Measure for Measure - Almeida Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FINAL casting has been announced for Michael Attenborough’s production of Measure for Measure, which runs at the Almeida Theatre from February 18 (previews from February 12) to April 10, 2010.
Joining Rory Kinnear, Anna Maxwell Martin and Ben Miles will be David Annen (Provost), Daisy Boulton (Juliet), Flaminia Cinque (Mistress Overdone), Trevor Cooper (Pompey), Emun Elliot (Claudio), Andrew French (Friar Peter), Lloyd Hitchinson (Lucio), Sean Kearns (Barnadine), David Killick (Escalus), Victoria Lloyd (Marianna), Mark Monero (Abhorson), Nick Richards (Justice), Jessica Tomchak (Francisca) and Tony Turner (Elbow).
Previously Posted: Michael Attenborough will direct Rory Kinnear (as Angelo), Anna Maxwell Martin (Isabella) and Ben Miles (the Duke) in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, which runs at the Almeida Theatre from February 18 (previews from February 12) to April 10, 2010.
Set in a Vienna dominated by the sex trade, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is a play of political intrigue and moral responsibility.
Vincentio, the Duke, seeks to return order to his city. He announces that he is to travel abroad and appoints the strait laced Angelo in his place. But Vincentio secretly disguises himself as a friar to keep a watchful eye on the new regime. When Isabella, a novice nun, finds her brother is sentenced to death for a sexual misdemeanour, she visits Angelo to beg for his life.
Rory Kinnear has appeared on stage most recently at the National Theatre in Burnt by the Sun, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Southwark Fair, Man of Mode, for which he won the Ian Charleson Award and the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting role, and Philistines, for which he also won the Ian Charleson Award.
His other stage credits include Festen (Almeida Theatre in the West End), Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse), Hamlet (Old Vic) and Cymbeline and The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company). His numerous screen credits include Ashes to Ashes, Waking the Dead, Steptoe and Son, Margaret Thatcher the Long Walk to Finchley, Mansfield Park, Silent Witness and Second Coming (TV); Wild Target and Quantum of Solace (film).
BAFTA award-winning Anna Maxwell Martin‘s theatre credits include The Entertainer and Dumb Show (Royal Court Theatre); His Dark Materials, Honour, Three Sisters and The Coast of Utopia (National Theatre); Little Foxes (Donmar Warehouse); and most recently, Molly in The Female of the Species (Vaudeville Theatre) and Sally Bowles in Rufus Norris’ production of Cabaret (Lyric Theatre).
Her many screen credits include Poppy Shakespeare, The Wind in the Willows, Dr Who, North and South, Midsomer Murders, Bleak House (as Esther), Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (as Neil Armstrong’s wife Janet), and the leading role in White Girl (TV); Becoming Jane, Freefall, The Other Man, Enduring Love and The Hours (film).
Ben Miles, who made his Almeida debut in Howard Davies’ production of The Tower, was last on stage in Matthew Warchus’ production of The Norman Conquests both at the Old Vic and on Broadway. His other theatre credits include My Child (Royal Court Theatre); Bollingbroke in Richard II (Old Vic); The Cherry Orchard, The London Cuckolds and Mary Stuart (National Theatre) and Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company.
His numerous screen appearances include leading roles in Coupling, Cold Feet and Lark Rise to Candleford, as well as roles in Prime Suspect, Hustle, Sea of Souls and Trial and Retribution (TV); Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, The Affair of the Necklace and Wings of a Dove (film).
Michael Attenborough has been Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre Company since 2002. His productions as such include The Mercy Seat, Five Gold Rings, Brighton Rock, The Late Henry Moss, Enemies, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Big White Fog, Awake and Sing!, The Homecoming, In a Dark Dark House and When the Rain Stops Falling.
No stranger to Shakespeare, he has previously directed Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and Henry IV parts I and II.
Measure for Measure will be designed by Lez Brotherston, with lighting by David Hersey, music by Stephen Warbeck, sound by John Leonard and movement by Imogen Knight.