Back to News & Press New cast announced for Sunny Afternoon Thursday 20 August 2015 The multi-Olivier Award-winning hit British musical SUNNY AFTERNOON, which tells the story of the rise to fame of The Kinks, has announced the actors taking over from its award-winning original cast. Danny Horn (Doctor Who; The Dead Dogs) will play Ray Davies, with Oliver Hoare (Antony and Cleopatra, Chichester) as Dave Davies, Tom Whitelock (Times Square Angel, Union) as bassist Pete Quaife and Damien Walsh (Dreamboats and Petticoats) as drummer Mick Avory. At certain performances, the role of Ray Davies will be played by Ryan O’Donnell (Romeo and Juliet, RSC; Quadrophenia). Cast includes: Niamh Bracken, Christopher Brandon, Jason Baughan, Harriet Bunton, Alice Cardy, Oliver Hoare, Danny Horn, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Jay Marsh, Megan Leigh Mason, Ryan O’Donnell, Stephen Pallister, Charlie Tighe, Gabriel Vick, Damien Walsh and Tom Whitelock.With a book by Joe Penhall, music and lyrics and original story by Ray Davies, and directed by Edward Hall, Sunny Afternoon has established itself as a firm favourite with audiences and critics alike since it opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October 2014. Sunny Afternoon was the best performing show at this year’s Olivier Awards, winning four awards. The production won Best New Musical, John Dagleish won Best Actor in a Musical, George Maguire won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, and Ray Davies of The Kinks won for Outstanding Achievement in Music. The original cast, including Olivier Award winners John Dagleish and George Maguire, will remain in the show until 3 October 2015. Forty-nine years ago this year, The Kinks were sitting at Number One in the UK charts with their single ‘Sunny Afternoon’. The band’s popularity has not faded since the 1960s, with crowds of all ages filling the Harold Pinter Theatre night after night. Featuring some of The Kinks’ best-loved songs, including You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset and Lola, Sunny Afternoon shows the music of The Kinks is still as popular as ever, more than 50 years since the band’s rise to fame. Following a sold-out run at Hampstead Theatre, this world premiere production, with music and lyrics by Ray Davies, new book by Joe Penhall, original story by Ray Davies, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether and choreography by Adam Cooper, opened at the Harold Pinter theatre on 28 October 2014. Lighting is by Rick Fisher, sound by Matt McKenzie and the Musical Supervisor and Musical Director is Elliott Ware.The official cast recording album, produced by Ray Davies at his Konk studios, is released on BMG Chrysalis and is available to buy here . Sonia Friedman Productions commissioned Joe Penhall in 2011 to write the book based on Ray Davies’s original story. The company developed the production over the next four years, assembling the creative team and cast that presented Sunny Afternoon last year at Hampstead Theatre under the direction of Edward Hall, and now at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Ray Davies is an influential and prolific rock musician and was co-founder and lead singer and songwriter for rock band The Kinks, and later a solo artist. He has an outstanding catalogue of hits from the earliest 1960s to the present day with estimated record sales in excess of 50 million. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television. Joe Penhall is an award winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include Some Voices (Royal Court), Blue/Orange (National Theatre and West End), winner of Best New Play at the Evening Standard Awards, Olivier Awards and at the Critics Circle, and Dumb Show, Haunted Child and Birthday (all Royal Court). Screenplays include Enduring Love and The Road.As Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre, Edward Hall’s productions include Wonderland, Sunny Afternoon, Raving, Chariots of Fire, No Naughty Bits, Loyalty and Enlightenment. As Artistic Director of Propeller, his work has toured worldwide, played the West End and Broadway and has won numerous awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre), Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre), Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery), The Constant Wife (Apollo), Julius Caesar (RSC), Henry V (RSC) and The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville). Television work includes Downton Abbey, Spooks and Kingdom. Edward is an Associate of the National Theatre and the Old Vic. Up Up

Back to News & Press Theatre's absence is damaging Britain's mental health Wednesday 14 October 2020 It’s seven months tomorrow since I shut my last show - and most theatres are still completely dark. It’s the longest prolonged closure since Pepys’ day. Theatre has endured war, riots, depression and, yes, even disease. Its absence is damaging this country and doing harm to the mental health of its people, and I’m determined to do anything I can to help bring it back. Exactly two years ago, David Walliams took me to see a brilliant young double act called The Pin at the Soho Theatre. Watching their hilarious sketch show that night, I cried with laughter. And I wasn’t alone. The whole audience lost it. It’s strange to think back on that evening now. I’m not sure I’ve laughed like that in months. You rarely do while watching TV or surfing YouTube on your phone, do you? Not in that same sustained and unstoppable way. For that, a joke has to be shared. People have to set each other off. ‘I wasn’t alone’ – that’s the key. There’s something about live comedy – live anything – that you can’t recreate at home. There’s a kind of alchemy to it. Everything’s enlivened . Right now, we need that – maybe more than ever. This year has taken a huge toll on us all: mentally, physically and spiritually. After a long lockdown, we need the opportunity to let go. We’re craving connection and spontaneity. Live theatre – performance – offers that release, and it has done for thousands of years. It lets an audience feed off each other’s emotions, whether laughter or tears, and share in a silence. It’s why Oscar Wilde saw it “as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” As social, emotional animals, we need that. Theatre’s vital to our collective well-being and mental health, and the overwhelmingly positive public response to the Palladium Panto and the Les Miserables concert announcement is testament to that. Now, thankfully, theatre’s making a tentative return – albeit in a limited, socially distanced form. The financial constraints of producing socially-distanced theatre are seriously prohibitive and there’s no way our industry can survive like this long-term, but for now, so long as we are allowed, it’s incumbent on us to get our shows back on our stages somehow. It’s a big financial risk, but it’s one we have to take wherever we can follow the health and safety guidelines signed off by the appropriate authorities. Socially distanced theatre will never work financially, but it is vital – in every sense. That’s why, this December, I’m producing The Pin’s debut play The Comeback in the West End. It’s a dizzying and delirious new comedy that tells the story of two double acts fighting to wrestle control of the most chaotic, farcical and high-stakes gig of their respective careers. It feels like the right show for right now. Some people say farce encapsulates the human condition: people clinging desperately to dignity as their world spins out of control. Others just see door slams and slapstick. Either way: bring it on. Following all of the government-approved Performing Arts working guidelines to prioritise the health and safety of our audiences and company, I hope The Comeback gives theatregoers of all ages the great night out they deserve after this year. It’s taken a lot to get here, but I have been determined to get back to work. Audiences need a chance to escape. Freelancers, many of whom have gone without financial assistance, need opportunities to return to work. From March to May, I was in shock and survival mode. Having shuttered 18 productions worldwide in two weeks, and paused another 10 in the pipeline, I tried to stay sane by focusing on the other side. We all thought – hoped – we’d be back by this autumn, naïve as that now seems, but as the scale of the shutdown became clear, I coped by developing and creating… producing. I wasn’t alone. The commitment to creating new ways of sharing, streaming and restarting performance has been as inspiring to me as the shutdown itself has been depressing. It speaks to the necessity of theatre and live performance – how humans simply can’t do without it. Seven months on, we urgently need to address our long-term future. At present, the full reopening of our theatres still seems some way off and many shows are still stuck in limbo. The vital Cultural Recovery Fund tides venues, organisations and companies over until spring, but what then? We still need a fixed timeline to work towards – if only just a ‘not before’ date, and we need an insurance scheme to underwrite interruptions as already granted to television and film. That’s a gamechanger. Make no mistake: the current situation of social distancing shows in the commercial sector is only a stop-gap. It is not sustainable long-term. We cannot carry on with small-scale, concert style productions in theatres for more than a few weeks. To bring our productions back in full, to reopen the theatre economy and its eco-system, we have to restore the full spectrum performance can offer – intimate, off-beat encounters, and all-singing-all-dancing spectaculars, large scale Shakespeare productions, inclusive community shows and exquisite operatics. The Chancellor’s statement on the ‘unviability’ of theatre is not just a neat sidestep. It’s an admission of defeat. It presents theatre’s current temporary fix as its only possible future. The truth is he can no more afford that than we can, and actually I have huge faith that Oliver Dowden and the government do understand the gigantic impact UK theatre has on our nation’s economic and, crucially, social and mental health. They know theatre’s more than viable. It’s one of this country’s greatest economic assets: a significant generator of VAT, a cultural force exported around the world and the number two reason tourists visit the UK. Without theatre’s full return, the hit to the economy is estimated at between £6.6bn and £9.3bn a year. The annual loss of VAT alone would be up to £1bn. But this is no longer simply a fiscal issue. It is a national one: a question of public health and well-being. Remember the Mental Health Foundation’s assertion that arts and culture can play a part in solving social issues such as aging and loneliness; that it “alleviates anxiety, depression and stress.” In the wake of all this, we are more important than ever. We have to be part of the national recovery. And that recovery starts now. Medicine saves lives, but culture makes life worth living. Ask Matt Hancock: “What the NHS does is life-saving. But what the arts and social activities do is life-enhancing,” the Health Secretary said back in 2018. “We should value the arts and social activities because they’re essential to our health and wellbeing. It’s scientifically proven. Access to the arts and social activities improves people’s mental and physical health.” That ‘and’ is key – arts and social activities. Digital approximations alone aren’t enough. Art in isolation isn’t enough. We need to share experiences in communal spaces. We need to feed off each other’s emotions, to sit in rapt silence with nothing to break the spell, to laugh that much harder because we’re laughing together. That’s one of the things I’m most looking forward to with The Comeback this December. Theatre’s return can’t come soon enough. Up Up

Back to News & Press Richard Coyle To Play Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird Monday 27 June 2022 Acclaimed stage and screen actor, Richard Coyle , will return to the West End to play the iconic role of Atticus Finch in the critically acclaimed production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird – a new play by Aaron Sorkin , directed by Bartlett Sher . Coyle was last on the West End stage in the Olivier Award-nominated hit play, Ink . Niall Buggy (Olivier and Drama Desk Award-winner) will also join the production as Judge Taylor. Coyle and Buggy will join the original London company and begin performances from 15 August for the current booking period until 19 November at the Gielgud Theatre. Rafe Spall and Jim Norton , who are currently playing Atticus Finch and Judge Taylor respectively, will have their final performances on 13 August. Click here to book tickets for the Autumn season. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Shark is Broken announces Broadway transfer Tuesday 25 April 2023 Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis are delighted to announce that the smash-hit play THE SHARK IS BROKEN will make waves on Broadway this summer after critically acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on London's West End. A new Olivier Award-nominated comedy by lan Shaw and Joseph Nixon , THE SHARK IS BROKEN imagines what happened on board "The Orca" when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Stephen Spielberg 's blockbuster, JAWS. Co-writer Ian Shaw (War Horse ) will also star in THE SHARK IS BROKEN , making his Broadway debut in the role he created in Edinburgh and on the West End, portraying his father Robert Shaw who played "Quint" in JAWS . Casting for the roles of Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss will be announced at a later date. Directed by Guy Masterson , THE SHARK IS BROKEN begins performances on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), and will officially open on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for a strictly limited 16-week engagement. FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Production on JAWS is delayed...again. The film's lead actors - theatre veteran Robert Shaw and young Hollywood hotshots, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider-are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical co-star. Alcohol flows, egos collide, and tempers flare on a chaotic voyage that just might lead to cinematic magic...if it doesn't sink them all. From the JAWS of defeat, came a Hollywood victory. Tickets are on sale now for THE SHARK IS BROKEN at Telecharge.com (212.239.6200) and range from $49 - $119 (including $2 facility fee) during the specially priced preview performances. The playing schedule for THE SHARK IS BROKEN is as follows: Monday - Saturday at 8pm, with matinees on Saturday at 2pm. Please note: There will be an added 2pm matinee on Wednesday, August 2and Wednesday, August 9. Beginning Friday, August 11, the performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday- Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Please note: There will be no matinee on Sunday, August 13. THE SHARK IS BROKEN includes scenic and costume design by Duncan Henderson , lighting design by Jon Clark , sound design and original music are by Adam Cork , video design by Nina Dunn , with casting by Jim Carnahan Casting . The smash-hit of the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, THE SHARK IS BROKEN was steering a course to transfer to London's West End but was postponed due to the pandemic. The "intoxicating combination of behind-the-scenes gossip and contemplation of the nature of popular art” (The Stage ★★★★) opened at the West End's Ambassadors Theatre in 2021 where it garnered critical acclaim and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Play, and by popular demand extended its limited run into 2022. Up Up

Back to News & Press Joshua Malina to Join the Cast of LEOPOLDSTADT in March; David Krumholtz, Caissie Levy & More to Depart Thursday 2 February 2023 Beginning Tuesday, March 14, Joshua Malina ("The West Wing," "Sports Night") will take over the role of Hermann. Dave Register (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ) also joins the company in the role of Fritz, and Cody Braverman joins in the role of Young Leo. Leopoldstadt will also welcome current company members Jesse Aaronson in the role of Leo, in addition to his current role as Aaron; Charlotte Graham in the role of Nellie; and Sarah Killough in the role of Eva. Ali Rose Dachis (Fish in the Dark, Usual Girls ) also joins the company as an understudy. Arty Froushan , David Krumholtz , Caissie Levy , and Tedra Millan will play their final performances on Sunday, March 12. Up Up

Back to News & Press Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Announces North American Tour Monday 16 October 2023 Producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions announced today that the North American Tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will launch in September 2024. The call out for auditions has gone out today and all dates and venues are to be announced. This will be the world premiere of the first-ever touring production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, based on the acclaimed Broadway production, currently playing at the Lyric Theatre, New York. Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said, "Developing a first-class touring production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has long been an ambition of ours. We are delighted that our wonderful and deeply gifted creative team have found a way to make it possible to bring the magic, spectacle, and thrills of our astonishing show to audiences across North America, and we can't wait for audiences to see it." Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the first Harry Potter story to be presented on stage and the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, has sold over 10 million tickets worldwide since its world premiere in London in July 2016 and holds a record 60 major honors, with nine Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Play and six Tony Awards including Best Play. The international phenomenon has cast its spell worldwide with productions currently running in London, New York, Hamburg, and Tokyo, and has completed runs in Melbourne, Toronto, and San Francisco. The original two-part production in London's West End recently celebrated its 7th anniversary, while the reimagined Broadway production celebrated its 5th anniversary. The most successful non-musical play in Broadway history, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has the unique distinction of being named by the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in Broadway history with over $270 million total sales and over 2.5 million tickets sold. To stay up to date with the latest information, sign up for the mailing list at www.HarryPotterOnStage.com . Up Up

Back to News & Press Tom Stoppard's critically acclaimed Leopoldstadt wins the Tony Award for Best Play At the ceremony yesterday evening at United Palace in New York, Tom Stoppard ’s critically acclaimed Leopoldstadt won the Tony Award for Best New Play. This marks the fourth time in the last five years that Sonia Friedman Productions have produced the winning Best New Play – previous winners are Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany and J. K. Rowling, The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth, and The Inheritance by Mathew Lopez, marking a record for the London based producer. These same plays won the Olivier Award for Best New Play across four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020. The production won an additional three Tony Awards – Best Director of a Play for Patrick Marber , Best Featured Actor in a Play for Brandon Uranowitz , and Best Costume Design of a Play for Brigitte Reiffenstuel . Patrick Marber’s production of Leopoldstadt is currently running at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre, and was this year’s most Tony Award-nominated play. In the US, the run has also won two Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Play, three Outer Critics’ Circle Awards including Best New Broadway Play, two Drama League Awards, and the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. For its sell-out critically acclaimed run at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, the production garnered two Olivier Awards, including for Best New Play. Sonia Friedman said today, “Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece Leopoldstadt has been a huge labour of love for all of us at SFP – a cast of 38, and a production history that spanned the pandemic, seeing the sell-out London production shut down in 2020, and then be one of the first productions leading the way back to live performance in the West End, before transferring to Broadway. To work with the greatest living playwright Tom Stoppard is the privilege of a lifetime. “This play has been in my life for several years and I thank you Tom for entrusting me with your personal masterwork about family, identity, loss, endurance, and survival - your urgent story from the past is so powerfully relevant today AND DEEPLY NEEDED. Your astonishing achievement is testament to the power of LIVE theatre to open hearts and change minds! “Thank you to Patrick Marber for your inspiring direction and to the creative team, associates and of course to the entire cast and crew - your commitment, talent and dedication over the past 9 months or so (and for some the past 4 years) has made this all possible. “New writing is at the heart of what we do at SFP – collaborating with writers at the very top of their game, and bringing that work into the West End and Broadway to make quality writing accessible to everyone. To have our work recognised in this way over multiple years is testament to the dedication and brilliance not only of the writers, but also creatives, actors, all those backstage, and team at SFP, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.” SFP’s productions also won Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Beowulf Boritt for New York, New York at last night’s ceremony from a total of 17 nominations; and the company’s production of Funny Girl with Lea Michele also performed. Up Up

Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman named Producer of the Year for second year running Friday 29 January 2016 It has been a remarkable year for Sonia, producing 19 productions over 2015, with hits including Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch at The Barbican, the award winning and critically acclaimed Bend it Like Beckham and the multi award-winning Sunny Afternoon which won 4 Oliver Awards in 2015 including Best New Musical, Farinelli and the King starring Mark Rylance and King Charles III in the West End, on Broadway and on tour . This year Sonia will produce the highly anticipated Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith at the Savoy Theatre and will collaborate with J.K. Rowling on the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II, in co-production with Colin Callender. Speaking at The Stage Awards 2016, Sonia said, “It is a real honour to be given this award for the second year in a row. It is testament to the extraordinary hard work of all my team and the brilliance of the creative people we have worked with that this has been given to me. I want to take this opportunity to thank them all for what they do. I would also like to thank The Stage and everyone who voted for me again this year.” As the world’s leading theatre publication, The Stage newspaper’s annual industry awards highlights the achievements by London, regional and fringe theatres as well as international achievements. The Stage Awards were held on 29 January at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. Up Up

Back to News & Press BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz interviews Sonia Friedman on BBC Radio 4 Wednesday 6 August 2014 BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz meets the cultural entrepreneurs for his four part series Zeitgeisters. Listen again here . Up Up

Back to News & Press New cast announced for The Ferryman on Broadway Tuesday 8 January 2019 Directed by Sam Mendes , The Ferryman will feature three-time Tony Award nominee Brian d’Arcy James (Next to Normal, Time Stands Still, Spotlight ) as Quinn Carney; Holley Fain (Harvey , “Gossip Girl,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) as Caitlin Carney; and Emily Bergl (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Plenty ) as Mary Carney, with Fred Applegate (The Last Ship, The Producers ) as Uncle Patrick Carney, Ralph Brown (Gemini Man, Withnail and I , “Turn”) as Muldoon, Sean Delaney (Rabbit Hole, Labyrinth, The Ferryman in the West End) as Michael Carney, Jack DiFalco (Torch Song, Marvin’s Room ) as Shane Corcoran, Ethan Dubin (Bobbie Clarly, Rancho Viejo ) as Oisin Carney, Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (Oklahoma!, The Whale, No Man’s Land/Waiting for Godot ) as Tom Kettle, Terence Keeley (The Ferryman in the West End, Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe) as Diarmaid Corcoran, Collin Kelly-Sordelet (The Last Ship, Somebody’s Daughter ) as James Joseph (JJ) Carney, Ann McDonough (Admissions, Dinner at Eight ) as Aunt Patricia Carney, Julia Nightingale (Because of Winn Dixie ) as Shena Carney, and Graham Winton (Cyrano de Bergerac, The Tempest ) as Frank Magennis, along with returning cast members Charles Dale (Father Horrigan), Fionnula Flanagan (Aunt Maggie Far Away), Matilda Lawler (Honor Carney), Michael Quinton McArthur (Declan Corcoran), Willow McCarthy (Mercy Carney), Brooklyn Shuck (Nunu (Nuala) Carney), Glenn Speers (Lawrence Malone), Glynis Bell, Peter Bradbury, Will Coombs, Gina Costigan, Carly Gold, Holly Gould, Trevor Harrison Braun, Bella May Mordus, Griffin Osborne , and four adorable babies who rotate in the role of Bobby Carney, with further casting to be announced. Beginning Tuesday, April 16, Tony Award winner Blair Brown (“Orange Is The New Black,” The Parisian Woman, Copenhagen ) will assume the role of Aunt Maggie Far Away. Charles Dale, Sean Delaney, Terence Keeley, and Glenn Speers are appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association. As previously, the full company will comprise 35 performers: 17 main adults, 10 covers, 4 children, and 4 babies on rotation. The season’s most acclaimed production on Broadway, Jez Butterworth ’s The Ferryman , directed by Sam Mendes , is now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th Street) and was recently extended through July 7, 2019 due to popular demand. “THE BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR” (NPR) according to Ben Brantley “THIS ASTONISHING, GLORIOUS, MAGNIFICENT DRAMA TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY” (The New York Times) “YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE WATCHING HUMAN DESTINY PLAY OUT BEFORE YOUR EYES…THE BEST NEW PLAY OF THE YEAR” (The Chicago Tribune) “A CRACKLING THRILLER THAT WILL SHAKE UP THE BROADWAY SEASON WITH TORNADO-LIKE FORCE” (The Hollywood Reporter) Developed by Sonia Friedman Productions and produced with Neal Street Productions and The Royal Court Theatre , The Ferryman opened at The Royal Court in May 2017 and was the fastest-selling play in the theatre’s history. The sold-out show transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End, and ended its thrice-extended, year-long run in May 2018. The Ferryman won three 2018 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play (marking Jez Butterworth ’s second Olivier win), Best Actress Laura Donnelly , and Best Director Sam Mendes (marking his fourth Olivier win). The Ferryman also won three 2017 Evening Standard Awards, including Best Play and Best Director, as well as the Emerging Talent Award for Tom Glynn-Carney ; three 2018 Whatsonstage Awards, including Best New Play, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Fra Fee; and was named the Best New Play at the 2018 UK Critics’ Circle Awards. The Ferryman is set in rural Northern Ireland in 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor. The Ferryman ’s current company includes Paddy Considine in his stage debut as Quinn Carney, Laura Donnelly as Caitlin Carney, Catherine McCormack as Mary Carney, Dean Ashton, Glynis Bell, Peter Bradbury, Trevor Harrison Braun, Sean Frank Coffey, Will Coombs, Gina Costigan, Charles Dale, Justin Edwards, Fra Fee, Fionnula Flanagan, Tom Glynn-Carney, Carly Gold, Holly Gould, Stuart Graham, Ryder Koehle, Mark Lambert, Carla Langley, Matilda Lawler, Michael Quinton McArthur, Willow McCarthy, Conor MacNeill, Colin McPhillamy, Rob Malone, Dearbhla Molloy, Bella May Mordus, Griffin Osborne, Annie Scarfuto, Brooklyn Shuck, Glenn Speers, Rafael West Vallés , and Niall Wright . The Ferryman ’s creative team is Rob Howell (scenic and costume design), Peter Mumford (lighting design), Nick Powell (sound design and original music), Amy Ball CDG (UK Casting), Jim Carnahan , C.S.A and Jillian Cimini C.S.A . (US Casting), Tim Hoare (new cast director), Scarlett Mackmin (choreography), Benjamin Endsley Klein (resident director), Campbell Young Associates (hair, wigs and makeup design), William Berloni (animal trainer), Terry King (UK fight director), Thomas Schall (US fight director), Majella Hurley (UK dialect coach), and Deborah Hecht (US dialect coach). The Ferryman is produced on Broadway by Sonia Friedman Productions & Neal Street Productions with Ronald Frankel, Gavin Kalin Productions, Roy Furman/Benjamin Lowy, Scott M. Delman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Ron Kastner, Starry Night Entertainment, Kallish Weinstein Creative, Scott Landis, Steve Traxler, Richard Winkler, Rona Delves Broughton/Bill Damaschke, 1001 Nights, Burnt Umber Productions, Rupert Gavin, Scott Rudin, Jamie deRoy/Catherine Adler, Sam Levy/Lauren Stevens , and Ramin Sabi/Christopher Ketner . Up Up

Back to News & Press Funny Girl starring Sheridan Smith to be screened in cinemas across the UK Tuesday 31 July 2018 Michael Mayer ’s production was filmed during the final week of its run at the Manchester Palace Theatre by Digital Theatre , and will be released in cinemas by Trafalgar Releasing . Darius Campbell played Nick Arnstein to Smith’s Fanny Brice, and they were joined by Nigel Barber (Florenz Ziegfeld), Zoë Ann Bown (Mrs. Meeker), Martin Callaghan (Mr. Keeney), Jennifer Harding (Emma), Rachel Izen (Mrs Brice), Joshua Lay (Eddie) and Myra Sands (Mrs. Strakosh); with Rhianne Alleyne , Kit Benjamin , Lloyd Davies , Flora Dawson , Joseph Dockree , Abigayle Honeywill , Brontë Lavine , David Mcintosh , Peter Nash , Gillian Parkhouse , Tom Partridge , Nova Skipp , Alexandra Waite-Roberts , Sam Wingfield and Alexandra Wright . “Fanny Brice was an extraordinary woman who broke the mould for female entertainment, not only that, she was a brilliant comic! Her lack of vanity and her goofiness made her unique and very special, and the role was an utter joy to play. I’m beyond excited to be able to share our production of Funny Girl with audiences across the UK.” Sheridan Smith " Sheridan Smith gives the performance of a lifetime in this unforgettable production of Funny Girl . We are excited to give audiences the opportunity to see the show in cinemas across the UK. We look forward to collaborating with Digital Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions and the Menier Chocolate Factory." Alice De Rosa, Director of Distribution for Trafalgar Releasing “Funny Girl has been a true collaboration for all those involved, and yet again as we prepare to share the production with cinema audiences across the UK. It’s a privilege for Digital Theatre to have become part of the remarkable story of this production, working with so many fantastic collaborators and to have been able to capture this unforgettable star turn from Sheridan Smith.” Robert Delamere, Founder of Digital Theatre With music by Jule Styne , lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart , the Broadway smash which skyrocketed Barbra Streisand to stardom, was revived with Sheridan Smith playing Fanny Brice, who rose from the Lower East Side of New York to become one of Broadway's biggest stars under producer Florenz Ziegfield. While she was cheered onstage as a great comedienne, offstage she faced a doomed relationship with the man she loved. With a score featuring now-classic songs such as "People", "You Are Woman, I Am Man" and "Don't Rain on My Parade", this new production was a must-see theatrical event. ‘A winningly exuberant performance. The most brilliant comic actress at work today.’ Sunday Times ‘Michael Mayer’s vivacious production has wit, charm and energy, sparkly choreography, and a strong, ebullient cast.’ Financial Times 'Sheridan Smith is one of British Theatre’s truly golden performers – a versatile star who thrills with her ability to be simultaneously touching and hilarious. Here she’s on glorious form.' Evening Standard ‘An unforgettable star turn… Smith is hilarious, glorious, touching. With a performance that is all-singing, all dancing, all-joking and, somehow, all-soul too.’ The Times Sheridan Smith reprises her smash hit performance in the role of Fanny Brice. Her other theatre work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Old Vic), Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress, Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress), Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre – Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Tinderbox (Bush Theatre), The People are Friendly (Royal Court) and Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse). For television, her credits include Clean Break, Ratburger, The Moorside Project, Blackwork, The C Word, Cilla, The Widower, The 7.39, Dates, Mr Stink, Mrs Biggs (BAFTA Award for Best Actress), Accused, Scapegoat, Little Crackers, Jonathan Creek, Gavin & Stacey, Larkrise to Candleford, Grown Ups, Love Soup, Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps, The Royle Family and Wives and Daughters ; and for film, The More You Ignore Me, The Huntsman, Powder Room, Quartet, Tower Block and Hysteria . She released her self-titled debut album Sheridan in November 2017 and embarked on a subsequent sell out tour. Following runs at the Menier, in the West End and on tour, Darius Campbell plays Nick Arnstein. His theatre work includes in the West End, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, Gone with the Wind , and From Here to Eternity ; Carmen (Europe and 02) and The History of the Big Bands (tour). Also a recording artist, his first single Colourblind went to #1 in the UK singles chart. Michael Mayer directs. His West End credits include Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatre) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Shaftesbury Theatre). For Broadway his work includes The Terms of My Surrender, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award nomination for Best Director), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, American Idiot (Drama Desk Award for Best Director of a Musical), Spring Awakening (Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Drama Desk Award for Best Direction of a Musical) and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown (Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical). For television, his work includes Smash and Alpha House , and for film his credits include A Home at the End of the World, Flicka and Chekhov's The Seagull . He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto . Up Up

Back to News & Press Full cast announced for terrifying psychological thriller The Haunting of Hill House at Liverpool Playhouse Wednesday 11 November 2015 The production is a collaboration with Sonia Friedman Productions and HAMMER to create the first major UK stage adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel. The production will play at the Williamson Square venue from Monday 7 December to Saturday 16 January. This Christmas at the Playhouse, following the international and West End success of Ghost Stories, the horror genre makes a return with The Haunting of Hill House. Emily Bevan plays Eleanor. Emily can currently be seen in ITV’s Doc Martin and she is also known for her roles in J K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy (BBC) and playing one of the leads in the BAFTA award-winning supernatural drama series In The Flesh (BBC). Her other credits include The Ark (BBC), The Thick of It (BBC) and Phone Shop (Channel 4). Chipo Chung plays Theodora. Chipo is a well-known face from stage and screen, her theatre credits include Fu Manchu Complex (Oval House Theatre) and Phaedre (National Theatre) and for the Everyman & Playhouse she has appeared in The Mayor Of Zalamea and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Her many television and film roles include Fortitude (Sky), Camelot (Channel 4), Black Mirror (Channel 4) and In the Loop. Jane Guernier plays Mrs Dudley and Celia Markway. Jane has worked extensively with Told by an Idiot including the productions And the Horse You Road In On and Beauty and the Beast. Her other stage and screen credits include Brand (RSC), Shelf Life (National Theatre of Wales) and The Bletchley Circle (ITV). Joseph May plays Luke. Joseph is well known for the role of Andy Button in Episodes (BBC), while his other screen credits include I Live with Models (Comedy Central), Holby City (BBC) and Mistresses (ABC). His theatre credits include No Naughty Bits (Hampstead Theatre) and Serious Money (Birmingham Rep). Martin Turner plays Dr Montague. Renowned for his stage and screen roles, Martin’s most recent stage roles include The King's Speech (Chichester Festival Theatre), Medea (National Theatre), Twelve Angry Men (Garrick Theatre) and A Life of Galileo (RSC). On screen he has appeared in New Tricks (BBC) and Law and Order: UK (ITV). Martin is well known for playing the role of Banquo in Rupert Goold’s production on Macbeth at Chichester Festival Theatre, the West End, Brooklyn Academy of Music and on film. This stage version of The Haunting of Hill House is adapted by Anthony Neilson. His previous theatre credits include The Wonderful World of Dissocia, National Theatre Scotland; Realism, Edinburgh International Festival; Narrative, Royal Court Theatre and The Censor, Finborough Theatre. The production is directed by Olivier and Tony Award nominee Melly Still. Her credits as director and co-designer include From Morning To Midnight and The Revenger's Tragedy (both National Theatre) and Coram Boy (National Theatre and Broadway); Rats' Tales, Manchester Royal Exchange (also adaptor); Rusalka and The Cunning Vixen, Glyndebourne Opera. Shirley Jackson established herself as one of America’s leading horror authors of the 20th Century thanks to a writing style of cryptic symbolism in the Gothic mold in which abnormal behaviour seemed perilously ordinary. As well as The Haunting of Hill House, her notable works include The Hangsaman and The Lottery. Such is the standing of The Haunting of Hill House in the horror cannon that Stephen King, in his book Danse Macabre, calls the novel "one of the finest books ever to come out of the genre". An alternative theatre experience over the festive period, the 150-year-old Playhouse is the perfect setting for this terrifying psychological thriller. Up Up