When the Rain Stops Falling - casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
CASTING has been announced for the European premiere of Andrew Bovell’s When the Rain Stops Falling, which runs at the Almeida Theatre from May 21 (previews from May 14) to July 4, 2009.
In an epic play that spans four generations and two continents, Michael Attenborough directs Naomi Bentley, Simon Burke, Jonathan Cullen, Lisa Dillon, Richard Hope, Tom Mison, Phoebe Nicholls, Leah Purcell, and Sargon Yelda.
When The Rain Stops Falling moves from the claustrophobia of a 1950’s London flat to the windswept coast of Southern Australia and into the heart of the Australian desert, weaving together a series of interconnected stories, as seven people confront the mysteries of the past in order to understand their future.
Bentley‘s theatre credits include Burn, Chatroom and Citizenship (National Theatre), Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre) and Martha Loves Michael (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh). She was last seen at the Almeida in Roy Williams’ Out of Fog. On screen, she has appeared in Mutual Friends, Ideal, New Tricks, Silent Witness and Extras (TV); The Mark of Cain and January 2nd (film).
Burke‘s theatre credits include Mr Kolpert, She Stoops to Conquer, The Herbal Bed and The Merchant of Venice (Sydney Theatre Company); The Sound of Music (London Palladium), Out of the Blue (Shaftesbury Theatre), Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre) and A Christmas Carol (RSC). He has also appeared on British television in Hustle and The One That Got Away.
Cullen‘s more recent theatre credits include The Stone, Talking to Terrorists, Under The Blue Sky and Our Late Night (Royal Court Theatre); State of Emergency (Gate Theatre); Equus (Gielgud Theatre); Market Boy and Albert Speer (National Theatre); and The Master and Margerita and The Seagull (Chichester Festival Theatre). On screen he has appeared in The Innocents and The Unknown Soldier (TV); Neverland, Fred Clause and Robin Hood (film).
Dillon has previously been seen at the Almeida in Period of Adjustment and Hedda Gabler. Her other theatre credits include Under the Blue Sky (Duke of York’s Theatre), Present Laughter (National Theatre), Desdemona in Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder (Albery Theatre) for which she won the Ian Charleson Award and the Critics’ Circle Most Promising Newcomer Award. Her screen credits include Cranford, Hawking and Cambridge Spies (TV); Bright Young Things (film).
Hope‘s extensive theatre work includes The Hour We Know Nothing of Each Other, A Prayer for Owen Meany, War and Peace, Pravda and Hamlet (National Theatre); Anna Karenina (Shared Experience); Cymbeline (Shakespeare’s Globe); and The Street of Crocodiles and The Visit (Theatre de Complicité). His screen credits include Silent Witness, New Tricks and Heartbeat (TV); Chromophobia, Sergeant Pepper, Antonia and Jane and Bellman and True (film).
Mison‘s theatre credits include Hedda (Gate Theatre); The Living Unknown Soldier and Les Enfants Du Paradis (Arcola Theatre); Hamlet (Old Vic) and Achidi J’s Final Hours (Soho Theatre). On television he has appeared in Lost in Austen (as Mr Bingley), Belle de Jour, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and Heroes and Villians.
Nicholls was last at the Almeida in Samuel West critically acclaimed production of Waste. Her other theatre credits include The Vortex (Apollo Theatre), Three Women and a Piano Tuner (Hampstead Theatre), Hysteria (Royal Court) and An Inspector Calls and Pravda (National Theatre). She has also appeared on screen in Persuasion, The Trial of Tony Blair, Hawking and Shackleton (TV); Maurice and The Elephant Man (film).
Purcell is one of Australia’s leading actors and has won many awards for her work in theatre and on screen. Her Australian stage credits include Stuff Happens, The Marriage of Figaro and The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table. As well as working extensively on Australian television, she has also appeared on the big screen in Andrew Bovell’s Lantana and The Proposition.
Yelda‘s theatre credits include Salt Meets Wound (Theatre 503) and Stovepipe, (National Theatre/Bush Theatre Collaboration); while on television he has appeared in Saddam’s Tribe, Midnight Man and Compulsion.
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