CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT

ROYAL COURT THEATRE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT

• IMOGEN BYRON, KARLA CROME, JAZ DEOL, AMY BETH HAYES, DOMINIC MAFHAM, MERRIEL PLUMMER, IAN REDFORD join KIM CATTRALL in Linda by Penelope Skinner.

• PAAPA ESSIEDU, DAISY HAGGARD, WENDY KWEH, ANDREW LEUNG, KATIE LEUNG and KWONG LOKE cast in You For Me For You by Mia Chung.

• STEPHEN REA cast in Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland. Full casting to follow.

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Linda
By Penelope Skinner
Directed by Michael Longhurst
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Wednesday 25 November 2015 – Saturday 9 January 2016

“I’m an award-winning business woman. I’m happily married with two beautiful daughters and I still fit in the same size ten dress suit I did fifteen years ago. What could possibly threaten me?”

Linda Wilde has dedicated her life to changing the world. She’s won awards for her efforts, at the same time as working hard to become an inspiring mother, and an independent, loving wife.

Now, at 55, she seems to have it all. But Linda isn’t satisfied. She’s a woman in her prime and she’s embarking on her most ambitious plan to date. Beneath the surface, the cracks are starting to show.

“Old for a woman means worthless. Invisible. Of course we’re terrified. You tell us we peak at sixteen and it’s downhill all the way from there. Well I haven’t worked this hard to be pushed aside at the last hurdle. I refuse to be silenced. I will not disappear. I am Linda Wilde. And I’m still here!”

Penelope Skinner returns to the Royal Court with her first Jerwood Theatre Downstairs play Linda, directed by Michael Longhurst.

The full cast includes Imogen Byron, Kim Cattrall, Karla Crome, Jaz Deol, Amy Beth Hayes, Dominic Mafham, Merriel Plummer and Ian Redford.

With design by Es Devlin, lighting by Lee Curran and composion and sound by Richard Hammarton.

Due to demand extra performances have been added over the Christmas period for Wednesday 23 December at 2.30pm, Tuesday 29 December at 7.30pm, Wednesday 30 December at 7.30pm and Saturday 2 January at 2.30pm.

Full listings and biography information below.

You For Me For You
By Mia Chung
Directed by Richard Twyman
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Thursday 3 December 2015 – Saturday 9 January 2016

_”- Trees don’t have ears. – How are you so sure?”_

As they attempt to flee the Best Nation in the World, North Korean sisters Minhee and Junhee are torn apart at the border. Each must race across time and space to be together again – navigating the perilous Land of the Free and the treacherous terrain of personal belief.

“Food has learned to sprint. Money is so fast it doesn’t wait to be printed. Gossip travels swifter than germs.”

Paapa Essiedu, Daisy Haggard, Wendy Kweh, Andrew Leung, Katie Leung and Kwong Loke have been cast in You For Me For You by Mia Chung.

Korean- American playwright Mia Chung’s play has its UK première in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. Royal Court Associate Director (International) Richard Twyman directs.

With design by Jon Bausor, lighting by Anna Watson and sound by Helen Atkinson.

Full listings and biography information below.

Cyprus Avenue
By David Ireland
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Tuesday 5 April – Saturday 7 May 2016
A Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre production

“Without prejudice we’re nothing! If we don’t discriminate, we don’t survive!”

Eric Miller is a Belfast Loyalist. He believes his five-week old granddaughter is Gerry Adams.

His family keep telling him to stop living in the past and fighting old battles that nobody cares about anymore but his cultural heritage is under siege. He must act.

The story of one man struggling with the past and terrified of the future.

“Gerry Adams has disguised himself as a new-born baby and successfully infiltrated my family home.”

Stephen Rea has been cast in Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland.

David Ireland’s Royal Court debut sees his new play, Cyprus Avenue, play in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs following its premiere at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone directs.

With design by Lizzie Clachan, lighting by Paul Keogan and sound by David McSeveney.

Further casting to be announced.

Full listings and biography information below.

For more information or images please contact Anoushka Hay on 0207 565 5063 / AnoushkaHay@royalcourttheatre.com

Notes to Editors:
Press Nights:
Tuesday 1 December 7pm Linda by Penelope Skinner Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Tuesday 8 December 7pm You For Me For You by Mia Chung Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Thursday 7 April 7pm Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Listings Information:

Linda
By Penelope Skinner
Directed by Michael Longhurst
Wednesday 25 November 2015 – Saturday 9 January 2016
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday – Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday matinees (from 5 December) 2.30pm
Thursday matinees from (3 December) 2.30pm
Captioned Performance Tuesday 5 January 2016, 7.30pm
Touch Tour Saturday 9 January 1pm Audio Described Saturday 9 January 2.30pm
Relaxed Performance Saturday 19 December, 2.30pm
Press Night Tuesday 1 December 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £35, £25, £16, £12. Mondays all seats £10 (available on day of performance from 9am online).
25s and under £12 (limited availability).
Concessions £5 off top two ticket prices* (available in advance until 5 December, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts subject to availability.

Penelope Skinner’s credits for the Royal Court include The Big Idea: Age (Open Court) and The Village Bike. Her other theatre credits include The Village Bike (MCC Theater); The Promise (Donmar Warehouse at the Trafalgar Studios); Fred’s Diner (Chichester Festival); The Sound of Heavy Rain (Paines Plough); Greenland (National); Eigengrau (Bush) and Fucked (Old Red Lion / Assembly).
For film her credits include Mary Queen of Scots and How I Live Now.
For television her credits include Fresh Meat (Channel 4).
For radio her credits include Planet B, The Man in Black: The Old Road (BBC Radio 7); Scratch (BBC Radio 3); and Murder in the Toilet (Cookham FM).
Penelope is Winner of the 2011 George Devine Award, the Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award at the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. She was also nominated for the 2012 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

Michael Longhurst’s credits for the Royal Court include Constellations, The Art of Dying and Remembrance Day. His other credits include Carmen Disruption (Almeida), Bad Jews (St James’s Theatre/ Arts), Tis Pity She’s A Whore (The Globe), A Number (Young Vic & Southampton), If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (The Roundabout Theatre NY.), Stovepipe (HighTide / Bush), On The Beach (as part of The Contingency Plan at the Bush), On The Record (Arcola), dirty butterfly (winner of the Jerwood Directors Award at the Young Vic), 1 In 5 (as part of Daring Pairings at Hampstead) and Guardians (Edinburgh Festival).
He was a recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award (2007) at the Young Vic and a Fringe First in 2005.

Imogen Byron’s theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), That Face (Landor Theatre), Inherit the Wind (Old Vic), Feather Boy (National Theatre Studio), Evita (Adelphi Theatre), The Wind in the Willows (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Les Miserables (Queens Theatre). Her television credits include Grantchester, Holby City, Omid Djalili Sketch Show, That Mitchell & Webb Look, Cranford, Waking the Dead, Forgiven, Home Again, Messiah 4, Stupid – Comedy Sketch Show, Hardware, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Premiere and Murphy’s Law.

Kim Cattrall’s theatre credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Old Vic), Anthony and Cleopatra (Everyman/Chichester) and Private Lives (Vaudeville, Broadway).
Television credits include Ruby Robinson, Sensitive Skin, The Boomer List, Shakespeare Uncovered, Any Human Heart and Sex and the City. Kim’s film credits include Meet Monica Velour, The Ghost Writer, Sex and the City 2 and Sex and the City. Awards include Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (Sex and the City), two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (Sex and the City).

Karla Crome’s credits for television include You, Me and the Apocalypse, Under the Dome, Misfits, Prisoners Wives, Lightfields, Monroe, Murder: Joint Enterprise, Hit & Miss, Doctors, Casualty and Dog Endz. Her credits as a writer include Mush and Me (Underbelly) and If Chloe Can (National Youth Theatre).
Karla won an Edinburgh Fringe Award for Mush and Me (Underbelly).

Jaz Deol’s was last at the Royal Court in The Djinns of Eidgah. Other theatre credits includes Mush & Me (Underbelly), Speed (Kali Theatre Company), Harlesden High Street (Tara Arts, Jackdaw Theatre), Snookered (Bush Theatre), The Snow Queen (Trestle Arts), Ruffled (Theatre503), Talking to Byron (National Youth Theatre), Cymberline (National Youth Theatre) and King Lear (Young Vic). His screen work includes Viceroy’s House, The Show, Honeycomb Lodge and Cleanskin.

Amy Beth Hayes’ was last at the Royal Court in Jerusalem (West End). Other theatre credits include Les Liasons Dangerouses (RSC), True Love Lies (The Royal Exchange) and On the Waterfront (East Productions). Her Television credits include Lilyhammer, Mr Selfridge, The Syndicate, Black Mirror, Shameless, Sirens, Case Sensitive, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Misfits, Micro Men, Whatever it Takes and FM. her film credits include Eve.

Dominic’s Mafham’s theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice (Globe Theatre), Oliver Lewis (Bush), Journey’s End (West End and National Tour), Four Nights in Knaresborough (WYP), Three Sisters (National Tour) and Navokov’s Globes (Hampstead Theatre), A Jovial Crew, Edward II, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Pretenders, The Proposal, The Bear (RSC). His television credits include Father Brown, Humans, The Musketeers, New Tricks, Nixon’s The One, Lewis, DCI Banks, Land Girls, Midsomer Murders, The Clinic, The Flight of the Earls, Kingdom, The Queen’s Sister, Grease Monkeys, Red Cap, Rose & Maloney, Spooks, Henry VIII, Holby City, Trevor’s World of Sport, Inspector Linley Mysteries, Dalziel and Pascoe, Foyles War, State of Mind, Gentleman’s Relish, Taggart, Always and Everyone, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Up Rising, The Ambassador, Our Mutual Friend, The Fragile Heart and Castles. His film credits include Sniper: Kill Shot, Sniper: Legacy, Dragonheart, Heart of Lightness, Dungeons & Dragons 3, Godforsaken, Shooting Fish and The English Patient.

Merriel Plummer graduated from the Manchester School of Theatre this Summer. Her theatre credits include Monologue Slam (Triforce Productions), _The Hope
Play, Binge_ and Escape (Saltmine Theatre Company.)

Ian Redford’s theatre credits include All My Sons (Curve Leicester), Helen (Globe Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Globe Theatre), Antigone (Royal Exchange), Branded (Old Vic), The Permanant Way, (Out of Joint/National Theatre), A Laughing Matter (Out of Joint Theatre co/National Theatre), She Stoops to Conquer (Out of Joint Theatre company/National Theatre), A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson (Out of Joint Theatre Company), A State Affair (Out of Joint Theatre), Mother Claps Molly House (National Theatre), Our Country’s Good (Out of Joint), Shopping and Fking (Out of Joint), Free (National Theatre), Babydoll (Plymouth Drum), A View for the Bridge (Royal Exchange), The Gatekeeper (Royal Exchange), Mr Brimstone and Treacle (Arcola), The Golden Dragon (ACT) and Cinderella (First Family). His work in television includes Party Animals, Animals, Coronation Street, Derailed, Missing, William & Mary, Doctors, Regicide, The Prince and the Pauper, Trial by Fire, The Bill, Second Sight, One Foot in the Grave and Midsomer Murders. His film credits include Trial by Fire, Remains of the Day, Just Like a Woman, Three Men and a Little Lady, Getting it Right, The Great Escape, She Stoops to Conquer, The Legend of the Boogeyman and Martha and Mary.

The Big Idea: Linda
Playwright Penelope Skinner in conversation with Royal Court Literary Manager Chris Campbell
Tuesday 15 December, post-show
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Free with a ticket to that evening’s performance
Event Partner: Time Out

You For Me For You
By Mia Chung
Directed by Richard Twyman
Thursday 3 December 2015 – Saturday 9 January 2016
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Saturday matinees (from 12 December) 3pm
Thursday matinees from 10 December) 3pm
Captioned Performance 6 January 7.45pm
Press Night Tuesday 8 December 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20. Mondays all seats £10 (available on day of performance from 9am online).
Concessions £15* (available in advance until 12 December, and all matinees. For all other performances, available on a standby basis on the day)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts subject to availability

ia Chung’s theatre credits include You for Me for You (Woolly Mammoth Theatre / Company One); This Exquisite Corpse, Catch as Catch Can, Skin in the Game, an adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao and We Spend Our Lives.

Richard Twyman is an Associate Director at the Royal Court. For the Royal Court his credits include Fireworks, The Djinns of Eidgah, Phil in Space, PIIGS and A New Song.
His other theatre credits include Harrogate (Hightide), Henry IV Pt II (RSC), Ditch (Old Vic Tunnels / HighTide), Sixty-Six Books (Bush Theatre) and Give Me Your Hand (the Irish Rep, New York).

Paapa Essiedu’s theatre credits include Hamlet (RSC), Romeo and Juliet (Tobacco Factory), King Lear (National Theatre), Black Jesus (Finborough), Outside on the Street (Pleasance Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor/ The Mouse and his Child (RSC) and Dutchman (The Orange Tree). His television credits include A Midsummer Nights Dream, Not Safe For Work and Utopia. His film credits include Women at the Well. Pappa will be playing the lead role in Hamlet for the RSC in 2016.

Daisy Haggard’s theatre credits include Becky Shaw (Almeida), The Importance of Being Ernest (Theatre Royal Bath/West End), The UN Inspector (National Theatre), Master and Margarita (Chichester Festival Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chichester Festival Theatre) The Dwarfs (Tricycle, National Theatre Studios), Shop Floor (Union Theatre) and Ivanov (Almeida). Daisy’s television credits include Episodes, UNCLE, Parents, Saucerful of Secrets, Outnumbered, Doctor Who, Psychoville, Midsomer Murders, The Persuaionists, Ashes to Ashes, Abroad, Man Stroke Woman Series 2, The Scum Also Rises, Sense and Sensibility and Casanova. Her film credits include Calloused Hands, I Give It a Year, Honeymooner, A Good Life, Nicholas Nickleby, Max, Club Le Monde and Tooty’s Wedding.

Wendy Kweh’s theatre credits include Image of an Unknown Young Woman (Gate), Chimerica (Harold Pinter Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Boeing Boeing (Wild Rice Singapore), Othello, Much Ado about Nothing, The Office Party, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Little Shop of Horrors (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Moonwalking in Chinatown (Soho Theatre), The Oresteia (National Theatre), True Dare Kiss, Philaster, Don Juan, Mouthful of Birds (RADA), Land of a Thousand Dreams (NTUC) Broken Birds, Undercover (Theatre Works). Her television credits include You, Me and the Apocalypse, Holby City, The Bill, Coronation Street, Murder City, The Year of the Tiger, Doctors, Shivers and Masters of the Sea. Her film credits include Hot, Hot, Hot and The Blue Mansion.

Andrew Leung’s theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Crucible), So Here We Are, Pyongyang (Royal Exchange Theatre), _Chimerica (Almeida/Harold Pinter Theatre), The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei (Hampstead Theatre), Mr Blue Sky (Clapton Festival), Miniaturists 33: A Leap of Faith (Arcola), Man in the Middle and Trolls (Theatr503). His television credits include Doctor Who, Dirk Gently and Phoneshop. His film credits include Containment, Lilting, The List and Comes a Bright Day.

Katie Leung’s theatre credits include The World of Extreme Happiness (National Theatre) and Wild Swans (Young Vic). Her television credits includes One Child, Father Brown, Run and Poirot. Her work in film includes five Harry Potter installments.

Kwong Loke’s acting credits include Hiawatha (Old Vic) and The Lulu Plays (Almeida). As a director his credits include Electronic City (Soho Theatre), Mishima (Oval House), Hell Screen, Serious Money, All Nudity Shall Be Punished (Union Theatre), Our Lady of the Drowned (Southwark Playhouse), Festival for Fish (Wimbledon Studio), DOGS (Oval House) and The Soldier’s Tale (Purcell Room). Kwong has won several grants from the Fox Foundation New York, Arts Council England and Regent’s University London.

The Big Idea: You for Me for You
Playwright Mia Chung in conversation with Royal Court Associate Director (International) Richard Twyman
Wednesday 9 December 2015, post-show
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
Free with a ticket to that evening’s performance
Event Partner: Time Out

Cyprus Avenue
By David Ireland
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Tuesday 5 April – Saturday 7 May 2016
Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre Production
Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Captioned Performance 27 April 7.45pm
Press Night Thursday 7 April 7pm
Age Guidance 14+
Tickets £20 (Mondays all seats £10 available from 9am online on the day of performance)
Concessions* £15 (available in advance for previews and all matinees)
Access £12 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts subject to availability

David Ireland’s work includes Summertime (Tinderbox), Trouble and Shame, Most Favoured, The End of Desire (Ã’ran Mór), Can’t Forget About You (Lyric, Belfast) and Half a Glass of Water (Abbey Theatre). David is the former Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre Belfast, and is a recent winner of the Stewart Parker BBC Radio Drama Award and the Meyer Whitworth Award.

Vicky Featherstone is Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre. Her work for the Royal Court includes How to Hold Your Breath, God Bless the Child, Maidan: Voices from the Uprising, The Mistress Contract, The Ritual Slaughter of George Mastromas, Untitled Matriarch Play and The President Has Come to See You. Her other work includes Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Enquirer, An Appointment with the Wicker Man, 27, The Wheel, Somersaults (National Theatre of Scotland), The Small Things, Pyrenees, On Blindness, Tiny Dynamite, Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco, Splendour and Crave (Paines Plough). Vicky was Artistic Director of Paines Plough 1997-2005 and Artistic Director of The National Theatre of Scotland 2005-2012.

Stephen Rea’s work at the Royal Court includes Ashes to Ashes, Captain Oates Left Stock, Doublecross, Endgame, Freedom of the City and Geography of a Horse Dreamer. Other theatre credits includes Aristocrats, Kicking a Dead House, The Blue Macushia (Abbey Theatre), Action, Buried Child, Communication Cord Translation, Ecstasy, Kingdom of the Earth, Saint Oscar, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Hampstead Theatre), Crete and Sergeant Pepper, Piano, Strawberry Fields (National Theatre), High Society (Victoria Palace), Play, That Time (Gate) and The White Devil (Nottingham Playhouse). His television work includes Dickensian, The Honourable Woman, Utopia, The Shadow Line, Single-Handed, Law & Order, Father and Son and 10 Days to War. His film credits include A Further Gesture, All Men Are Mortal, Angel, Bad Behaviour, Citizen X, Company of Wolves, Copenhagen, Crime of the Century, D’Artagnan, Fear Dot Com, Interview With a Vampire, The Crying Game, Life Is Sweet, Out of the Dark, Underworld, The Reaping, V for Vendetta, Sisters and Breakfast on Pluto. He won a BAFTA and and an Irish Television and Film Award (The Honourable Woman), a Cairo International Film Festival Award (Citizen X)

The Abbey Theatre was founded as Ireland’s national theatre, by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904 “to bring upon the stage the deeper emotions of Ireland”. Although written more than a hundred years ago, this is still the kernel of what constitutes the artistic imperative for the Abbey Theatre today. The Abbey produces an annual programme of diverse, engaging, innovative Irish and international theatre and invests in and promotes new Irish writers and artists. They do this by placing the writer and theatre-maker at the heart of all they do, commissioning and producing exciting new work and creating discourse and debate on the political, cultural and social issues of the day. Abbey Theatre’s aim is to present great theatre art in a national context so that the stories told on stage have a resonance with artists and audiences alike.

Cyprus Avenue is a Royal Court Theatre and Abbey Theatre production.
It is an Abbey Theatre Commission.
Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor-advised fund of London Community Foundation.
Supported by Culture Ireland as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme