Sophie Okonedo Will Lead A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY at the Donmar Warehouse
Lyndsey Turner directs Brian Friel's adaptation, with Patrick Gibson and Alistair Petrie among the cast.
The Donmar's Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch have announced the full cast and creative team for A Month in the Country, by Brian Friel, after Ivan Turgenev. Performances will run 22 August - 3 October.
Sophie Okonedo leads the company as Natalya Petrovna, and she is joined by Thomas Arnold (Arkady Islayev), Jessica Brindle (Katya), Susan Brown (Anna Islayeva), Rachelle Diedericks (Vera Aleksandrovna), Patrick Gibson (Aleksey Belyayev), Mark Hadfield (Herr Schaaf), Michael Hodgson (Alfanasy Bolshintsov), Jonathan Livingstone (Matvey), Alistair Petrie (Michel Rakitin), Daniel Rigby (Ignaty Shpigelsky), and Amanda Wilkin (Lizaveta Bogdanovna).
Joining Lyndsey Turner to complete the creative team are Leslie Travers (Designer), Max Pappenheim (Sound Designer), Tim Lutkin (Lighting Designer); Anna Morrissey (Movement Director & Intimacy Coordinator), Angus MacRae (Composer), and Lotte Hines CDG (Casting Director).
Hundreds of women would envy me, wouldn't they? A beautiful house in the Russian countryside. A doting husband, a circle of admirers. A life of order, tranquillity and quiet restraint. It's enough to make you scream.
Natalya Petrovna looks to all the world like a contented woman, but the arrival of a penniless young tutor stirs a restless heart, igniting a spark of desire that sets the Summer ablaze.
A Month in the Country pits passion against propriety, as a cast of characters struggle to reconcile the lives they lead with the happiness they crave. Lyndsey Turner directs Brian Friel's reworking of Turgenev's most famous play.
Biographies
Thomas Arnold plays Arkady Islayev. His theatre credits include Mnemonic, Oslo, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Cyrano de Bergerac, Mourning Becomes Electra, Three Sisters, The Stoppard Trilogy (National Theatre), A Very Expensive Poison, Fanny & Alexander, Dr Seuss's The Lorax (The Old Vic), The Kids Stay In The Picture (Royal Court Theatre), Hamlet, Orlando (Royal Exchange Theatre), and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead and The Master and Margarita (Complicité). His television credits include Doctor Who, Such Brave Girls, Wolf Hall, A Very Royal Scandal, A Spy Among Friends, Echt, Falling, I Hate Suzie, A Christmas Carol, The Aeronauts, MotherFatherSon, The Missing, War and Peace, Call the Midwife, Homeland, This is England '86; and for film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Heart of Stone, Matilda: The Musical, The Murder Network, The Riot Club, Thor: The Dark World, Bel Ami, One Day, and The Golden Compass.
Jessica Brindle plays Katya. Her theatre credits include Christmas Day (Almeida Theatre), Emma (Rose Theatre Kingston), A Midsummer Night's Dream; Much Ado About Nothing (Sh!t-faced Shakespeare), Top Girls; Absolute Hell (National Theatre), Pleasure and Pain (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow), Dream On (BBC Arts), and Used Blood Junkyard (Arcola Theatre). Her television credits include Sweetpea.
Susan Brown returns to the Donmar to play Anna Islayeva – she previously appeared in Julius Caesar, Making Noise Quietly, and The Wild Duck. Her other theatre credits include Under Milk Wood; Home, I'm Darling - Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Husbands and Sons, Harper Regan, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Playing with Fire, Cardiff East (National Theatre), Angels in America - Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play (National Theatre and Broadway), Image of an Unknown Young Woman, The Chairs, The House of Bernarda Alba (Gate Theatre), Good People (Noël Coward Theatre), If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep, Goodbye to All That, Seagulls, Gibraltar Strait, Road (Royal Court Theatre); Saved (Lyric Hammersmith), The Contingency Plan (Bush Theatre), Dying for It, Butterfly Kiss (Almeida Theatre), Twelfth Night (English Touring Theatre), Iphigenia, Small Change (Sheffield Theatres), Bad Weather, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Easter (RSC), You Be Ted and I'll Be Sylvia (Hampstead Theatre), Playing Sinatra (Croydon Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre), The Beaux' Stratagem, The Way of the World, and A Woman of No Importance (Cambridge Theatre Company). Her television credits include Falling, Bridgerton, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, The Crown, It's a Sin, Good Omens, Partners in Crime, Atlantis, Father Brown, Call the Midwife, Broadchurch, Silent Witness, Stella, Game of Thrones, Waking the Dead, Torchwood, Coronation Street (as series regular Connie Clayton), Pinochet's Progress, Rose and Maloney, Brides in the Bath, Dalziel & Pascoe, When Hitler Invaded Britain, Blue Dove, Wire in the Blood, The Best of Both Worlds, The Vice, Where the Heart Is (as recurring character June Wrekin), Anorak of Fire, Taggart, Wokenwell, A Touch of Frost, September Song, The Riff Raff Element, Absolute Hell, Making Out, Nona, Prime Suspect, Road and Loving Hazel; and for film, Mary, Belle, Now Is Good, The Iron Lady, Brideshead Revisited, and Hope and Glory.
Rachelle Diedericks plays Vera Aleksandrovna. Her theatre credits include Mother Courage and Her Children (Shakespeare's Globe), Pericles (RSC, and Chicago), The House Party (Headlong/Chichester Festival Theatre), A View From The Bridge (Headlong), The Walworth Farce (Southwark Playhouse), The Crucible, Our Generation (National Theatre), Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), and The Band (Theatre Royal Haymarket and UK tour). Her television work includes Up To No Good, Grace, Andor and Speechless; and This Time Next Year and The Silence and the Noise.
Patrick Gibson returns to the Donmar to play Aleksey Belyayev – he previously appeared in Clyde's and Sweat. His other theatre work includes Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Young Vic). His television work includes Dexter: Original Sin, Shadow and Bone, Before We Die, The Spanish Princess, The OA, The White Princess, Guerilla, The Passing Bells and Neverland; and for film, Play Dead, The Portable Door, Good Girl Jane, Tolkien, The Darkest Minds, In a Relationship, Their Finest, Property of the State, Cherry Tree and What Richard Did.
Mark Hadfield plays Herr Schaaf. His theatre work include Dr Strangelove (Noël Coward Theatre), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Cymbeline, Henry VI: Open Rehearsal, Tamburlaine, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Talk of the City, The Seagull, Twelfth Night, The Canterbury Tales, Love's Labour's Lost, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC), Notes from a Small Island (The Watermill Theatre), Dmitry (Marylebone Theatre), Sydney and the Girl, The Weatherman (Park Theatre), Vanya and Masha and Sonya and Spike, The Tempest, Jeffrey Barnard in Unwell, Man and Superman, Don Juan (Theatre Royal Bath), Pinocchio, Thérèse Raquin, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (National Theatre), Road (Royal Court Theatre), Richard III (Almeida Theatre), The Painkiller (Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Garrick Theatre), The Meeting, Matchbox Theatre (Hampstead Theatre), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Jeeves and Wooster: Perfect Nonsense (Duke of York's Theatre), Singin' in the Rain (Palace Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre), The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre), The 39 Steps (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Donkey's Years (UK tour), Into the Woods (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Rookery Nook and Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory). For television his work includes Outlander, Maigret, From the Cradle to the Grave, Trollied, Wallander, The Wyvern Mystery, The Vice, and Headless; and for film, Belfast, Football Monologues, Girls' Night Out, Mary Shelley's Frakenstein, In the Bleak Midwinter, Felicia's Journey, A c*ckand Bill Story, and Hamlet.
Michael Hodgson plays Alfanasy Bolshintsov. His theatre work includes Waiting For Godot (Citizens Theatre Glasgow and tour), Macbeth (UK and US tour), Romeo and Juliet, The Shoemaker's Holiday, Macbeth, The Mouse and His Child (RSC), Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads, Strife (Chichester Festival Theatre), Treasure Island (Birmingham Rep), A Christmas Carol, Road, Catch 22, Get Carter (Northern Stage), Noir (Live Theatre), Oliver Twist (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), The Pitmen Painters (National Theatre, West End, UK tour, Broadway), The Wind In The Willows, The Devil's Disciple (National Theatre), Bones (Hampstead Theatre), The Tower (Almeida Theatre), Brilliant Adventures (Royal Exchange Theatre), Death of a Salesman, The Last Yankee (Leeds Playhouse), The Three Musketeers (UK tour), Travels With My Aunt, Jane Eyre (West End), The Guise (Edinburgh Festival, Off-Broadway), and King Lear (Young Vic, Japan tour). His television work includes Smoggie Queens, Passenger, Accidental Farmer, George Gently, Skins, Spooks, The Ghost Squad, Instinct, Spit Game, The Visit, Angel Cake, Two Thousand Acres Of Sky, 55 Degrees North, The Babywar, Lawless, and Touching Evil; and for film, The Duke, The One And Only, The Lowdown, The Last Minute, Wonderland and First Knight.
Jonathan Livingstone plays Matvey. His theatre credits include A Ghost In Your Ear, Cash Cow (Hampstead Theatre), Troilus and Cressida, After Edward, Edward II, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Globe), Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Now We Are Here (Young Vic), Machinal (Almeida Theatre), The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic), Our Country's Good, Treasure Island (National Theatre), White Hot and Weak (Old Vic New Voices Festival), Superior Donuts (Southwark Playhouse), 'Tis Pity She's A Whore (Cheek by Jowl), 7 New Plays By Young Writers (National Theatre Studio), Pocket Comedy (Propellor), The Taming of the Shrew (RSC), and Pandora (Arcola Theatre). His television work includes Entitled, Bridgerton, Criminal Record, Peacock, The Pentaverate, Pls Like, Death in Paradise and Chewing Gum; and for film, Hard Truths, Trouble with Jessica, The Witches, Treasure Island and Still Life.
Sophie Okonedo makes her Donmar debut as Natalya Petrovna. Her theatre credits include Medea (@sohoplace) and Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre). Her television credits include Ratched, Slow Horses, and Modern Love; and for film, Clarissa, Mouse and Janet Planet.
Alistair Petrie plays Michel Rakitin. His theatre credits include Hamlet (National Theatre and New York), Time and the Conways, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, His Dark Materials, Playing with Fire (National Theatre), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (West End and Australia), Troilus and Cressida (RSC and US), and Mine (Hampstead Theatre). His television credits include Sex Education, The Night Manager, Andor, Utopia, Death by Lightning, Funny Woman, The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies, The Terror, Emma, Cranford, The Forsyte Saga, Deep State, Sherlock, Undercover, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, Agatha and The Midnight Murders, Genius, Year of The Rabbit, Harley and The Davidsons, The Game, Lucan, The Escape Artist, Whitechapel, The Whistleblowers, and State of Mind; and for film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Saga, Cloud Atlas, Rush, The Bank Job, The Mark of Cain: The Cursed, The Duchess, A Bunch of Amateurs, A Little Chaos, The Face of An Angel, Victor Frankenstein, Hellboy, Sulphur and White, Magpie, and Oddly Flowers.
Daniel Rigby plays Ignaty Shpigelsky. His theatre credits include One Man Two Guvnors (National Theatre, Adelphi Theatre, Music Box Theatre New York), The Witches, Twelfth Night (National Theatre), Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (Sheffield Theatres, Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre Royal Haymarket - UK Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Play), Noises Off (Lyric Hammersmith, Garrick Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Frost/Nixon (Sheffield Theatres), Breaking the Code (Royal Exchange Theatre - Manchester Theatre Award for Best Actor), Holes (Arcola Theatre), Daniel Rigby: Berk In Progress, Daniel Rigby: Afterbirth, The Mothwokfantastic, Pleasance Comedy Reserve (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Count Of Monte Cristo (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Beyond The Front Line (The Lowry), Natural Selection (Theatre503), Great Expectations (Aberystwyth Arts Centre), All Quiet On The Western Front, The White Album, Burial At The Thebes (Nottingham Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Nuffield Southampton Theatres), and Hamlet (Barbican, UK tour). His television credits include I, Jack Wright, Harry Potter, Summerwater, Bladerunner 2099, The Ballad of Renegade Nell, Tom Jones, The Witchfinder, After Ever After, Landscapers, Defending the Guilty, Gameface, Timewasters, Flowers, Plebs, Sick Note, Gap Year, Jericho, Undercover, Big School, That Day We Sang, Agatha Christie's Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, Black Mirror: The Waldo Moment, Cardinal Burns, The Function Room: Meet The Police, Eric & Ernie - BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor, Ideal, Watson and Oliver, The Street, Lilies; and for film, Cold Storage, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and Stand Up Short and Flyboys.
Amanda Wilkin plays Lizaveta Bogdanovna. Her theatre includes The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (RSC), Bacchae (National Theatre), Otherland (Almeida Theatre), Dr Semmelweis (Harold Pinter Theatre), Shedding A Skin (Soho Theatre – also playwright, Verity Bargate Award winner), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Gabriel, The Tempest (Shakespeare's Globe), Emilia (Vaudeville Theatre), The Little Sob (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), White Teeth (Kiln Theatre), La Ronde (The Bunker Theatre), The 306: Day (National Theatre of Scotland), The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios), Pilgrims (Theatre Clwyd/HighTide Festival/The Yard Theatre), Hopelessly Devoted (Paines Plough and Birmingham REP), Arabian Nights (The Watermill Theatre), Blood Wedding, The Bacchae (Royal and Derngate), and A Midsummer Night's Dream and Marat/Sade (RSC). Her television work includes Delia, Am I Being Unreasonable?, Spent, Until I Kill You, High End Homeless, The Split, The Girlfriend Experience, Finding Alice, Unforgotten, Berlin Station, and Gavin and Stacey; and for film, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!.
