The Watermill Announces Full Company of WATERSHIP DOWN

The Watermill Theatre today announces the full company for its brand new production of Watership Down, based on the worldwide bestselling novel by Richard Adams and adapted by award-winning playwright, Rona Munro.

Adam Penford directs James Backway as Hazel, Richard James-Neale as Bigwig, Alexander Morris as Fiver and Edward Bennett as Holly and General Woundwort.

Completing the cast are Charlie Bate (Thethuthinang & Keehar), Vicki Manderson (Pipkin/Nelthilta), Jess Murphy (Blackavaar), Joseph O'Malley (Blackberry & Campion) and Scarlet Wilderink (Hyzenthlay).

Matt Hutchinson joins the company as Puppet Director and Designer, Naomi Said as Movement Director. Watership Down is designed by Richard Kent, with original music and sound by Dom Coyote and lighting design by Jack Knowles.

The Watermill's Artistic Director, Paul Hart commented:

"This stirring tale of courage and survival has become one of the best-loved adventures of all time, selling over fifty million copies worldwide, and it's exciting to be staging it at The Watermill right in the heart of the countryside and just a few miles from the North Wessex Downs that first inspired Richard Adam's epic, timeless story."

In award-winning playwright Rona Munro's inventive and energetic adaptation, the long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all...

Born and raised near Newbury, Berkshire, Richard Adams originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters to while away a long car journey to Stratford-upon-Avon. Now over forty years since it was published in 1972, Adams' first novel, Watership Down is considered a modern classic, winning both the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal and was adapted into an animated film in 1978.

Rona Munro has written extensively for stage, radio film and television and is the writer behind the critically acclaimed The James Plays trilogy recently staged at the National Theatre of Scotland and National Theatre.