E M M A H O L L A N D P R

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1 E M M A H O L L A N D P R JESSICA BROWN FINDLAY, VANESSA KIRBY, RICHARD LUMSDEN, HILTON MCRAE, TOBIAS MENZIES, ANN QUEENSBERRY AND SUSAN WOOLDRIDGE JOIN THE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED PAUL RHYS IN UNCLE VANYA BY ANTON CHEKHOV A NEW VERSION CREATED BY AND DIRECTED BY ROBERT ICKE AT THE ALMEIDA THEATRE FROM 5 FEBRUARY 26 MARCH 2016 Jessica Brown Findlay (Sonya), Vanessa Kirby (Elena), Richard Lumsden (Cartwright), Hilton McRae (Alexander), Tobias Menzies (Michael), Ann Queensberry (Nanny) and Susan Wooldridge (Maria) join the previously announced Paul Rhys (John) in Chekhov s Uncle Vanya, a new version created by and directed by Associate Director, Robert Icke, at the Almeida Theatre. Running from 5 February until 26 March 2016, with press night on 12 February, Uncle Vanya is Icke s next production following the critically acclaimed Oresteia, which ran at the Almeida Theatre, transferred to the West End, and recently won him the Evening Standard Award for Best Director. Further casting for this production will be announced in the New Year. Things your life could be: (1) a farce. (2) a tragedy. (3) pointless. (4) all of the above. Things you could do about it: (1) keep living. (2) stop living. (3) stop someone else living. (4) nothing. Even so, what has your life been worth? Chekhov s late masterpiece examines human behaviour in all of its beautiful, terrible, laughable contradiction. Jessica Brown Findlay was last onstage in Oresteia at the Almeida Theatre/Trafalgar Studios. She is best known for her role as Lady Sybil in the popular ITV drama Downton Abbey. Her other television credits include The Outcast, based on the best- selling novel by Sadie Jones, Jamaica Inn, Channel 4 s

2 Labyrinth and Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits. Jessica made her film debut in 2011 with Albatross and was nominated for her performance in the Best Newcomer categories at both the 2012 British Independent Film Awards and the Evening Standard Film Awards. Her other film credits include Winter s Tale, Lullaby and The Riot Club. Her most recent film, Victor Frankenstein, alongside James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, has just been released in the UK. Vanessa Kirby was last on stage in A Streetcar Named Desire, for which she won the Whatsonstage Award for Best Supporting Actress and Three Sisters at the Young Vic, Edward II and Women Beware Women at the National Theatre, The Acid Test at the Royal Court, A Midsummer Night s Dream, All My Sons, for which she won the BIZA Rising Star Award (MEN Awards), and Ghosts all for the Octagon Theatre, Bolton and As you Like It for West Yorkshire Playhouse. Her television credits include The Crown, out in 2016 on Netflix, The Dresser, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Great Expectations, Labyrinth and The Hour. Her film credits include Genius, Me Before You, Everest, Jupiter Ascending, Kill Command, Queen and Country, About Time, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman and The Rise. Richard Lumsden was last at the Almeida in Our Town, directed by David Cromer. His other theatre credits include We Could Be Heroes at the Bridewell Theatre/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Northanger Abbey at Greenwich Theatre, Rat in the Skull at Theater Exchange, USA, Hamlet, As You Like It, Master Harold and the Boys at the Haymarket Basingstoke and Amadeus, King Lear, Juno and the Paycock at the New Victoria Theatre. His television credits include Father Brown, Millie Inbetween, Casualty, Trollied, Remember Me, All at Sea, By Any Means, Little Crackers, Vexed, Life of Riley, Summer in Transylvania, The Catherine Tate Show, Garrow s Law, Grown Ups, U Be Dead, EastEnders, Disconnected, Suburban Shootout, Party Animals, Sugar Rush, Croydon Poisonings, Love Soup, People Like Us, Wonderful You, Is It Legal?, Hornblower, Coogan s Run, Waterfront Beat, The Sharp End and First of the Summer Wine. His film credits include Downhill, Heart of Lightness, Sightseers, City Slackers, Morris: A Life With Bells On, Atilla the Hun, Silent Cry, Room to Rent, The Avengers and Sense and Sensibility. Richard s writing credits include Wonderful You (ITV), We Could Be Heroes for Bridewell Theatre/Yvonne Arnaud/Arts Theatre, five plays for Radio 4 including The Six Loves of Billy Binns, Man in the Moon (shortlisted for a Society of Authors Tinniswood Award) and John Dodd Gets Taken for a Ride (shortlisted for a Society of Authors Imison Award). Tobias Menzies, who has just been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for Outlander, re- unites with Icke at the Almeida, following the sell out production of The Fever. Other past Almeida credits include Cloud Nine and Platonov. His other stage credits include The Recruiting Officer at the Donmar Warehouse, The Hush and The History Boys for the National Theatre, Searched Rough Cuts at the Royal Court Theatre, Decade for Headlong, The Children s Hour at the Harold Pinter Theatre, King Lear at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool/Young Vic, The Cherry Orchard at Sheffield Theatres, Hamlet for Theatre Royal, Northampton, Three Sisters at The Playhouse Theatre, Arcadia at the Theatre Royal Northampton/Salisbury Playhouse, Light for Complicite and The Way of the World at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. His TV credits include The Night Manager, Outlander, Catastrophe, The Honourable Woman, Game of Thrones, Silent Witness, Puppy Love, Black Mirror, Doctor Who,The Thick of It, Secret State, Getting On, Eternal Law, The Shadow Line, Any Human Heart, Rome, Law & Order, The IT Crowd, Spooks, Pulling, The Belsen Redemption, Persuasion, A Very Social Secretary, I Saw You and Longitude. His film credits include Black Bird, Black Sea, Hysteria, Forget Me Not, The Duel, Atonement, Casino Royale, Pierrepoint, Piccadilly Jim, Finding Neverland and The Lowdown.

3 Ann Queensberry was last onstage in Three Sisters at the Young Vic. Her other theatre credits include La Fausse Suivante at the Bouffes du Nord Theatre in Paris before a European tour, Pygmalion and The Schoolmistress at Chichester Festival Theatre. Ann s television credits include Kingdom, The Romantics, Doctors, Harry and the Wrinklies, Sum of the Parts, Urban Gothic, Midsomer Murders, The Rag Nymph and Jeeves and Wooster. Her film credits include Remainder, Vigilante, Once and for All, Ashes, Untitled, City of Ember, Irina P, Mrs Henderson Presents, Smilla s Sense of Snow, Jane Eyre, Scandal, Wilt, Empire of the Sun, Miss Morison s Ghosts and Julia. Hilton McRae was last seen onstage in The Cocktail Party at The Print Room. Hilton s other theatre credits include The Keepers of Infinite Space at the Park Theatre, Timon of Athens and Caroline, or Change at the National Theatre, The Kreutzer Sonata at The Gate Theatre/Broadway, End of the Rainbow at the Theatre Royal/Northampton/Trafalgar Studios/UK Tour, Experimentum Mundi for the Edinburgh International Festival, Rock n Roll at the Manchester Library Theatre, The Oresteia Trilogy at the Fisher Centre for Performing Arts, New York, Weapons of Happiness at the Finborough Theatre, They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina at the Tristan Bates Theatre, The Patriot at the Tron Theatre, Rabbit at the Old Red Lion and Brits Off Broadway Festival at the 59E59 Theaters, Twelfth Night UK Tour, The Comedy of Errors at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre, Hamlet at the Theatre Royal, Northampton, The Tempest at the Southwark Playhouse, Peer Gynt at the Arcola Theatre, My One and Only at the Chichester Festival Theatre and Piccadilly Theatre, Mamma Mia Original Cast at the Prince Edward Theatre, Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre, Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Front Page at the Donmar Warehouse, Othello and A Doll s House at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Hedda Gabler at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Macbeth at the Dundee Repertory Theatre, Le Liaisons Dangereuses at the Royal Shakespeare Company/Broadway, As You Like It, Total Eclipse, Piaf, Much Ado About Nothing, The Innocent, Anthony and Cleopatra, Captain Swing, The Churchill Play, Merchant of Venice and Factory Birds and Bandits at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Hamlet at the New Shakespeare Company. Hilton s television credits Endeavour, New Tricks, Injustice, Zen, Red Riding Trilogy, The Execution of Gary Glitter, Lewis, Doctors, Holby City, Frances Tuesday, Murder City, Silent Witness, Baby Father, Midsomer Murders, Serious and Organised, Monarch of the Glen, Deacon Brodie, The Justice Game, King of Hearts, First Take, Zorro: The Reward, To Each His Own, William Tell, Roll Over Beethoven, Poppyland, The Kit Curran Radio Show, Fovever Young and Leaving and Gaskin. On film, Hilton has appeared in The Sense of an Ending, Macbeth, Far From the Madding Crowd, Serena, Power of Three, Stroke of Genius, Mansfield Park, Return of the Jedi, Secret Rapture, Greystroke: Legend of Tarzan, and French Lieutenant s Woman. Susan Wooldridge won the ALVA Award for Best Actress and received a BAFTA nomination for The Jewel in the Crown. Susan ahs also won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for Hope and Glory. Her stage credits include Vast White Stillness at the Spitafields Music Festival, What the Women Did at the Southwark Playhouse, Lay Down Your Cross at the Hampstead Theatre, Pinter in Havana and Snake In The Grass at The Print Room, The Importance of Being Earnest at Regent s Park Open Air Theatre, Harold Pinter Celebration and Pinter Sketches The Back and White at the National Theatre, Don t Look Now at the Sheffield Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith, Tonight at 8.30 at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Playhouse Creatures and Office Suite at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, At Family Affair on the UK Tour, The Price at the Bristol Old Vic, Collateral Damage at the Tricycle Theatre, Three Sisters at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and The Deep Blue Sea at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. Susan s screen credits include The Jewel in the Crown, Lewis, Doctors, Poirot, Cat Among the Pigeons, Pinochet s Progress, Eleventh Hour, The Brief, 20,000 Streets Under the Sky, The Commander, The Courtroom, The Last Detective, Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat, Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Underworld,

4 Kavanagh QC, Preston Front and Bad Company. Susan s film credits include Hope and Glory, Don t Miss the Cup, The Lady, Tamara Drewe, Flood, The Hummingbird Tree, Just Like a Woman, Afraid of the Dark, Twenty- One, The Pied Piper, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Bye Bye Blues, Loyalties, Dead Man s Folly, Frankenstein, The Shout and Butley. Paul Rhys won the Critics' Circle Award for Best Performance in a Shakespearean Role for the Complicite and National Theatre co- production of Measure for Measure. His work at the National Theatre also includes The Invention of Love and King Lear (for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor). Further stage credits include The Master and Margarita at Barbican Theatre, Hamlet and Long Day s Journey Into Night both at the Young Vic and Design for Living at the Donmar Warehouse. Recent television credits include Victoria, Casanova, The Assets, Borgia, Being Human, The Queen and Spooks and he won a BAFTA for Best Actor for The Healer. On film, Paul has appeared in Deader, The 10 Commandments, Food of Love, From Hell and Chaplin. Robert Icke is Associate Director of the Almeida where he most recently directed Oresteia, which also transferred to the West End, and won him the Evening Standard Award for Best Director. Other Almeida credits include The Odyssey and The Illiad, co- directed with Artistic Director, Rupert Goold, The Fever, Mr Burns and 1984, a co- production with Headlong and Nottingham Playhouse, co- created with Duncan Macmillan, which had two UK tours and two West End runs, and for which he also won the 2014 UK Theatre Award. Icke was previously Associate Director at Headlong. CURRENTLY AT THE ALMEIDA THEATRE LITTLE EYOLF BY HENRIK IBSEN ADAPTED & DIRECTED BY RICHARD EYRE FROM 19 NOVEMBER 2015 The critically acclaimed Little Eyolf, completes a trilogy of revelatory Ibsen s, adapted by Richard Eyre, for the Almeida Theatre. Jolyon Coy (Alfred) and Lydia Leonard (Rita) lead a cast, which includes Sam Hazeldine (Borgheim), Eve Ponsonby (Asta) and Eileen Walsh (Ratwoman). Adapted and directed by Eyre, Little Eyolf follows the success of Ghosts and Hedda Gabler, which he also adapted and directed. Hedda Gabler won great acclaim at the Almeida in 2005 before transferring to the Duke of York s Theatre in the West End. Ghosts opened at the Almeida in 2013, transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End and won three Olivier awards including Best Revival. The production enjoyed a successful run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York earlier this year. How is a life well- lived? Alfred Allmers comes home to his wife, Rita, and makes a decision. Casting aside his writing, he dedicates himself to raising his son. But one event is about to change his life forever. Ibsen s Little Eyolf is a forensic examination of a marriage as it explosively falls apart. AND ELSEWHERE KING CHARLES III

5 A NEW PLAY BY MIKE BARTLETT DIRECTED BY RUPERT GOOLD WITH WHITNEY MOSERY UK TOUR FROM 4 SEPTEMBER 2015 Following critically acclaimed sell- out runs at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, King Charles III is currently on a UK Tour. Robert Powell takes on the role of King Charles. The company includes Penelope Beaumont, Jennifer Bryden, Richard Glaves, Dominic Jephcott, Lucy Phelps, Ben Righton, Giles Taylor, Parth Thakerar, Tim Treloar, Beatrice Walker and Paul Westwood. Written by Mike Bartlett and directed by Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti. King Charles III runs at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Richmond Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre, Malvern Festival Theatre, Guildford Yvonne Arnaud, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and Plymouth Theatre Royal. The King Charles III tour is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre, in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and by arrangement with Lee Dean. KING CHARLES III A NEW PLAY BY MIKE BARTLETT DIRECTED BY RUPERT GOOLD MUSIC BOX THEATRE, NEW YORK FROM 10 OCTOBER 2015 King Charles III is currently running on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. Tim Pigott- Smith reprises the role of Charles as performed at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, alongside Oliver Chris, Richard Goulding, Adam James, Margot Leicester, Miles Richardson, Tom Robertson, Sally Scott, Tafline Steen and Lydia Wilson. Written by Mike Bartlett and directed by Rupert Goold, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti. The Almeida Theatre production of King Charles III is presented on Broadway by Stuart Thompson Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions, Almeida Theatre, Robert G Bartner, Norman Tulchin, Lee Dean & Charles Diamond, Scott M Delman, Ruth Hendel, Stephanie McClelland, Jon B Platt, Scott Rudin, Richard Winkler, Zeilinger Productions, The Shubert Organization. KING CHARLES III A NEW PLAY BY MIKE BARTLETT DIRECTED BY RUPERT GOOLD WITH WHITNEY MOSERY ROSLYN PACKER THEATRE, SYDNEY FROM 31 MARCH 2016

6 King Charles III opens in Sydney in March 2016 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre. Robert Powell will reprise the role of Charles as performed on the UK Tour. Written by Mike Bartlett and directed by Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti. King Charles III is produced in Sydney by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre in association with Birmingham Repertory and by arrangement with Lee Dean. AMERICAN PSYCHO A NEW MUSICAL BASED ON THE AWARD- WINNING NOVEL BY BRET EASTON ELLIS MUSIC & LYRICS BY DUNCAN SHEIK BOOK BY ROBERT AGUIRRE- SACASA DIRECTED BY RUPERT GOOLD GERALD SCHOENFELD THEATRE FROM 24 MARCH 2016 The Almeida and Headlong production of American Psycho will be presented on Broadway by Act 4 Entertainment (David Johnson & Jesse Singer), Jeffrey Richards, and Jerry Frankel in cooperation with Edward R Pressman. American Psycho had its world premiere at the Almeida on 3 December 2013 running until 1 February 2014 and was Rupert Goold s first production in his tenure as Artistic Director. The Broadway production will star Benjamin Walker (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as Patrick Bateman. Living the high life in 1980s Manhattan, Patrick Bateman has it all looks, money, style and status. He and his entourage buy the most expensive designer clothes, eat at the most exclusive restaurants and party at the hottest clubs. But privately, Patrick indulges in another kind of transgression. And people - including those closest to him - keep disappearing. NOTES TO EDITORS THE ALMEIDA THEATRE A small room with an international reputation, the Almeida began life as a literary and scientific society complete with library, lecture theatre and laboratory. From the very beginning, its building existed

7 to investigate the world. Today, the Almeida makes bold new work that asks big questions; of plays, of theatre and how we live. It brings together the most exciting artists to take risks, to provoke, inspire and surprise its audiences, to interrogate the present, dig up the past and imagine the future. Whether new work or reinvigorated classic, whether in its theatre or elsewhere, the Almeida makes work to excite and entertain with extraordinary live art, every day. Founded by Pierre Audi in 1980, his successors were Jonathan Kent and Ian McDiarmid in 1990, and Michael Attenborough in Productions including Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes in 2005, Rufus Norris Festen, Ruined by Lynn Nottage and most recently Chimerica, Ghosts and King Charles III have given the theatre international renown. In summer 2013, Rupert Goold joined the Almeida as Artistic Director. His first production as Artistic Director was American Psycho: A new musical thriller, which opens March 2016 on Broadway. In 2014 the Almeida productions of Ghosts and Chimerica won eight Olivier Awards including Best Actress, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best New Play, Best Director and Best Revival and enjoyed transfers to the West End and Broadway respectively. This was followed by King Charles III, which then transferred to the West End at the Wyndham s Theatre and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in King Charles III opened on Broadway on November 1, is currently on a national UK tour this autumn, and will open in Sydney in March The Almeida recently presented Almeida Greeks, which included three major new productions of Oresteia, Bakkhai and Medea, the latter of which was directed by Goold, with a festival of events, performances, talks and readings running alongside. He co- directed The Iliad and The Odyssey with Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke. Involving more than 60 readers, The Iliad reached an audience of over 50,000 people across the world, watching online, or in person at the British Museum and the Almeida Theatre. The Odyssey followed the huge success of The Iliad, and involved an army of artists in various locations around London, four of which audiences could attend. As with The Illiad, both theatrical events were live streamed throughout and achieved groundbreaking levels of online engagement. Other notable productions include: 1984 by George Orwell in a new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan who won Best Director at the 2014 UK Theatre Awards for 1984; and The Merchant of Venice, directed by Rupert Goold and originally produced for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Rupert Goold was Artistic Director of Headlong from 2005 until 2013 where his work included The Effect, ENRON, Earthquakes in London and Decade. Other theatre credits include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida, Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway and No Man s Land at The Gate and in the West End. In 2014 he directed Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi Theatre. He was Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2009 to 2012 and was Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres from 2002 to He has twice been the recipient of the Laurence Olivier, Critics Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director. For television he has directed Macbeth and Richard II for the BBC and Neal Street Productions, the latter of which was nominated for a BAFTA. His first feature film, True Story, which stars James Franco and Jonah Hill for Plan B and Fox Searchlight, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

8 The Almeida is grateful to its Principal Partner Aspen, in its second term as the Almeida s most significant corporate supporter. Aspen was established in 2002 and is a leading global insurance and reinsurance company. The Almeida is supported using public funding by Arts Council England LISTINGS INFORMATION 19 November January 2016 LITTLE EYOLF Henrik Ibsen Adapted & directed by Richard Eyre Press Night 26 November, 7pm 5 February 26 March 2016 UNCLE VANYA Anton Chekhov a new version by Robert Icke Press Night 12 February, 7pm Address Café Bar Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London, N1 1TA The Almeida Café Bar is open from 11.30am pm, Monday to Saturday Box Office Phone (10am 7.30pm Monday Saturday) Online almeida.co.uk In person 10am 7.30pm, Monday Saturday (10am 8pm until 14 November) Little Eyolf performances Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm Saturday matinees at 2.30pm from 28 November Wednesday matinees at 2.30pm from 2 December (apart from 23 & 30 December & 6 January) Christmas Matinee at 2.30pm on Monday 28 December Uncle Vanya performances Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm Saturday matinees at 2.30pm from 20 February Wednesday matinees at 2.30pm from 17 February (apart from 22 March) Website almeida.co.uk

9 Twitter Facebook Instagram Little Eyolf Audio Described performance by VocalEyes Saturday 12 December at 2.30pm, Touch Tour 12.45pm and Tuesday 22 December at 7.30pm, Touch Tour 6pm Little Eyolf Captioned performance Friday 11 December Uncle Vanya Audio Described performance by VocalEyes Saturday 12 March at 2.30pm, Touch Tour 12.45pm and Friday 18 March at 7.30pm, Touch Tour 6pm. Uncle Vanya Captioned performance Monday 7 March Talkback Post- show discussion with members of the company Free to same day ticket holders Little Eyolf Monday 21 December Uncle Vanya Monday 7 March* * to include live speech to text transcription by Stagetext. PRESS CONTACT: EMMA HOLLAND PR (EHPR) Emma Holland Georgie Robinson E: emma@emmahollandpr.com E: georgie@emmahollandpr.com M: M: W: W: