Madame de Sade - Barber and Findlay join cast
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FRANCES Barber (as Comtesse de Saint-Fond) and Deborah Findlay (as Baronesse de Simiane) will join Dame Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike in the cast of Madame de Sade which opens at the Wyndham’s Theatre on March 18, 2009 (previews from March 13).
A rarely seen drama, Madame de Sade by Japanese playwright Yukio Mishima, brings to life the story of the Marquis de Sade as told through the eyes of six remarkable women. They include his wife Renee (Pike) and her mother Madame de Montreuil (Dench).
Barber’s career spans three decades. She was in the original cast of Patrick Marber’s award-winning Closer, starred alongside Christian Slater in the acclaimed production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, appeared with Sir Ian McKellen in the Old Vic’s production of Aladdin and, most recently, starred in the RSC’s productions of King Lear and The Seagull, again with McKellen.
Findlay’s theatre credits include The Cut, The Vortex and John Gabriel Borkman (Donmar Warehouse) and Stanley, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress, The House of Bernada Alba, The Mandate, Mother Clap’s Molly House and The Winter’s Tale (all at the National Theatre).
Completing the cast will be Fiona Button (Ring Round the Moon, Rock ‘N’ Roll) as Anne, and Jenny Galloway (Nine, Electra) as Charlotte. They will be directed by Michael Grandage, the Donmar’s artistic director.
Madame de Sade is part of the Donmar’s year-long residency at Wyndham’s Theatre where it runs until May 23, 2009.
Read more about Madame de Sade