The Watermill Theatre Announces Cast of TWELFTH NIGHT

Artistic and Executive Director, Paul Hart today announces the company for his new production of Twelfth Night continuing The Watermill Theatre's bold, ensemble driven approach to Shakespeare. Twelfth Night runs from 6 April to 6 May and in repertoire with Hart's 2016 production of Romeo + Juliet from 18 to 22 July. Both productions will tour nationally from Tuesday 16 May to Thursday 3 August

Returning to The Watermill to reprise their roles in Romeo + Juliet and to perform in Twelfth Night are Victoria Blunt (Benvolio/Maria), Rebecca Lee (Friar/Viola), Lauryn Redding (Nurse/Toby Belch), Mike Slader (Paris/Aguecheek) and Stuart Wilde (Romeo/Sebastian). Joining the ensemble are Peter Dukes (Tybalt/Malvolio) who played the role of Bela Zangler in The Watermill's 2016 summer musical, Crazy For You, Aruhan Galieva (Juliet/Olivia), Emma McDonald (Lady Capulet/Antonia), Offue Okegbe (Mercutio/Feste) and Jamie Satterthwaite (Capulet/Orsino).

Twelfth Night is reimagined in the 1920s where prohibition is rife and Europe is reeling in the wake of war. The ensemble of actor-musicians will perform live a scintillating selection of jazz with a modern twist including, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt and Ella Fitzgerald, fused with an innovative approach to staging.

Shakespeare's immortal tale of an all-consuming love, Romeo + Juliet is reprised in this youthful, energetic production that features music by Mumford and Sons, Johnny Flynn, The Vaccines, The Civil Wars and Hozier.

Twelfth Night and Romeo + Juliet are designed by Katie Lias, with lighting designed by Tom White, sound designed by David Gregory and movement by Tom Jackson Greaves. Johnny Flynn is Music Associate.

Sheepdrove Organic Farm and Eco-Conference Centre are Principal Sponsor of Twelfth Night at The Watermill and Neal's Yard Remedies, UK Tour Sponsor.

Victoria Blunt (Benvolio/Maria)

Theatre includes: Understudy to Katherine Parkinson and Emily Berrington in Dead Funny (West End); Benvolio in Romeo + Juliet (The Watermill Theatre); The Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost (Oxford Shakespeare Company) and various roles in Once Upon a Christmas (Unicorn Theatre).

Peter Dukes (Tybalt/Malvolio)

Theatre includes; Cover Georg/Kodaly, She Loves Me (Menier Chocolate Factory); Bela Zangler, Crazy for You (The Watermill Theatre); William Hare, Burke and Hare (Cheltenham Everyman Studio); Launce/Thurio, The Two Gentleman of Verona(Changeling Theatre Company); Richard Greatham, Hay Fever (Changeling Theatre Company); Duke Senior, Sonnet Walk (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Cover Reyer/Don Atillio/Buquet, Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre); Richard/Mr Budge, Run!(Polka Theatre); White Knight/Cover Arbiter, Chess (UK Tour & Princess of Wales, Toronto); Gentleman Starkey/Cover Hook/Fight Captain, Peter Pan (Mayflower/Grand Canal Theatre); Cover Rolf/Herr Zeller, The Sound of Music (UK No.1 Tour); Porthos/Fight Captain, The Three Musketeers, Willoughby, Sense and Sensibility, Algernon, The Importance of Being Earnest (Jenny Wren Productions); Trotter, Journey's End (Electric Theatre); Chess in Concert (Royal Albert Hall). Film includes; Michael, Festen; Nazi Sentry, Benjamin's Struggle; Chris, TainTed Wings.

Aruhan Galieva (Juliet/Olivia)

Theatre includes: Silvia, Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Globe/Tour); Bakkhai, Bakkhai (Almeida Theatre); Blanche, King John(The Globe); Juliet, Romeo and Juliet (NYT Repertory Company); Mrs Heath, Tory Boyz and Emilia, Prince of Denmark(Ambassadors Theatre); Alpha Wolf, Chimera (Wildworks); Harrison, Pigeon English (Bristol Old Vic); Bunny, Folk Contraption(Rogues Gallery Theatre); Orpheus, The Oracle (National Youth Theatre). TV includes: Roza, Glasgow Girls (BBC 3); Ana, Whitechapel (Carnival Films). Film: Aruhan, Anna Karenina (Studio Canal); Short Films: Juliet, Aquarium (BFI Future Film); Jenny, Coalition Fangirls (Roundhouse Film Fund).

Rebecca Lee (Friar/Viola)

Rebecca graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015. Her roles at Guildhall include Celia Cain in Her Naked Skin, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls. She has since worked in Theatre, TV and Film and is about to appear in the BBC biopic of Barbara Windsor's life which airs in April. She made her debut appearance in film in The First Man, out later this year, an adaptation one of Eugene O'Neill's early plays. Whilst Rebecca was studying at the University of Manchester she appeared in Punchdrunk's It Felt Like A Kiss at the Manchester International Festival.

Emma McDonald (Lady Capulet/Antonia)

Theatre includes: Hero/Dogberry, Much Ado About Nothing (Iris Theatre); Georgiana Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (The Crucible, Sheffield); Antigone, Antigone and Sylvia, Tribes, The Player, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Ellen, Gut Girls, Francis, Stags and Hens (The Nottingham New Theatre); Salome, Salome (St Marylebone School Theatre); Lysistrata, Lysistrata (Lakeside Arts Centre); Tanya Crawley, Jerusalem (The Nottingham New Theatre and NSDF), Tallulah, Bugsy Malone (Jasspa Youth Theatre); Reno Sweeney, Anything Goes, Arthur Kipps Half A Sixpence (St Marylebone Theatre School); Fagin, Oliver (Charter School Theatre); Portia, The Merchant of Venice (The Globe Theatre with The Charter School); Courtesan, The Comedy of Errors (Fine Frenzy Theatre Company with The Nottingham New Theatre).

Offue Okegbe (Mercutio/Feste)

Theatre credits include: Horatio in Hamlet (Black Theatre Company); Henry V (The Unicorn); Alice in Wonderland (Bolton); Amiens in As You Like It (UK Tour/Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory); Miguel in Children of Fate (Inside Intelligence/Bussey Building); Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Queens Theatre Hornchurch); Mardian in Antony and Cleopatra (Chichester Festival Theatre); Jimmy in For Jimmy (Intraverse Productions); Malcolm in Macbeth (Custom/Practice); Kid Brother in Invasion! (Tooting Arts Club); Big Brother in Playlist: Christmas - The Riddler (Theatre 503); Mardian in Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse); Garveyite/Student in Big White Fog (Almeida Theatre).

Other credits include: Paul in Six Degrees of Separation (Tower Theatre); John Proctor in The Crucible and Sir Fopling Flutter in The Man of Mode (Brighton Dome Youth Theatre/Inservice Productions)

Lauryn Redding (Nurse/Toby Belch)

Theatre credits include: Horrible Christmas (Lowry Theatre) Frankenstein (Salisbury Playhouse) Peter Pan In Scarlet (New Vic Theatre); Romeo + Juliet (The Watermill Theatre ); Dreamers (Oldham Coliseum); Tall Tales (Theatr Clywd); The Comedy Of Errors (Shakespeare's Globe); Horrible Histories - Awful Egyptians (Birmingham Stage); King Lear (Red Rose Chain); Shhh(Theatre503); The Wind In The Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Numb (Arcola); Six (SevenArts Leeds); The Enough Project (Slung Low/DepArts); Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain (Birmingham Stage, UK Tour and Australian Tour); An August Bank Holiday Lark, She Stoops To Conquer, The Winter's Tale (Northern Broadsides); Alice Underground (Les Enfants Terribles) - site specific production in the Vaults of Waterloo Station. Television credits include: Emmerdale (YTV); Lee Nelson's Well Good Show (BBC) and the Channel 4 Pilot Regulars (Silver River Productions). Lauryn has also worked on a number of short film and radio productions.

Jamie Satterthwaite (Capulet/Orsino)

Theatre includes: Balthazar, The Spanish Tragedy (The Old Red Lion); Antonio, The Duchess Of Malfi (Nottingham Playhouse); George Balfour Posh (Nottingham & Salisbury Playhouse); Rigley, The Widowing Of Mrs Holroyd (The Orange Tree); Ensemble Edward II (Royal National Theatre); Doc O'Connor, The Laramie Project, Ralph Nickleby, The Life And Adventures Of Nickolas Nickleby, Claudio, Measure For Measure (GSMD). Film includes: Michael Sweet, Charismata (HydraFilms RKM, Andy Collier/Tor Mian); Tom,Toy Men (Pinpoint Films); Mike, Shopping Channels (Pinpoint Films). TV includes: Best Man, Mr Selfridge (ITV). Short Films: Mike, London O'Clock (Kash Khan Productions); Jamie, Monsters In The Dark (Mordue Pictures).

Mike Slader (Paris/Aguecheek)

Since graduating Rose Bruford in 2009 Mike has toured round the UK with shows, jukebox musicals, and gigging with various bands.

Theatre credits include: Frankenstein (Salisbury Playhouse); Rock Pantos - Aladdin (Stafford Gatehouse); Romeo + Juliet (The Watermill Theatre); Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood (City Varieties Music Hall); Dreamboats & Miniskirts (UK Tour); Delirium Show 6 (Workshop, St James Theatre); Dick Whittington (City Varieties, Leeds); Carnaby Street in Concert (UK Tour); Tiny Tempest (Brighton Dome); Dave in Carnaby Street (UK Tour); Derek in Dreamboats & Petticoats (UK Tour); Ovid's Metamorphoses (Pleasance Dome); On the Third Day (The Mill Studios); Close (The Cockpit Theatre); Grimethorpe Race (The Arcola Theatre); Twelfth Night (UK Tour); The Lion,The Witch & The Wardrobe (Chichester Festival Theatre); Dr Faustus (Chichester Festival Theatre).

Other work includes: Cruzier (Short Film); HTC Online Phone (Commercial) and Who Is In Control (Photography Stills).

Stuart Wilde (Romeo/Sebastian)

Stuart trained at the National Youth Theatre rep company.

Theatre includes: Private Peaceful (NYT) for which he was nominated for Leading Actor at the Broadway World UK Awards; Selfie; Macbeth (all NYT); John Webster in Shakespeare In Love (West End) and Romeo in Romeo + Juliet (The Watermill Theatre). Most recently Stuart can be seen as young tank soldier Pritchard in the highly anticipated EA Dice video game Battlefield 1.

Sheepdrove Organic Farm and Eco-Conference Centre

Sheepdrove Organic Farm & Eco Conference Centre is a long-standing supporter of the arts in West Berkshire. Over the years, they have generously sponsored a range of productions at The Watermill and have also supported emerging new talent through a development initiative attached to the theatre's rural touring programme.

As well as carving out a reputation for supporting its local community and local culture, Sheepdrove Organic Farm & Eco Conference Centre is at the forefront of modern organic farming. The Farm is home to the Eco Conference Centre, offering stimulating and unusual spaces for conferences and weddings. Sheepdrove Eco Conference Centre has an impressive dining room which provides fresh organic food and The Farm also create education programmes which focus on protecting and enhancing the environment.

About The Watermill Theatre

The Watermill is celebrating 50 years as a successful, producing theatre.

In the early 1960s David Gollins, with the support of his mother Judy Gollins, had the vision and the foresight to create one of the smallest and most beautiful professional theatres in the country from a derelict watermill. On the banks of the River Lambourn, in the hamlet of Bagnor, just outside Newbury, West Berkshire, the mill, dating from 1830, was used as a corn mill, a fullers mill and a fine paper mill before it was converted into a theatre. The first professional theatre season was in 1967 and included a production of Under Milk Wood in which David Jason performed at the beginning of his career. Bill Nighy worked as an assistant stage manager at the theatre in 1969 before making his professional acting debut on The Watermill stage in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite. Three years later, in 1971, a young David Suchet performed in The Price by Arthur Miller.

Over the years The Watermill, a small local theatre seating just 220 people, has built a national and international reputation. It creates award-winning work with a bold artistic ambition, from Shakespeare, classic plays and new writing to the reimagining of large-scale musicals. Alongside West End and Broadway transfers, and national tours, The Watermill also creates productions for small-scale touring, ensuring that those living in rural isolation are able to enjoy high quality theatre on their doorstep. Attracting the very best artists and creative teams, both established and at the Early Stages of their careers, The Watermill has earned itself a reputation as one of the most successful producing theatres in the country.

The Watermill is proud to be a leading force in cultivating the theatre-makers of tomorrow, offering opportunities for professional development to directors, designers, composers, stage management and technical staff. It nurtures a unique sense of community, with acting companies, stage management and creative teams all living and working on site to enable practitioners to develop their craft and learn new skills from the theatre's experienced and passionate in-house team. The Watermill also trains administration staff for careers in the arts from casting to marketing and fundraising, with an extensive outreach programme that offers facilitation roles to those wishing to pursue a career in education and outreach work. Through its numerous development opportunities, The Watermill strives to give confidence and guidance to those starting out, and provide a creative springboard for work on a larger scale.

The Watermill Theatre has been recognised as one of the most welcoming venues in the UK, shortlisted twice in the UK Theatre Awards 'Most Welcoming Theatre' category.

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