Full Casting Announced For 'Moonlight' and 'Love' @ Tricycle

 Sean Holmes' production of Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight & Magnolias returns to the Tricycle Theatre for a strictly limited four week run from 2 July – 2 August with original cast members Andy Nyman (Selznick) and Steven Pacey (Fleming) who are joined by new cast members Nicholas Woodeson (Hecht) and Rebecca Calder (Miss Poppenghul).  Designs are by Francis O'Connor with lighting by Davy Cunningham and sound by Carolyn Downing.

Moonlight & Magnolias is the hilarious story behind the re-writing of the film Gone with the Wind.  Producer David O. Selznick and writer Ben Hecht join (reluctant) forces with director Vic Fleming, poached directly from the set of The Wizard of Oz, in a desperate and hilarious attempt to re-write the script of Gone with the Wind as they shut down production on the movie.  Moonlight & Magnolias is a parody of the inside workings of the film industry and an insightful look at the politics of 1930's Hollywood.

Rebecca Calder's stage credits include Silver Birch House and Pera Palas for the Arcola Theatre and Carlos Acosta and Friends for Sadler's Wells. Her screen credits include The Leaving of Liverpool and Casualty for the BBC and films Stardust, Cashback and Canis Lupus.

Nicholas Woodeson's stage credits include Romance and Mr Peter's Connections for The Almeida Theatre, Jumpers for The National Theatre (which transferred to the West End and Broadway), Art at Wyndham's Theatre, and Hard Fruit and Bazaar for the Royal Court.  His television credits include Rome series 1 and 2, Doc Martin, Eleventh, The Last Detective, A Touch of Frost and Waking the Dead and on film his credits include Amazing Grace, Conspiracy, Topsy Turvey, Mad Cows and Titanic Town.

Andy Nyman's theatre credits include Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Call In The Night and The Merchant of Venice all for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Saturday, Sunday … and Monday for Chichester Festival Theatre, Lust for the Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Gingerbread Lady for The Palace Theatre Watford and A Slice of Saturday Night for the Arts Theatre.  Recently he co-devised and directed Derren Brown's show Mind Reader:  An Evening of Wonders, which has recently completed a short run at the Garrick Theatre.  His television work includes the forthcoming Charlie Brooker series, Peak Practice, Tame, New Voices, Birds of a Feather and The Bill.  His film credits include Severance, Death at a Funeral, Shut Up and Shoot Me, Played, Wild Romance and Coney Island Baby, as well as The Brothers Bloom and The Tournament which opens later this year.

Steven Pacey's theatre credits include Someone Else's Shoes for Soho Theatre, The Old Masters at the Comedy Theatre, Democracy for The National Theatre, The Constant Wife for the Apollo Theatre, The Birthday Party for the Piccadilly Theatre, By Jeeves for the Duke of York's Theatre, High Society for the Victoria Palace Theatre and Celebration and The Room for The Almeida Theatre.  His television credits include Distant Shores, Spooks, Murder  in Mind, Troubles and Strife, Pie in the Sky and Just William.  On film his credits include Conspiracy, Return to House on Haunted Hill and Julius Caesar.

Ron Hutchinson's plays include Topless Mum and Moonlight and Magnolias at the Tricycle, Says I, Says I, The Dillen, Rat in the Skull, Burning Issues, Head/Case, Eejits, The Curse of the Baskervilles and Lags.  In addition he adapted Mikhail Bulgakov's Flight for The National Theatre.   His screen writing credits include Vertical Limit, Blue Ice and Red King, White Knight.  His many television writing credits include Traffic, The Pentagon Papers, Naked and the Dead, Prisoner of Honor, The Josephine Baker Story, The Marksman and Bird of Prey.

Sean Holmes' directing credits includes The Man Who Had All the Luck for the Donmar Warehouse, Translations, The Mentalists, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Caucasian Chalk Circle for The National Theatre and for the Royal Shakespeare Company Julius Caesar, Richard III and The Roman Actor.  His other productions include Singer and The Price   for the Tricycle Theatre -the latter went onto tour nationally -  Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness for the Royal Court, and Cleansed and Home for Oxford Stage Company (now Headlong), where he is an Associate Director.

 
L E T   T H E R E   B E   L O V E

Kwame Kwei-Armah's Let There Be Love will return to the Tricycle with the original world premiere cast comprising Joseph Marcell, Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Lydia Leonard, also for a strictly limited four week run from 5 - 30 August.  Designs are by 2007 Linbury prize-winner Helen Goddard with lighting by Rachael McCutcheon and sound by Neil Alexander.

Set against the music of Nat King Cole, Let There Be Love is an immigrant's tale of beginnings, endings and Britishness.   Directed by the author, this production previously opened the Tricycle's 2008 season in January to great acclaim.  Let There Be Love - a Tricycle Bloomberg Commission - is part of the Tricycle's Bloomberg New Writing Scheme for New Audiences and is sponsored by the Kobler Trust.  

When West Indian pensioner Alfred Morris is kicked out of his daughter's Croydon house he returns to his Willesden home to find he's been gifted a 'Polish cleaner/home help'. Eager to learn the ways of her new land, the cantankerous and xenophobic Alfred realises that he may indeed still have a role in life: he could teach Maria to be British – and if he succeeds, maybe she might help him in the most unexpected way!

Joseph Marcell was part of the Tricycle's 2006 African-American Season appearing on stage in Walk Hard Talk Loud and Gem of the Ocean.  Other recent stage credits include Breakfast with Mugabe at Bath Ustinov Theatre, Coriolanus and Under the Black Flag at the Globe and numerous productions for the RSC including Crates and Barrels, Our Friends from the North and The Brothers Menechimi.  He also works regularly with the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.  His screen credits include Rough Crossing, EastEnders, Jericho and The Professionals IV.  He is best known on television for playing Geoffrey in long running series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air alongside Will Smith.

Sharon Duncan-Brewster's Tricycle Theatre credits include Fabulation, Playboy of the West Indies and Blues For Mr Charlie.  Her other theatre credits include The Bacchae and The Magic Carpet for the Lyric Hammersmith and Clean Break for the Royal Court.  Her screen credits include ITV's Bad Girls and two series of Babyfather for the BBC, The Teacher, Waking the Dead and The Bill.

Lydia Leonard's theatre credits include Frost/Nixon both at the Donmar Warehouse and the Gielgud Theatre, Hecuba for the Royal Shakespeare Company, A Midsummer Night's Dream for Bristol Old Vic, Grimm Tales for the Tobacco Factory Bristol and Love's Labour's Lost on tour.  Her film credits include True True Lie and on television her credits include Margaret Thatcher, Casualty 1907, A Line of Beauty, Jericho, Rome, Foyles War and Midsommer Murders.

Kwame Kwei-Armah is one of the 2008 'Breakthrough Brits' nominated by the UK Film Council to celebrate British filmmaking talent on the brink of international success.   He is a member of the Tricycle's Bloomberg Writers Group and in 2003 he won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.  His play Elmina's Kitchen – the first in Kwei-Armah's triptych for The National Theatre - was nominated for an Olivier Award and transferred to the West End.  Elmina's Kitchen was followed in 2004 by Fix-Up and in 2007 Statement of Regret premiered at the Cottesloe. He was a finalist in Celebrity Fame Academy and a regular in Casualty. 

For more information please visit www.tricycle.co.uk

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