FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE WEST END DEBUT OF BILL ROSENFIELD’S
46 BEACON
DIRECTED BY ALEXANDER LASS
AT TRAFALGAR STUDIOS 2
FROM 5th to 29th APRIL 2017
Oliver Coopersmith (Netflix’s I-Boy and the lead in forthcoming Sky Atlantic series Tin Star opposite Tim Roth and Christina Hendricks) and Jay Taylor (Donkey Punch, Nell Gwynn and Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies) will star in the West End debut of 46 Beacon, playing the roles of Alan and Robert respectively in this coming-of-age and coming-out play set in 1970’s America.
46 Beacon arrives at Trafalgar Studios 2 for a limited season, running from 5 – 29 April 2017, with press night on 10 April, following a short run in 2015 at The Hope Theatre.
Written by Drama Desk and Richard Rodgers Award winner Bill Rosenfield, this memory play is directed by Alexander Lass, with set and costume design by Ruth Hall and produced by Oli Sones and Ed Sinke.
The address is 46 Beacon. The place is 1970s Boston. Alan and Robert spend a balmy July evening hoping for a connection, emotional or physical? 46 Beacon charts their quest in Bill Rosenfield’s fresh, funny and moving script.
Set within a theatrical hotel, Robert has invited Alan back to his room and although they are at different stages of their lives, they each have something the other yearns for. But are they willing to give it?
46 Beacon is the story of that night your life was forever changed.
WARNING: Contains strong sexual content, brief nudity and musical theatre references.
Oliver Coopersmith’s (Alan) stage credits include The Mikvah Project at the Yard Theatre, Dealer’s Choice at the Royal & Derngate Theatre, Once A Catholic at the Tricycle Theatre, Purple Heart at the Gate Theatre, The History Boys at Sheffield Crucible, The Physicists and The Cryptogram both at the Donmar Warehouse, Cause Celebre at the Old Vic, Henry IV Part 2 and The Merry Wives Of Windsor both at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Ones That Flutter at Theatre 503, 2000 Feet Away at the Bush Theatre and Macbeth at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Oliver’s screen credits include Netflix’s I-Boy, released last month, the forthcoming Tin Star on Sky Atlantic and Strangeways Here We Come, It’s Alive, Dickensian, The Tracey Ullman Show, Galavant, Hoff The Record, Scrotal Recall, Case Histories & Grandma’s House.
Jay Taylor’s (Robert) stage credits include Accolade at the St. James Theatre, Nell Gwynn at the Apollo Theatre & Shakespeare’s Globe, Wolf Hall & Bringing Up The Bodies for the RSC at the Swan Theatre and Aldwych Theatre, I Heart Peterborough at Soho Theatre, Joe/Boy at The Last Refuge, A Clockwork Orange at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Troilus & Cressida and Titus Andronicus both at Shakespeare’s Globe, SH*TM*X at Trafalgar Studios and The Police at the White Bear Theatre. Jay’s screen credits include A Fantastic Fear of Everything, Donkey Punch, Red Tails, The Rise of the Footsoldier, Britannia, Tennison, Silk, Tea Boys, Midsomer Murders, Misfits, Sirens, Consuming Passion, The Bill, The Fixer, Daphne, Holby City, Mr Wroe’s Virgins & EastEnders.
Hannah Murray (Skins, Game of Thrones, Untitled Detroit Project) is to lead the cast for the world premiere of an all-female version of Posh.
This thrilling new production, which will run at London’s Pleasance Theatre from 29th March, gives Laura Wade’s play a new, topical voice by allowing women to take centre stage in roles originally written for men. The production will be directed by Off West End Award winner Cressida Carré.
Darkly comic, and disgracefully entertaining, Laura Wade’s universally acclaimed Posh, burst to life at the Royal Court theatre in 2010 with a cast that featured future stars Kit Harrington and James Norton, before transferring to the West End. Receiving a fanfare of plaudits, Posh became a huge hit with critics and audience alike.
Now the riotous story of Oxford student dining club, a fictionalised version of the infamous Bullingdon Club, will be reinvented for the first time by a company of all-female actors.
In the private dining room of a gastro pub, 10 young bloods with cut-glass vowels and deep pockets are meeting, intent on restoring their right to rule. As members of an elite student dining society, they’re bunkering down for a wild night of debauchery, decadence and bloody good wine.
This thrilling new production has a topical voice. However, this isn’t just a jolly: these women are planning a revolution. Welcome to the Riot Club.
Posh was long-listed as Best New Play in the Evening Standard Awards and nominated Best New Play in the Whatsonstage Awards. It was filmed in 2014 for cinema release as The Riot Club, directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Max Irons, Sam Claflin, Freddie Fox and Douglas Booth.
Hannah Murray | Photo by – Jason Alden
Hannah Murray, named Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival for her portrayal of ‘Sara’ in the Danish film Bridgend, was last seen on stage in London in Martine at the Finborough Theatre, for which she was nominated ‘Best Female Performance’ at the Off West End Awards. Hannah made her West End debut in Polly Stenham’s That Face at the Royal Court and her breakthrough role was playing ‘Cassie’ in E4’s cult series Skins, before going on to star in features Chatroom, God Help The Girl, Lily and Kat and The Chosen. She will next be seen reprising the role of ‘Gilly’ in the final series of HBO/SKY series Game of Thrones and in August she will take on one of the lead roles in Katherine Bigelow’s Untitled Detroit Project, set in 1967, about one of the largest citizen uprisings in the United States’ history.
Hannah Murray said:
“I am so excited to be a part of this production, it’s a fascinating opportunity to explore and investigate the nature of privilege – a topic I feel there is an increasing urgency to examine and discuss. Working with an all-female ensemble cast is a brilliant opportunity to collaborate with a fantastic company of talented women, which is not something that happens often enough.”
The rest of the cast features Lucy Aarden (Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, 1st Witch, Macbeth, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Greenwich Theatre); Cassie Bradley (at the National Theatre, Husbands and Sons and Nurse in Sam Mendes’ King Lear); Alice Brittain (Trevor Nunn’s The War of the Roses at the Rose, Kingston); Molly Hanson (Hermia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Windsor); Verity Kirk (Cate in Sarah Kane’s Blasted at STYX); Macy Nyman (Wendy in Peter Pan, Exeter Northcott), Toni Peach (Beetles From The West, Barbican Theatre, Plymouth; Jessica Siân (White Lead at Hampstead Theatre); Sarah Thom (Tom Hardy’s Taboo, Bette Davis in Bette & Joan – The Final Curtain, St James Theatre); Gabby Wong (West End includes understudied and played Mephistopheles in Doctor Fautus at the Duke of York’s, and for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Volpone,The Jew of Malta, Love’s Sacrifice. She was Gold Nine in the Star Wars film Rogue One); Amani Zardoe (has just finished filming Victoria & Abdul with Judi Dench. She is also filming Will for TNT. Her stage roles include The Spoils at Trafalgar 1 and Measure for Measure at Shakespeare’s Globe).
Creative team:
Director Cressida Carré Set & Costume Designer Sara Perks Co-Costume Designer Sarah Mills Lighting Designer Derek Anderson Sound Designer Harry Barker Producer Tom Harrop for Can’t Think Theatre Company
LISTING
presents
Pleasance Theatre Carpenters Mews North Road LONDON N7 9EF
