New Cast Begins Rehearsals for 1984 - Rosie Ede, Andrew Gower, Joshua Higgott and More!

An entirely new cast has started rehearsals for Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan's adaptation of 1984. The cast for the hit West End production of George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece will be: Rosie Ede, Andrew Gower, Joshua Higgott, Richard Katz, Anthony O'Donnell, Daniel Rabin, Catrin Stewart and Angus Wright alongside Eve Benioff Salama, Cleopatra Dickens, Amber Fernee and India Fowler who will alternate the role of Child.

Also making up the company, as understudies: Ingrid Schiller, Gerard Gilroy and Thom Petty.

Following a sell-out international tour, the critically and publicly acclaimed production of 1984 will return to the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End this summer. George Orwell's canonical work, adapted by Olivier Award-winner Robert Icke and Olivier Award-nominee Duncan Macmillan, will preview from 14 June 2016, with the press night on 28 June 2016.

Now seen by over a quarter of a million people, this Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production premiered at Nottingham Playhouse in September 2013. Since opening, 1984 has played to packed houses at the Almeida Theatre, as well as throughout its two West End runs and in performances across the globe during national and international tours.

April, 1984.13:00. Comrade 6079, Winston Smith, thinks a thought, starts a diary and falls in love. But Big Brother is always watching.

The definitive book of the 20th century is re-examined in a radical, award-winning adaptation exploring surveillance, identity and why Orwell's vision of the future is as relevant now as ever.

1984 is directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan with Daniel Raggett, set and costume is designed by Chloe Lamford, with lighting designed by Natasha Chivers, sound designed by Tom Gibbons and video designed by Tim Reid.

George Orwell's 1984, published in 1949, is one of the most influential novels in recent history, with its chilling depiction of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind-control. Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell's fiction is often said to be our reality.

Rosie Ede (Mrs Parsons) previously appeared in When We Are Married and Side by Side by Sondheim (both Bristol Old Vic), Crime At Blossoms (Brewhouse Theatre Taunton), Aladdin (Greenwich Theatre), The Bacchae and Blood Wedding(both for Royal & Derngate Northampton). Ede's television and film credits include Doc Martin (Sky), My Family (BBC), Peak Practice (Carlton), Call The Midwife (BBC) and Finding Neverland (Miramax).

Andrew Gower (Winston) will make his West End debut in 1984, his previous stage work includes The Conquest of the South Pole (Rose Kingston) and Terror Tales (Hampstead Theatre). Gower is best known for his roles as Dr Andrew Mullery in Monroe, Gilbert in The Village and further on screen appearances in Outlander and Capital.

Joshua Higgott (Syme) has previously been directed by Robert Icke in Oresteia (Almeida/ West End), The Alchemist (Liverpool Everyman) and Romeo and Juliet (ADC Theatre). Higgott's other theatre work includes Shakespeare in Love(West End), Regeneration (Royal & Derngate Theatre), Birdsong (UK Tour), Twelfth Night (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Two Gentlemen of Verona (US Tour/ ADC Theatre) and Julius Caesar (European Tour/ ADC Theatre). His film credits include The Machine (Red & Black Films), which won Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival in 2013.

Richard Katz (Charrington) has been an integral member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and Complicité. He has performed in and devised many shows for these companies including Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors and The Winter's Tale, and The Master and Margarita, Measure for Measure and The Noise of Time respectively. Katz's other numerous theatre credits include Richard II and Nell Gwynn (both Shakespeare's Globe),War Horse (National Theatre), Faustus (Royal & Derngate Northampton) and The Hanging Man (Improbable). His work for television includes The Honourable Woman, Privates, Blessed (all BBC), The Passion (BBC/HBO) and Black Books(both Channel4).

Anthony O'Donnell's (Parsons) rich career boasts an impressive range of work at the National Theatre includes The Captain of Kopenick, The Shaughraun, Bartholomew Fair, Ghetto, The Miser, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Under the Milk Wood, The Way of the World, The London Cuckolds and President of an Empty Room. He has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Donmar Warehouse.

Daniel Rabin (Martin) has worked extensively with Shakespeare's Globe, appearing in Pericles, The Winter's Tale, King John, Tis Pity She's a Whore, Anthony and Cleopatra and Holy Warriors. Other stage work includes Oedipus(Nottingham Playhouse/Spoleto Festival), Ignorance (Hampstead Theatre) and Blue Remembered Hills (Chichester Festival Theatre). His television credits include Game of Thrones (HBO), The Royals (E!) and Holby City (BBC).

Catrin Stewart (Julia) returns to work with Headlong, having played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour), directed by Robert Icke. Recent stage credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Clywd Theatre Cymru), The Jew of Malta andLove's Sacrifice (both Royal Shakespeare Company), The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic) and Mametz (National Theatre Wales). On screen Stewart is known for the recurrent role of Jenny Flint in Doctor Who (BBC), Emma Morris in Stella(Sky) and appearing in Misfits (Channel 4).

Angus Wright (O'Brien) previously worked with Robert Icke in Oresteia (Almeida/ West End). Wright's vast body of theatre work includes The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic), in Twelfth Night/ Richard III (Globe Theatre/ West End/ Broadway), Privates on Parade (West End), The Master and Margarita (Old Vic), The Cat in the Hat (Young Vic/ National Theatre) and The Seagull, A Dream Play and Three Sisters (all National Theatre). For television, he recently played Angus in Peep Show (Channel4) and further credits include Jekyll and Hyde (ITV), and Being Human, Waking the Dead and Hotel Babylon (BBC). His film credits include Jack Ryan (Paramount), Maleficent (Disney) and The Iron Lady (Pathé/ Film4).

Copyright details: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Copyright, 1949) by permission of Bill Hamilton as the Literary Executor of the Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell, in a new adaptation by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Sonia Friedman Productions and Eleanor Lloyd Productions present the Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre production of
1984
By George Orwell
A new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan

Directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan
with Daniel Raggett
Set and Costume is designed by Chloe Lamford
Lighting is designed by Natasha Chivers
Sound is designed by Tom Gibbons
Video is designed by Tim Reid

Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Ave, London, WC2N 5DE
14 June - 03 September 2016
www.1984ThePlay.co.uk

Box Office
Telephone: Playhouse Theatre 0844 871 7631 or Almeida Theatre 020 7359 4404
Online: www.atgtickets.com, www.headlong.co.uk or www.almeida.co.uk

Performance Times
Monday to Saturday 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinee 2.30pm
(no matinee 15, 18, 29 June, instead a matinee on Thursday 30 June)

Press night:
28 June 2016, 7pm

Ticket prices
At least 101 seats at £19.84 available at every performance.
£10 (day seats), £15, £19.84, £39.50 and £55
Premium seats available
Discounted preview prices in place for performances until 28 June

Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre are supported using public funding by Arts Council England.