Francisco/New York). TV includes Toast, Wolf Hall, Doctor Who, Father Brown and As Time Goes By. Film includes Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, London Road, Mr Turner, The Omen, An Ideal Husband and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

    Tracey Lee Sharples’s theatre work includes Freedom Fighter, Called Up (Ten Ten Theatre); The Improvised History of the World (Tête à Tête Opera); and Grease and The Witches of Eastwick in Australia.

    Andy de la Tour’s theatre credits include Medea and Celebration (Almeida); People and No Man’s Land (National Theatre); The Cutting of Cloth (Southwark Playhouse); The Last Yankee (Print Room); and Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead). Films include Le Confessioni, Dough, 44″ Chest, Asylum, Oliver Twist and Pandemonium.

    For a full break down of roles please see the Blue Heart show page.

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