Jermyn Street Theatre Presents CANCELLING SOCRATES By Howard Brenton
Performances run 2 June – 2 July 2022.
The full cast of the world premiere of Howard Brenton's new play, Cancelling Socrates is announced by Jermyn Street Theatre today.
The production, which reunites one of our greatest living playwrights with Jermyn Street Theatre's artistic director Tom Littler, will feature an all-star, multi-award winning cast comprising: Olivier Award nominee Jonathan Hyde (National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Glasgow Citizen's Theatre and numerous film and TV roles) as Socrates, Sophie Ward (A Very British Scandal - BBC, The Moonstone - BBC) as Aspasia, Ian Charleson Award commended Hannah Morrish (National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe) as Xanthippe and UK Theatre award nominee Robert Mountford (National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, Birmingham Rep, Tara Arts) as Euthyphro / Gaoler.
Today, Socrates is revered as the founding father of Western philosophy. But in 399BC Athens, he was a pain in the neck. The plague is over, democracy is (just about) restored, and everyone would like to getback to normal. How hard is it for one ageing firebrand to stop asking questions? It's time to shut him up...
Based on eyewitness accounts, Cancelling Socrates is provocative, witty and gripping. Howard Brenton is one of our foremost dramatists. His acclaimed plays have been staged at The National Theatre, RSC, Shakespeare's Globe, and worldwide.
Cancelling Socrates is directed by Tom Littler, with set and costume design by Issy Van Braeckel, lighting design by William Reynolds, sound design by Max Pappenheim and Ali Taie. The assistant director is Becca Chadder.
Tom Litler says,
"Howard Brenton's new play is in exceptionally talented hands with this quartet of brilliant actors. It's a pleasure to welcome Hannah Morrish and Robert Mountford back to JST, and to see Janie Dee and Jonathan Hyde making their debuts here after following their careers with admiration for a long time. They'll bring out the wit, intellectual spark and poignant humanity of this remarkable drama."
Jermyn Street Theatre is the West End's smallest producing theatre. The Stage's Fringe Theatre of the Year 2021, it is led by Artistic and Executive Directors Tom Littler and Penny Horner. The theatre won a 2022 Critics' Circle Award for its lockdown theatre, and Littler won the 2022 OffWestEnd Award for Best Artistic Director. The programme includes outstanding new plays, rare revivals, new versions of European classics, and high-quality musicals, alongside one-off musical and literary events. It collaborates with theatres across the world, and its productions have transferred to the West End and Broadway. During closure, the theatre responded with its Brave New World season of digital work, including the complete cycle of Shakespeare's sonnets performed by a mixture of graduating drama students and household names including Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Colman and the acclaimed 15 Heroines with DigitalTheatre+ featuring adaptations of Ovid from writers including Juliet Gilkes Romero and Timberlake Wertenbaker.
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