Casting Announced For LADY ANNA: ALL AT SEA at Park Theatre

Casting has been announced for the world premiere of LADY ANNA: ALL AT SEA, a new play by Craig Baxter, inspired by the work of Anthony Trollope, directed by Colin Blumenau and designed by Libby Watson, at Park Theatre from Wednesday 19 August - Saturday 19 September, with a press night on Thursday 20 August.

Anthony Trollope finds himself in uncharted waters as he pens the very Victorian scandal Lady Anna...

It's 1871, and celebrated novelist Anthony Trollope is Australia-bound aboard the steamship Great Britain. Accompanied by his wife Rose and her maid Isabella, Trollope passes the time by writing his latest tale, Lady Anna. The story, full of intrigue, rebellion and social politics, proves divisive among his fellow passengers - and it's not long before fact and fiction overlap in a dramatic and witty fashion. Is Trollope himself a surprising radical pitted against the status quo - or are his characters to blame for the controversy?

This abundantly British business involves a disputed title, fraud, bigamy, a legal case, madness and even attempted murder. An extraordinary set of circumstances finds both Lady Anna and Trollope facing some very difficult questions indeed - but will they follow their hearts and risk being disgraced?

Caroline Langrishe will play 'Countess Lovel / Rose Trollope', Antonia Kinlay will play 'Lady Anna / Isabella', Andy Rush will play 'Daniel Twaite / Bore / Anna's Maid', Adam Scott-Rowley will play 'Frederic / Pedant', Julie Teal will play 'Aunt Jane / Lady Fitzwarren', Edward Halsted will play 'Mr Flick / Rector' and Tim Frances will play 'Anthony Trollope / Sir William Patterson'.

Lady Anna: All at Sea was commissioned by the Trollope Society as part of the Trollope Bicentennial Celebrations.

Celebrated novelist and family member Joanna Trollope said, "This year is the bi-centenary of Anthony Trollope's birth, so what could celebrate it better than a play inspired by his novel about one of the great themes of our own times - that of defying convention and convenience to follow one's heart. Even the title of this play - "Lady Anna at Sea" - is apt, since Trollope WAS at sea when he wrote it, on his way to Australia. If he were still alive, he'd be thrilled, and as eager to see the play as I am...."
Michael Williamson, Chairman of the Trollope Society said, "With 47 novels to choose from, there were many possibilities but we ultimately chose 'Lady Anna' because it contained a relatively straightforward, yet interesting, central plot that we thought would dramatise well. We also liked the fact that it had been written on the SS Great Britain while Trollope and his wife were sailing to Australia to visit their younger son Frederic who had recently emigrated. We were very pleased that, in constructing the script, Craig Baxter was able to include both the core story of Lady Anna within a framework of the voyage itself. We are really delighted that Production Exchange are now preparing to present the premiere of this exciting work later this year and we would like to wish everybody invovled a very successful production."