Full Cast Set For WHEN WE ARE MARRIED At Donmar Warehouse

Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch has announced the full cast for Sheader’s revival of When We Are Married by J.B. Priestley, which will open on 17 December, with previews from 6 December.

Joining the previously announced Siobhan Finneran (Maria Helliwell), Samantha Spiro (Clara Soppitt), Sophie Thompson (Annie Parker) and Marc Wootton (Albert Parker) are, Tori Allen-Martin (Lottie Grady), Ron Cook (Henry Ormonroyd), Janice Connolly (Mrs Northrop), John Hodgkinson (Joseph Helliwell), Jim Howick (Herbert Soppitt), Reuben Joseph (Gerald Forbes), Rowan Robinson (Nancy Holmes) and Leo Wringer (Reverend Clement Mercer).

Three couples, highly respected pillars of the Yorkshire community, gather to celebrate their joint silver wedding anniversaries. It's champagne toasts all round until their evening of pride and self-satisfaction is upended by an unexpected and deeply embarrassing revelation.

As scandal turns to farce, the couples are forced to confront long-buried truths, simmering resentments and the liberating possibility of starting over. 

Biographies

J.B. Priestley (1894 – 1984) was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His plays include Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways, I Have Been Here Before, When We Are Married, Music at Night, Johnson Over Jordan, Eden End, They Came to a City, An Inspector Calls, The Linden Tree, The Glass Cage, and A Severed Head (adapted from Iris Murdoch’s novel). He was awarded the Order of Merit.

Tori Allen-Martin plays Lottie Grady. Her theatre credits include Provenance (All Points East), Midnight Cowboy, Then, Now & Next (Southwark Playhouse), Samuel Takes a Break (The Yard Theatre), I Wish You Well (Criterion Theatre/Edinburgh Underbelly), Wild About You (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Park Bench (Park Theatre), The Season (New Wolsey Theatre, Royal & Derngate), One Man Two Guvnors (New Wolsey Theatre, Nuffield Southampton), Rock of Ages (UK tour), The Hardest One (Criterion Theatre, The Other Palace), Boxed (LDN Collective), Wretch (Vault Festival), Muted (The Bunker), H.R. Haitch (Iris Theatre), Yarico (Trestle Theatre), Streets (Hackney Empire) and Hair (Picadilly Theatre, European tour). Her television credits include Maya, Death Valley, Mandrake, Mrs Sidhu Investigates, Significant Other, Plebs: The War, The Other Half, Flatshare, Here We Go, London Kills, Back to Life, Pandemonium, Unforgotten, Pure and Clean Break.

Ron Cook returns to the Donmar to play Henry Ormonroyd having previously appeared in Europe, Faith Healer, Trelawny of the “Wells”, Richard II, King Lear (also Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York), Twelfth Night (Donmar West End at the Wyndham’s Theatre), Hamlet (Donmar West End at the  Wyndham’s Theatre, Broadhurst Theatre Broadway), Helpless, Juno and the Paycock and Glengarry Glen Ross. His other theatre credits include Grenfell: System Failure (Playground, The Tabernacle, Marylebone Theatre), Grenfell: Value Engineering (The Tabernacle), Party Time/Celebration (Harold Pinter Theatre), Girl from the North Country (The Old Vic), The Children (Royal Court Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club Broadway), The Homecoming (Trafalgar Studio), Henry V (Noël Coward Theatre), Art (Wyndham’s Theatre), A Northern Odyssey (Newcastle Live Theatre), The Seafarer, Howard Katz, Machine Wreckers, Black Snow (National Theatre), Singer (Tricycle Theatre), Insignificance (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sons of Light, A Jovial Crew, The Odyssey: A Winter’s Tale, The Crucible, Television Times, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Henry VI, The Dillen (RSC), Faith Healer (Abbey Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre), Our Country’s Good (Royal Court Theatre, Garrick Theatre), The Recruiting Officer, Cloud Nine, The Arbor (Royal Court Theatre), Three Sisters (Greenwich Theatre, Noël Coward Theatre), She Stoops to Conquer (Lyric Theatre), and How I Got That Story and Ecstasy (Hampstead Theatre). His television credits include The Hack, I Fought The Law, Andor, Grenfell: Scenes from the Inquiry, Inside No. 9, Life After Life, Des, The Salisbury Poisonings, The Witcher, Chernobyl, Death in Paradise, Les Miserables, The City and the City, Mr Selfridge, Mrs Biggs, Vera, Garrow’s Law, The Diary of Anne Frank, Waking the Dead, Burn Up, Little Dorrit, Red Riding 1980, Summerhill, Doctor Who, Foyle’s War, Funland, He Knew He Was Right: Hornblower, The Lost Prince, The Other Boleyn Girl, Dead Gorgeous, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Murder, Fields of Gold, Armadillo, Tom Jones, Bramwell, The Singing Detective, The Miser, A Day to Remember, Richard III, Henry VI Parts 1, 2, 3, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Maigret, Sharpe, The Young Ones, Blackadder and Life of William Shakespeare; and for film The Choral, Next Life, Ladies First, Sew Torn, The Critic, Empire of Light, The King’s Man, 18% Grey, Hot Fuzz, Confetti, On a Clear Day, The Merchant of Venice, Thunderbirds, 24 Hour Party People, Charlotte Gray, Lucky Break, Chocolat, 102 Dalmatians, Quills, Topsy-Turvy, Secrets and Lies and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.

Janice Connolly plays Mrs Northrop. Her theatre credits include Glitter Ball (Riverside Studios); Prime Time; Stuff; For The Past 30 Years; Prime Time (Women and Theatre Co./Birmingham Rep); The Palace of Wasted Dreams; (Mac Birmingham); Tartuffe (Birmingham Rep); Phyllis (UK tour/Women and Theatre Co.); 15-Min Plays (Slung Low); Anita and Me (Birmingham Repertory Theatre/Stratford East); Beautiful House (Manchester Library Theatre); A Taste Of Honey (New Vic Theatre); Office Party (Underbelly/Assembly); Aladdin; Robin Hood (The Lowry); White Open Spaces (Pentabus/Soho/Stockholm) and Barbara Nice (Soho Theatre). Her television credits include Doctors (series regular); The Good Ship Murder; Coronation Street; Man Like Mobeen; Mrs Nice and Mrs Williams; In With The Richardsons; Britain’s Got Talent; So Awkward; House Of Fools; Jonny and Inel Show; Jonny and Inel Show; Grounded For Life; Lunch Monkeys; The Culture Show; Dead Man Weds; Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere; Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights and That Peter Kay Thing; and for film Bjorn Of The Dead; Linda; Eaten By Lions and Snappers.

Siobhan Finneran plays Maria Helliwell. Her theatre credits include Three Winters (National Theatre), On The Shore Of The Wide World (Royal Exchange Theatre, National Theatre), Port (Royal Exchange Theatre), 2nd From Last In The Sack Race, Funny Peculiar, Lucky Sods, Rutherford and Sons, Taking Steps, Teechers (Oldham Coliseum), An Evening With Gary Lineker (Derby Playhouse) and An Inspector Calls (Nottingham Playhouse). Her television credits include Protection, Happy Valley - two BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actress, The Other One, Time, The Reckoning, Alma's Not Normal, The Stranger, A Confession, The Widow, Doctor Who, Snatches: Moments from Women's Lives, Cold Feet, The Loch, The Moorside Project, Midwinter Of The Spirit, Benidorm, The Syndicate, Downton Abbey (SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series), Benidorm, The Street, Apparitions, Blue Murder, Unforgiven, Other People, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Wire In The Blood, Johnny and The Bomb, The Royal, Conviction, Passerby, Clocking Off, Heartbeat, Blood Strangers, Sparkhouse, Bob & Rose, Shipman, Always And Everyone, City Central, Clocking Off, Cops, Out Of The Blue, and Mr Wroe's Virgins; and for film, The Damned, Pond Life, Apostasy, Un Ilustre Inconnu, The Selfish Giant, Boy A, and Rita, Sue and Bob Too.

John Hodgkinson returns to the Donmar to play Joseph Helliwell, having previously appeared in Absurdia and The Front Page. His other theatre credits include Titus Andronicus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Provoked Wife, Venice Preserved, Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Love’s Labour’s Won (RSC), Dear England (National Theatre, Prince Edward Theatre), Best of Enemies (Young Vic, Noël Coward Theatre), Hangmen (Royal Court Theatre, John Golden Theater, Broadway), The Country Wife, Aristo (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Ferryman - Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court Theatre), Orson’s Shadow (Southwark Playhouse), Donkey’s Years (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Libertine (Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre), Unscorched (Finborough Theatre), White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Gate Theatre), A Walk On Part (Soho Theatre, Arts Theatre), Behud (Soho Theatre), Onassis (Novello Theatre), His Dark Materials, Uncle Vanya, Neville’s Island, Murmuring Judges, Racing Demon (Birmingham Rep), The Winter’s Tale (Headlong Theatre), Hapgood (Birmingham Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse), A Journey to London (Orange Tree Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Arcadia (Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Rep). His television credits include Dear England, Life After Life, Catherine The Great, Rillington Place, Victoria, Witless, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Big Bad World, The Escape Artist, Whitechapel, Silk, Criminal Justice, Fallout, Broken News, Brief Encounters, My Family, Peep Show, Lee Evans Show, Chambers, Kiss Me Kate, Roy Dance is Dead, People Like Us, Pure Wickedness, Boyz Unlimited and Small Axe; and for film, Young Washington, Napoleon, Red White and Blue, Heart of Lightness, Leave to Remain, Skyfall, Thunderpants and Firelight.

Jim Howick plays Herbert Soppitt. His theatre credits include Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright (Wyndham’s Theatre), Horrible Histories Big Prom Party from the Albert Hall (Royal Albert Hall), Plastic Cowboys - Growing Nowhere, Plastic Cowboys - Mums Gone Away (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Dutch Elm Conservatoire in Prison (Belfast Festival). His television credits include Here We Go, The Change, Death Valley, 3 Body Problem, Ghosts, Austin, Sex Education, Action Team, Broadchurch, Loaded, Horrible Histories, Inside No 9, Stag, The Aliens, The Wrong Mans, Yonderland, Babylon, Peep Show, Armstrong and Miller, Perrin, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, No Heroics and Rob Newman’s History of the World Backwards; and for film, Bill and Hellboy.

Reuben Joseph plays Gerald Forbes. His theatre credits include Mrs Warren’s Profession (Garrick Theatre), A View from the Bridge (Tron Theatre, Glasgow), The Outrun (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), Medea on the Mic (Òran Mór), Macbeth (RSC), Hamilton (Victoria Palace), Orphans; The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil; Midsummer (National Theatre of Scotland), The Tragedy of Macbeth (Almeida Theatre), Sinbad (Perth Theatre), How Not to Drown (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Anything That Gives Off Light (National Theatre of Scotland, US tour) and A Christmas Carol (Citizens Theatre). His television credits include Safe Harbor, Crime, Traces and Vigil.

Rowan Robinson plays Nancy Holmes. Her theatre credits include A Taste of Honey (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and Shakespeare: A Man For All Time (Boulevard Theatre). Her television credits include The Wayfinders, Brassic, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, Passenger and So Awkward; and for film, A Haunting in Venice.

Samantha Spiro returns to the Donmar to play Clara Soppitt - she previously appeared in Twelfth Night (Wyndham’s Theatre) and Merrily We Roll Along - Olivier Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical. Other theatre credits include: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company); Lady Windermere’s Fan; Di and Viv and Rose (Vaudeville Theatre); The House They Grew Up In; Funny Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre); Guys and Dolls (Phoenix Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Noël Coward Theatre); Kafka’s Dick; God of Carnage (Theatre Royal Bath); Macbeth; The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe); Filumena (Almeida); Company (Sheffield Crucible); Chicken Soup with Barley; The Family Plays (Royal Court Theatre); Hello Dolly - Olivier Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical; Much Ado About Nothing; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; As You Like It; Lady Be Good; Macbeth; The Boys From Syracuse (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Two Thousand Years; Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle & Dick (National Theatre); A Little Night Music (Chicago Shakespeare’s Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Bedroom Farce (Aldwych Theatre); As You Like It (Sheffield Crucible/Lyric); Jumpers (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Roots (Oxford Stage Company); As You Like It (Bristol Old Vic, West Yorkshire Playhouse); Teechers; On The Piste (Hull Truck Theatre Company); How The Other Half Loves (Theatre Royal); Glyn & ‘It’ (Yvonne Arnaud/tour). Her television credits include: Waiting For The Out; Only Child; Missing You; The Road Trip; Still Up; Beyond Paradise; Vera; The Larkins; Ragdoll; Ridley Road; Sex Education; Call The Midwife; Agatha and the Truth of Murder; Semi-Detached; Grandpa’s Great Escape; Porters; Doc Martin; Doctor Who; Babs; Game of Thrones; Plebs; Tracey Ullman’s Show; London Spy; The Wrong Mans; Bad Education; Psychobitches; Panto!; Rebecca Front’s Little Cracker; Grandma’s House; Rock & Chips; Coupling; M.I.T Murder Investigation Team; and Cold Feet; and on film: One Life; Hard Truths; Hoard; Me Before You; Carnage; A Running Jump; Tomorrow La Scala!; From Hell; and Cor Blimey!

Sophie Thompson returns to the Donmar to play Annie Parker – she previously appeared in The Physicists, Into The Woods - Olivier Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical, and Company - Olivier Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress. Other theatre credits include: The Ballad Of Hattie & James (Kiln); The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse); Present Laughter - Olivier Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Old Vic); The Importance of Being Earnest; Female of the Species - Critics Circle Award (Vaudeville Theatre); Guys and Dolls - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Chichester Festival Theatre/Savoy Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer (National Theatre); Clybourne Park - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Royal Court Theatre/Wyndham’s Theatre); Measure for Measure (Globe Theatre); Wildest Dreams - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress; All's Well That Ends Well; As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company) Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing  (Renaissance Theatre Company). Her television credits include: Sisters; Silo; Belgravia The Next Chapter; Sex Education; Detectorists; We Might Regret This; Sandylands; Coronation Street; EastEnders; Ghosts; Feel Good; Ratburger; A Gert Lush Christmas; Inside No. 9; A Room with a View; A Harlot's Progress; That Day We Sang; The Railway Children; winner of Celebrity Masterchef 2014; and for film: Greenland 2; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1;  Gosford Park; Dancing at Lughnasa; Emma; Persuasion; Relative Values; Eat Pray Love; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Nicholas Nickleby; Time Travel is Dangerous (National Film Awards Nomination For Best Supporting Actress); Morris: A Life With Bells On; Fat Slags; The Missionary.

Marc Wootton returns to the Donmar to play Albert Parker – he previously appeared in The Same Deep Water as Me. His other theatre credits include Till The Stars Come Down, Season’s Greetings (National Theatre), Bull (Young Vic), Shirley Ghostman’s Spooktacular (Bush Hall) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC). His television credits include The Completely Made-up Adventures Of Dick Turpin, Teenage Euthanasia, Question Team, Gooseberry, High And Dry, Counterfeit Cat, Wussywat The Clumsy Cat, Drunk History, Psychobitches, Way To Go, Inside No. 9, The Matt Lucas Awards, Delocated, La La Land, Neighbours From Hell, Life And Times Of Tim, Brave Young Men, Marc Wootton – Exposed, Gavin and Stacey, Thin Ice, Nighty Night, High Spirits With Shirley Ghostman, BSTV, French & Saunders, Cyderdelic, The Pilot Show, My New Best Friend, Cyderdelic: The Revolution Will Be Televised, Edinburgh Or Bust and The 11 O’Clock Show; and for film, Greatest Days, The Bad Education Movie, Nativity!, Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger!, Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?, The Harry Hill Movie, Arthur Christmas, Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel and Confetti.

Leo Wringer plays Reverend Clement Mercer. His theatre credits include Quiz (Chichester Festival Theatre, UK tour), Hamlet (Young Vic), King Hedley II (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Our Lady of Kibeho (Royal & Derngate, Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, A Comedy of Errors, King Lear (RSC), Romeo and Juliet (RSC, Noël Coward Theatre), Father Comes Home From The Wars, Search and Destroy (Royal Court Theatre), Soul (Royal & Derngate, Hackney Empire), As You Like It, Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre), Perseverance Drive (Bush Theatre), Blackta, Twelfth Night (Young Vic), The Wheel, While You Lie (Traverse Theatre), Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, Othello (Shakespeare at The Tobacco Factory), Medea (Abbey Theatre, Queen’s Theatre), Othello (Watermill Theatre, Newbury) and The Winter’s Tale (Complicité, international tour). His television credits include Domino Day, Anthony, Sitting In Limbo, Urban Myths - The Trial of Joan Collins, Heirs of the Night, Black Earth Rising, The Moonstone, Gangsta Granny, Silent Witness, Rebus, Rough Crossings, Judge John Deed, Canterbury Tales, Love Hurts and Escape From Kampala; and for film, A Life of One’s Own, The Changeling and The Kitchen Toto.

Tim Sheader is Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of The Donmar Warehouse where he has directed Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 which was nominated for six Olivier Awards. He was previously Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre where he directed over 20 productions, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods (also Central Park’s Delacorte Theater), Hello, Dolly!, Crazy For You (also West End), and Jesus Christ Superstar which, following two sold out seasons at Regent’s Park and a transfer to the Barbican, has been touring the US for three years, and is currently on tour in the UK and Australia. His critically acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird also toured the UK ending with a sell-out run at the Barbican. Committed to taking the company’s work to as wide an audience as possible, he oversaw further UK tours of productions including Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and Running Wild. His other stage work includes The Monstrous Child (Royal Opera House), My Fair Lady (Aarhus Theatre), Barnum (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Magistrate (National Theatre), Don Pasquale (Opera National de Lorraine and upcoming in Lausanne and Nice).