Sonia Friedman Productions

Cast

Creative

Amelia Bullmore (Ruth) Stage credits include The Thickness of Skin, Road and The Queen and I, all at the Royal Court, Inadmissible Evidence at the National Theatre and A View from the Bridge at the Manchester Royal Exchange.  TV: "Whistleblowers," "State of Play," "I'm Still Alan Partridge," "Linda Green" and as "Coronation Street" regular Stephanie Barnes.  Film: Mrs. Dalloway, Festival.

Jessica Hynes (Annie) co-wrote and co-starred in "Spaced" on Channel 4, which won her the Best Female Comedy Newcomer Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2000.  She was nominated for the BAFTA Best Actress Award for the film Tomorrow La Scala and was nominated for the 2003 Best Performance in a Supporting Role Olivier Award for The Night Heron at the Royal Court.  Other theatre credits: The Plough and the Stars and Fiddler on the Roof, both directed by Matthew Warchus at West Yorkshire Playhouse.  TV: "The Royle Family" and "Doctor Who".  Film: Son of Rambow, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Shaun of the Dead.

Stephen Mangan (Norman) Extensive theatre credits include The People are Friendly at the Royal Court, Noises Off at the Piccadilly, Declan Donnellan's production of Noel Coward's Hay Fever at the Savoy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and School for Scandal, all for the Royal Shakespeare Company.  TV: Guillaume Secretan in "Green Wing," "The Armando Iannucci Show," "Lucky Jim," "I'm Alan Partridge," and Adrian Mole in "The Cappuccino Years".   Film: Festival, Confetti, Billy Elliot.

Ben Miles (Tom) was last seen on stage at the Royal Court in My Child and at The Old Vic as Bolingbroke in Richard II.  Other theatre credits include Hand in Hand to the Promised Land at Hampstead and The Cherry Orchard, The London Cuckolds and Mary Stuart at the National Theatre.  Ben is best known for his role as Patrick in BBC's "Coupling," and has worked extensively in both film and television, including roles in the recent BBC adaptation of "Lark Rise to Candleford" and films V For Vendetta, Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin. 

Paul Ritter (Reg) His extensive theatre credits include The Hothouse, Royal Hunt of the Sun, Coram Boy and The Coast of Utopia, all at the National Theatre, The Night Heron at the Royal Court and at The Old Vic in Snake in the Grass, presented by the Peter Hall Company.  TV: "Peterloo," "Ripley's Gold," "Waking the Dead," "He Kills Coppers," and "Little Dorrit".  Film: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Quantum of Solace, Son of Rambow. 

Amanda Root (Sarah) recently appeared on stage at the Almeida in Enemies and Conversations After a Burial.  Other theatre includes The Plough and the Stars at West Yorkshire Playhouse and extensive work at the RSC.  TV: "The Robber Bride" (Working Title), Dolly in "Anna Karenina" (C4) and Adela in "The House of Bernarda Alba" (C4).  Film: Enduring Love, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith, Persuasion, Jane Eyre. 

Alan Ayckbourn (Playwright) is one of England's most treasured playwrights, author of 71 plays which have been produced in the West End, at the National Theatre or at the Royal Shakespeare Company.  They have been translated into 35 languages, and performed continually throughout the world and have received many national and international awards.  His works include Relatively Speaking, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, How the Other Half Loves, Just Between Ourselves, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval, Woman in Mind, Comic Potential and Things We Do For Love.  Intimate Exchanges, his eight play series revived in the UK in 2006/07, transferred to New York as part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival, with Time Magazine voting it one of the ten best productions of 2007.

Matthew Warchus (Director) His other Broadway credits are the Tony Award-winning revival of Boeing-Boeing, Yasmina Reza's Art, Life (x) 3 and the upcoming God of Carnage, True West and Follies. He has received three Tony Award and two Drama Desk Award nominations. Off-Broadway, he directed Reza's The Unexpected Man.  His numerous West End credits include God of Carnage; Speed the Plow; The Norman Conquests;  The Life of Stuff; Art; True West; The Unexpected Man; Life (x) 3; Our House; Tell Me on a Sunday, and Endgame.

Rob Howell (Scenery and Costume Designer) has worked extensively in theatre and opera within the UK and abroad including working at The Royal Court, The Almeida, The Donmar Warehouse, The Royal National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Welsh National Opera and The Royal Opera House. Rob received the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Set Designer for Troilus and Cressida (National Theatre), Vassa (Almeida) and Richard III (Royal Shakespeare Company). He was nominated for Best Costume Design in the same year for Troilus and Cressida and Money (National Theatre) and for Best Set Designer in 1996 for The Glass Menagerie (the Donmar and Comedy Theatre), 1997 for Chips With Everything (NT) and 2001 for The Caretaker (Comedy Theatre). In 2006, he received an Olivier Award for Best Set Design for Hedda Gabler (Almeida and West End) as well as a Best Costume Design nomination. This year he was nominated for an Olivier Award in both Set and Costume design categories for The Lord of the Rings (West End).

David Howe (Lighting Designer). Broadway: Primo (Music Box Theatre), 2006 Tony Award nomination for Outstanding Theatrical Event. West End: The Norman Conquests (Old Vic Theatre); Maria Friedman Rearranged (Trafalgar Studios); Rent (Duke of York's); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Haymarket Theatre); Pageant (Vaudeville Theatre); Take Flight, The Last Five Years and La Cage aux Folles (Menier Chocolate Factory). Associate lighting design: Lord of the Rings (West End and Toronto), The Woman in White (West End and Broadway), Carousel (West End, Japanese and U.S. tour). Current UK national tours: Beauty and the Beast, Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Little Shop of Horrors. International: The Rocky Horror Show (European tour), Woyzeck (St. Ann's Warehouse, New York).

Gary Yershon (Music). Gary's work encompasses scores for TV, radio, all the UK's major theatre companies and numerous West End shows. His contributions to Art, The Unexpected Man, Life (x) 3, God of Carnage, Arabian Nights, The Play What I Wrote and RSC productions of Hamlet, Don Carlos and The Taming of the Shrew have been heard in NYC. His film work has been for Mike Leigh, as music director on Topsy-Turvy and composer for Happy-Go-Lucky.

Simon Baker for Autograph (Sound Designer). Simon graduated from the Guildhall School in 1992. He has served time in the sound departments of both the RSC and National. In 1999 he joined British sound design and rental company Autograph. Recent credits include The Lord of the Rings (Toronto and London, 2007 Olivier nomination for Best Sound), Boeing-Boeing (London and Broadway, 2007 Tony nomination for Best Sound), God of Carnage, Our House (U.K. tour), Brief Encounter (Kneehigh/Haymarket/U.K. tour/ U.S. tour, 2008 Olivier nomination for Best Sound), The Norman Conquests (Old Vic), Don John (Kneehigh/RSC/U.K. tour and BAC) and Complicit (Old Vic).

The Old Vic in London is one of the best-known and best-loved theatres in the world.  Its iconic building houses a rich history of great British talent from Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson to Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Peter O'Toole. The Old Vic Theatre Company under the artistic leadership of Kevin Spacey continues to attract the best talent; Jeff Goldblum, Richard Dreyfuss, Ian McKellen, David Suchet and Diana Rigg have all been members of the Company. The Old Vic, BAM and Sam Mendes have this year formed a transatlantic company, The Bridge Project, to perform double-bills of classic works, launching with The Cherry Orchard and The Winter's Tale now playing at BAM. The Old Vic's production of A Moon for the Misbegotten starring Eve Best and Kevin Spacey was a sell-out success on Broadway.  It also runs an award-winning Education and Community program, Old Vic New Voices, which mentors young theatre practitioners, both in London and New York. The Old Vic Theatre Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Old Vic Theatre Trust (Chief Executive Sally Greene), a charity supported in the US by The American Associates of The Old Vic, a registered US non-profit organization.