GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM Announces Complete Cast for UK Tour, Kicking Off in the West End

Casting has been announced for the acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Goodnight Mister Tom which runs at The Phoenix Theatre from 22 November 2012 for 9 weeks before embarking on a UK Tour from 29 January.

Olivier award-winner Oliver Ford Davies (Hamlet; RSC, Star Wars, Game of Thrones) reprises his role as Mister Tom alongside others from the celebrated original cast including Louise Collins (Mirror Teeth; Finborough Theatre), Joanne Howarth (Bingo; Chichester Festival Theatre/ Young Vic), Aoife McMahon (Translations; Abbey Theatre), Freya Parker (Six Characters In Search Of An Author; Headlong), Georgina Sutton (The Importance of Being Ernest; Lincoln Theatre Royal), Alan Vicary (The Power of Yes; National Theatre), Jonathan Warde (Danton’s Death; National Theatre) and Emma Drysdale (That Face; Tara Arts). They will be joined by Elisa de Grey (Brilliant; Fevered Sleep), Bradley Hall (South Downs; West End) and Osmund Bullock (Autumn & Winter; Orange Tree).

Six talented young performers have been cast in the roles of Zach and William. Arthur Gledhill Franks, Jamie Goldberg and Ewan Harris will alternate the role of William. Joseph Holgate, Thiago Los and William Price will alternate as Zach.

A stellar creative team includes choreographer Lizzi Gee (Vernon God Little; Young Vic), composer Matthew Scott (The Habit of Art; National Theatre) and puppet maker and director Toby Olié (associate puppetry director of War Horse; West End). Design is by Robert Innes Hopkins (Clybourne Park; West End/Royal Court), lighting is by Tim Mitchell (Kiss Me Kate; Chichester Festival Theatre/ Old Vic) and sound is by Gregory Clarke Earthquakes in London (National Theatre).

Now a modern classic, Michelle Magorian’s wonderfully uplifting tale will be brought gloriously to life in a stage adaptation by David Wood. The production will play a strictly limited West End Christmas season at The Phoenix Theatre previewing from November 22nd 2012 with a press performance on Tuesday November 27th at 2.30pm. The tour will begin on 29 January 2013 at Manchester Opera House. The production will then tour to Sunderland Empire, Milton Keynes Theatre, Brighton Theatre Royal, York Grand Opera House, Woking New Victoria Theatre, Cheltenham Everyman Theatre, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Glasgow King’s Theatre and Birmingham Alexandra.

Set during the dark and dangerous build up to the Second World War, Goodnight Mister Tom follows sad William Beech, who is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and builds a remarkable and moving friendship with the elderly recluse Tom Oakley. All seems perfect until William is devastatingly summoned by his mother back to London.

Goodnight Mister Tom won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and was commended for the Carnegie Medal. Now a world-wide literary favourite and BAFTA award-winning TV film (starring John Thaw), it continues to inspire audiences and bring generations together.

Author Michelle Magorian was inspired to write Goodnight Mister Tom after hearing her mother’s tales about her time as a nurse in the war. Published in 1981, it has been translated into 11 languages and won awards in the UK, America and Australia. Her latest novel Just Henry won the Costa Award for children’s fiction in 2008 and in 2011 was adapted into a TV film starring Sheila Hancock.

Goodnight Mister Tom is adapted for the stage by David Wood OBE, the country’s leading writer and director of plays and musicals for children. David’s other productions in the UK this Christmas include his Olivier nominated production of The Tiger Who Came For Tea (currently playing in the West End and to tour in November), James and the Giant Peach (at The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham from November), Tom’s Midnight Garden (at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London in December) and George’s Marvelous Medicine (at The Corn Exchange, Cambridge in December).

The production is directed by Angus Jackson, who is an associate director at Chichester Festival Theatre. His production of The Browning Version recently won great critical acclaim in its double bill with South Downs in the West End. His other productions for Chichester Festival Theatre include Bingo which starred Patrick Stewart, Wallenstein, Funny Girl, Carousel and most recently Canvas. He has worked at The National Theatre (The Power of Yes and Elmina’s Kitchen) and Sheffield Crucible (Promises Promises, Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Shawl).

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