Sophie Ward News

Casting has been confirmed for The Exorcist's eagerly anticipated run at Theatre Royal next month.

The full cast has been announced for the UK and Ireland tour of The Exorcist, starring national treasure and BAFTA Award Winner, Paul Nicholas, most recognised for playing the role of Vince Pinner in the celebrated British sitcom Just Good Friends, who will play Father Merin. Alongside Paul will be TV star Sophie Ward, best known for her roles in Holby City and Heartbeat playing Chris MacNeil, and household name Ben Caplan best known for his time as Sgt. Peter Noakes in Call the Midwife, who will play Father Damien. This talented trio will lead the cast for the UK and Ireland tour of the spine-tingling live production of The Exorcist, based on the best-selling novel by William Peter Blatty.

At about half an hour into Michael Dennis' debut play Dark Sublime, the uncomfortable thought occurred to me that there was still two hours left to go. The piece had opened strongly with numerous jokes directed at the arts industry, but already it felt as if it had played its hand. Sadly, my fears were correct, and what followed was an uninteresting exploration of a woman haunted by the past.

Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation) makes her West End debut alongside theatre titans Jacqueline King (Doctor Who, BBC; Spring Storm, National Theatre) and Simon Thorp (Hard Sun, BBC; Royal Shakespeare Company), esteemed actor and LQBTQ+ campaigner Sophie Ward (Young Sherlock Holmes, Amblin Entertainment; Jane Eyre, BBC Films) led by one of the most exciting up and coming UK actors Kwaku Mills (good dog, UK Tour; The End of Eddy, UK Tour).

Joining Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as she makes her West End debut are theatre titans Jacqueline King (Doctor Who, BBC; Spring Storm, National Theatre) and Simon Thorp (Hard Sun, BBC; Royal Shakespeare Company), esteemed actor and LQBTQ+ campaigner Sophie Ward (Young Sherlock Holmes, Amblin Entertainment; Jane Eyre, BBC Films) alongside one of the most exciting up and coming UK actors Kwaku Mills (good dog, UK Tour; The End of Eddy, UK Tour). Stage and screen star Mark Gatiss (Sherlock and League of Gentlemen, BBC; The Madness of George III, Nottingham Playhouse) will be lending his voice to the part of Kosley, a hysterical talking computer, in this world premiere of Dark Sublime.

The world premiere of Oranges & Ink by Claire Louise Amias, directed by Alex Pearson, music arranged by William Summers, recorded by The Lovekyn Consort presented by A Monkey with Cymbals, and Tomorrow Theatre Company and Alex Pearson Productions

Star of stage, screen and television, Sophie Ward will lead the cast in the world premiere of Twentieth Century American cult writer James Purdy's The Paradise Circus at The Playground Theatre this October. She will be joined on stage by her son Josh Ward (Enemy of the State, The Chain Reaction) as well as Tim Woodward (Poirot, K-19:The Widowmaker, Beast), Sam Coulson (Babylon, The Huntsman, Mr Holmes), Mark Aiken (24, Trinity, Inspector Lewis), Peter Tate (National Theatre, American Shakespeare Company, Actors Studio New York) and Debra Penny (A Royal Night Out, Peaky Blinders, Eastenders).

To present the world premiere of a re-discovered play written by Great War veteran and poet Robert Graves in the centenary year of the First World War is something of a coup for the tiny Finborough Theatre. But It Still Goes On is an exploration of familial and romantic  relationships played out in a society still reeling from the effects of the war. It features lust, infidelity, repressed homosexuality and mental illness.

Continuing a successful UK-wide tour throughout 2017, Chris Ellison and Robert Duncan will join the cast of The Classic Thriller Theatre Company's A Judgement in Stone.

Continuing a successful UK-wide tour, Ruth Rendell's murder mystery A Judgement in Stone comes to the Belgrade Theatre this September with an all-star cast including Antony Costa, Chris Ellison, Robert Duncan, Sophie Ward, Deborah Grant, Shirley Anne Field and Ben Nealon.

Continuing a successful UK-wide tour throughout 2017, Chris Ellison and Robert Duncan will join the cast of The Classic Thriller Theatre Company's A Judgement in Stone. Ellison is well-loved for his longstanding role as ITV's DCI Frank Burnside in The Bill and Burnside and returns to familiar territory as Detective Superintendent Vetch in celebrated crime authoress Ruth Rendell's multi-million-selling work.

Casting Announced for Ruth Rendell's A JUDGEMENT IN STONE At Edinburgh's King's Theatre.

Eunice struggles to fit in. When she joins a wealthy family as their housekeeper the very reason for her awkwardness, long hidden and deeply buried, leads inexorably to a terrible tale of murder in cold blood on Valentine's Day. Ruth Rendell's brilliant plot unravels a lifetime of deceit, despair and cover-ups which, when revealed, brings a shocking revelation almost as grizzly as murder itself.

Building on the phenomenal decade-long success of The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, which sold over two million tickets and continually played to packed houses around the UK, Bill Kenwright presents a new production adapted from one of the most celebrated works of the writer often hailed as the successor to Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell's A Judgement In Stone.

The Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Birmingham Repertory Theatre are pleased to announce that Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, Dinner Ladies) will star as 'Daljit' in the new tour of ANITA AND ME, opening at the Wolverhampton Grand on 14 February 2017, and touring the UK until April.

Director/Writer/Actor Peter Marc Jacobson's latest directorial project MOUNT VERNON re-opens August 26, 2016 at the Hudson Guild after its successful world premiere in this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Mount Vernon, a play by Rena Brannan that enjoyed an acclaimed run at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival, will return to the Hudson Guild for four weeks only, it was announced today. Directed by Peter Marc Jacobson and featuring Sophie Ward and Brandon Ruiter, Mount Vernon will play one preview performance on Friday, August 26 at 8pm and is set to open on Saturday, August 27. The limited engagement will run through September 18 only.

Royal and Derngate's 2015 Made in Northampton Season continues with the world premiere of a new adaptation of Aldous Huxley's modern classic novel BRAVE NEW WORLD.

BRAVE NEW WORLD, widely considered to be one of the finest and most prophetic dystopian novels of the twentieth century, bursts into life on stage in an adaptation by award-winning playwright Dawn King, directed by James Dacre and designed by Naomi Dawson, with an original new music by the ground breaking British band These New Puritans. The first preview is slated for tonight 4 September in Northampton, with press night on Tuesday 8 September 2015, followed by a UK tour. Scroll down for a peek at the cast in rehearsal!

BRAVE NEW WORLD, widely considered to be one of the finest and most prophetic dystopian novels of the twentieth century, bursts into life on stage in an adaptation by award-winning playwright Dawn King, directed by James Dacre and designed by Naomi Dawson, with an original new music by the ground breaking British band These New Puritans. The first preview is slated for Tuesday 4 September in Northampton, with press night on Tuesday 8 September 2015, followed by a UK tour. Scroll down for a peek at the cast in rehearsal!