The Ustinov Studio Announces THE AMERICAN PLAN Casting

The Ustinov Studio has announced casting for Richard Greenberg's The American Plan, the first production in Laurence Boswell's American Season, the anticipated fourth season of new commissions and UK premieres. The season runs Thursday 7th March - Saturday 15th June. Previous seasons have been critically acclaimed, with last year's In the Next Room winning Best New Play at the Theatre Awards UK 2012.

A tangle of ravaged dreams, broken souls, twisted motives and deceit, The American Plan, directed by David Grindley, takes place against the backdrop of the Catskill Mountains in a 1960s summer.

Lili Adler, the beautiful, fragile daughter of a wealthy German-Jewish refugee, meets Nick Lockridge, a handsome young stranger, and fi nds herself falling in love. But when her overbearing mother learns of their relationship, she proceeds to poison the young man's affection and Lili's one chance to escape her mother's control looks like being lost forever.

This is the UK premiere of this brutally funny, heart-rending tale of love and loss which premiered in the States in 1990 and was revived on Broadway in 2009, also directed by David Grindley.

Richard Greenberg is an American playwright and television writer known for his subversively humorous depictions of middle-class American life. He is perhaps best known for his 2003 Tony Award winning play, Take Me Out and for Three Days of Rain, which enjoyed an acclaimed West End run in 2009. Director David Grindley's numerous other credits include Journey's End and Our Boys in the West End and The Philanthropist, starring Matthew Broderick on Broadway.

"Elegant and incisive... exquisitely written" New York Times

The cast includes Luke Allen-Gale (Nick) recently seen in Hours 'til Autumn at the Tristan Bates Theatre as well as 'Ripper Street' on BBC1; Emily Taaffe (Lili) whose theatre credits include The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors (RSC), The Veil, The Cherry Orchard (National Theatre), Translations (Curve Leicester), Crucible (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Nation (National Theatre) and The House of Special Purpose (Chichester Festival Theatre); Diana Quick (Eva) last seen on stage as Maria Callas in Aristos, Single Spies, the title role in Mother Courage and Her Children and Sir Peter Hall's West End production of You Never Can Tell; Dona Croll (Olivia) recently seen in Heresy of Love (RSC), The Riots (Tricycle Theatre), The Archbishop and The Antichrist, Christ Of Coldharbour Lane (Soho Theatre), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Almeida) and Elmina's Kitchen (Bill Kenwright, Royal National Theatre); and Mark Edel-Hunt (Gil) who last year played Aubrey in Chariots of Fire at The Hampstead Theatre which transferred into the West End and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest for the Rose Theatre, Kingston on tour.

Design by Jonathan Fensom; Lighting Design by Jason Taylor; Sound Design by Gregory Clarke

Press Night: Thursday 14th March, 7pm

Following on, the second production will be 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog, which won The 2012 Obie Award for Best New Play and depicts the quirky relationship between a grandmother and her grandson.

Michael Weller's Fifty Words concludes the season with a bang, depicting a turbulent turn of events for one husband and wife, directed by the Ustinov's Artistic Director Laurence Boswell.