Leading ladies head cast for theatre’s comeback
Casting has been announced for the first two plays in the Theatre Royal Bath’s Welcome Back Season this autumn.
Two of the country’s leading actresses, Nancy Carroll and Haydn Gwynne, are joined by a distinguished cast of experienced stage and screen performers.
Betrayal, Harold Pinter’s mesmerising masterpiece of relationships and adultery, stars Nancy Carroll, Joseph Millson, Edward Bennett and Christopher Bianchi. It runs from Wednesday, October 14 to Saturday, October 31.
Nancy Carroll, right, is one of the leading actresses of her generation. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in Terence Rattigan’s After The Dance at the National Theatre.
She is well known for her recurring role of Lady Felicia in seven series of BBC1’S Father Brown, has recently starred in the worldwide TV hit The Crown, and featured in Sky One comedy Agatha Raisin.
Joseph Millson initially came to public attention as Dr Sam Morgan in the long-running medical drama Peak Practice.
He has since played may leading roles at the National Theatre, the Royal Court, and at the RSC, where he won the UK Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Play for The Rover in 2017.
He also won the Whatsonstage Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to Phantom of the Opera. His film credits include Casino Royale and Angel Has Fallen. Edward Bennett has recently starred as Macduff in Macbeth, Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, all for the RSC, and Stanley Stubbers in the National Theatre hit comedy One Man Two Guvnors.
He is well known to Bath audiences for numerous appearances as part of the Peter Hall Company in School For Scandal, Habeus Corpus and Measure for Measure.
Christopher Bianchi has worked regularly for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Bristol Old Vic.
Michael Frayn’s multi award-winning Copenhagen stars Haydn Gwynne, Michael Gould and Philip Arditti and runs from Wednesday 4 November to Saturday 21 November.
Haydn Gwynne, right, is a very popular stage and screen actor. She rose to fame as newsreader Alex in Channel 4’s Drop The Dead Donkey, for which she was nominated the Bafta for Light Entertainment Performance, and has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot The Musical.
Other notable stage roles include Margaret Thatcher in Peter Morgan’s The Audience opposite Helen Mirren, and Queen Elizabeth in Sam Mendes’ Richard III at the Old Vic.
Her numerous screen credits include the regular role of Dr Graham in Peak Practice, and appearances in Midsomer Murders, Silent Witness, Rome and Death in Paradise.
Michael Gould’s extensive stage career has spanned 30 years working with the RSC, National Theatre, The Globe Theatre and the Young Vic, among many others.
His notable roles include Iago in Othello for the RSC, Oberon/theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Polonius in Hamlet for the Young Vic. His film credits include Rogue One and the Bafta and Academy Award nominated wartime drama, The Darkest Hour. Philip Arditti has recently worked with the Globe Ensemble, a ten-strong company of performers producing all of Shakespeare’s ‘history plays’ at the Globe Theatre in London.
He has played Oliver in As You Like It, and the high priest Caiaphas in Salome, both for the National Theatre.
Recent screen credits include Dr Silva in the psychological thriller series Sanctuary; Dan Brown thriller Inferno, directed by Ron Howard and BBC series Honourable Women.
He first became known for his portrayal of Uday Hussein in the BBC/HBO series House of Saddam.
Casting for Oleanna, the third play in the autumn season, will be announced shortly.