Full Casting Announced for THE SEAGULL at Lyric Hammersmith

The Lyric Hammersmith today announces full casting for Simon Stephens's new version of Anton Chekhov's highly renowned play, The Seagull, directed by Artistic Director Sean Holmes. Lloyd Cooney plays Jacob, Nicholas Gleaves plays Boris Trigorin, Lloyd Hutchinson plays Leo and Raphael Sowole plays Simeon. They join the previously announced Adelayo Adedayo, Michele Austin, Paul Higgins, Lesley Sharp, Cherrelle Skeete, Nicolas Tennant and Brian Vernel.

Unrequited love. Creative jealousy. Guns. Vodka.

And Art.

Chekhov's celebrated masterpiece is given vibrant new life in this dynamic new version by Olivier-award winning playwright Simon Stephens directed by Sean Holmes.

Switching effortlessly between the ridiculous and the profound The Seagull forensically examines the transcendence and destructiveness of love. The burning need to create Art and how harshly that need can be crushed permeates this classic play.

Adelayo Adedayo plays Nina.

Theatre credits include: Cuttin' It (Young Vic/Royal Court); Klippies (Southwark Playhouse); Rachel (Finborough Theatre) and The Dead Wait (Park Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Unlocked, Timewaster, Houdini & Doyle, Some Girls, Stan Lee's Lucky Man, Law & Order UK, Skins, Gone Too Far, Sket, MI High, Meet The Bandaiis and The Bill.

Michele Austin plays Pauline.

Theatre credits include: Medea and The Chain Play (Almeida); Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); The House That Will Not Stand and The Riots (Tricycle); I Know How I Feel About Eve (Hampstead Theatre); To Kill A Mockingbird (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Six Books (Bush); Wild Child (Rough Cuts); The Lost Mariner, Been So Long and Breath, Boom (Royal Court); Generations (Young Vic); Out In The Open (Hampstead); Our Country's Good (Out of Joint) and It's A Great Shame (Stratford East).

Film and TV credits include: The Children Act, What We Did On Our Holidays, Another Year, The Infidel, All Or Nothing, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Second Nature, Secrets & Lies, Eastenders, The Coroner, The Casual Vacancy, Death In Paradise, Harry And Paul, Holby City, Peep Show, Silent Witness, Britannia High, Outnumbered, Never Better, Secret Life, The Bill, The Wife Of Bath, Clare In The Community, Doctors, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Eastenders, The Bill, Babes In The Wood, Kiss Me Kate and The Perfect Blue.

Lloyd Cooney plays Jacob.

Theatre credits include: The Plough and the Stars, The Shadow of a Gunman, Twelfth Night and The Risen People (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Windstealers (Smock Alley); The Waste Ground Party (Peacock Theatre); Angel Meadow (HOME); Thirteen, Living The Lockout and The Boys of Foley Street (A.N.U. Productions); Romeo and Juliet (The Complex, Dublin); Delta Phase (Lanagans) and Reality Shows (Exchange Dublin).

Film and TV credits include: Charlie, The Execution and The Shadowboxer.

Nicholas Gleaves plays Boris Trigorin.

For the Lyric: Chair and The Under Room (written & directed by Edward Bond).

Other theatre credits include: The Father (Wyndham's); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (National Theatre); Macbeth (Manchester Royal Exchange); On The Shore of the Wide World (Manchester Royal Exchange/National Theatre); As You Like It, Macbeth and Othello (Ludlow Festival); The Front Page (Donmar), Dear Elena Sergeevna (Gate); Dark Glory (Nuffield Southampton) and Sixty-Six Books (The Bush Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Nightstand, United Passions, A Congregation of Ghosts, Fallout, Chatroom, Incendiary, Cold Feet, Marvellous, Scott & Bailey, Ashes to Ashes, Survivors, City Lights, Playing the Field, Public Enemies, Reunited, Murderland and Foyle's War.

Paul Higgins plays Hugo Dorn.

Theatre credits include: Temple, Luise Miller, The Cosmonaut's Last Message (Donmar);

Blackbird, King Lear (Citizens); Hope, Nightsongs, American Bagpipes, The Conquest of the South Pole (Royal Court); Children of the Sun, White Guard, Paul, An Enemy of the People, The Hare Trilogy (National Theatre); Damascus (Traverse/Tricycle/Middle East); The Tempest (Tron); Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland); Macbeth, Conversations After A Burial (Almeida); Measure for Measure (RSC); The Golden Ass, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe).

Film and TV credits include: Line of Duty, Decline and Fall, The Thick of it, New Town, The Last Enemy, Murder, Raised By Wolves, Utopia, Low Winter Sun, Victoria & Abdul, Couple in a Hole, In The Loop, Red Road, Bedrooms and Hallways, Apostle and The Party's Just Beginning.

Lloyd Hutchinson plays Leo.

For the Lyric: The Birthday Party, Three Sisters.

Other theatre credits include: Salome, Plough and the Stars, Husbands & Sons, The Beaux Stratagem, Collaborators, The Observer and Once In A Lifetime (National Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream and A Respectable Wedding (Young Vic); Little Revolution, Measure for Measure and The Lightning Play (Almeida); A View From The Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse); The Orphan of Zhao, Boris Godunov and Travesties (RSC); A Particle of Dread (Off Broadway); A Flear In Her Ear (Old Vic); Life Is A Dream (Donmar); The Taming Of The Shrew (Manchester Royal Exchange) Rhinoceros and The Curse of the Starving Class (Royal Court)

Film and TV credits include: The Little Stranger, Catastrophe, White Gold, Silent Witness, Utopia, Casualty, Hatfields & McCoys, Hustle, Titanic, The Fades, Silk, Florence Foster Jenkins, The Little Stranger, Anonymous and Mrs Henderson Presents.

Lesley Sharp plays Irina Arkadina

Theatre credits include: A Taste of Honey, Harper Regan, Mother Courage and her Children, Murmuring Judges, Uncle Vanya - Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress (National Theatre); Ingredient X, Top Girls and Our Country's Good (Royal Court); Ghosts (Duchess); Little Voice (Vaudeville); God Of Hell, A Family Affair - Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Performance (Donmar); Playing With Trains and Mary and Lizzie (RSC) and Summerfolk (Chichester Festival Theatre).

Film and TV credits include: Three Girls, Scott & Bailey, Capital, Starlings, The Shadow Line, Whistle and I'll Come To You, Cranford, Poirot, Moving On, The Diary of Anne Frank, Dr Who, Afterlife, Planespotting, The Survivors, Carla, Carrie's War, Bob and Rose Slapper and Me, Inkheart, Vera Drake, Cheeky, From Hell, The Full Monty, Naked, Priest, Close My Eyes, The Rachel Papers, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, The Love Child. Clocking Off, Great Expectations, Playing The Field and Common as Muck. Lesley also stars in the new Sky1 comedy Living the Dream.

Cherrelle Skeete plays Marcia.

Theatre credits include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace); Three Days in the Country and Amen Corner (National Theatre); Wind in the Willows (Royal and Derngate, Northampton); And I and Silence (Finborough) and The Lion King (Lyceum).

Film and TV credits include: Silent Witness, Danny and the Human Zoo, The Five, Ordinary Lies and Call the Midwife.

Raphael Sowole plays Simeon.

Theatre credits include: Pygmalion (Headlong UK Tour); Hamlet (Black Theatre Live UK Tour); Measure for Measure (Young Vic) The Merchant of Venice (Almeida); Tis Pity She's A Whore (Cheek by Jowl/Barbican) and A Clockwork Orange (Theatre Royal Stratford East).

Film and TV credits include: Black Mirror, Starred Up, Trainees, Edge of Heaven and Youngers.

Nicolas Tennant plays Peter Sorin.

For the Lyric: Three Kingdoms (also Tallinn/Munich),

Theatre credits include: Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (Apollo); Hamlet, Taming Of The Shrew, King Lear, As You Like It and All's Well That Ends Well (RSC); The Alchemist and Dr Faustus (Liverpool Playhouse); Tiger Country and Love Me Tonight (Hampstead); The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Liverpool Everyman /Chichester); The Power Of Yes, The Blue Ball and The U.N. Inspector (National Theatre); Roaring Trade and Piranha Heights (Soho); People At Sea (Salisbury Playhouse); Caucasian Chalk Circle (Tour); Under The Black Flag (Shakespeare's Globe); Members Only (Trafalgar); Dead Funny (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Cloud 9 and Teeth 'N' Smiles (Sheffield Theatre) and Bad Company, Sugar, Sugar and Love & Understanding (Bush).

Film and TV credits include: Peaky Blinders, The Bill, The Gift, The Fool, Nice Town, Between the Lines, Breaking the Bank, Oscar & Lucinda, Friday On My Mind, Backbeat and Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.

Brian Vernel plays Konstantin.

Theatre credits include: Barbarians (Young Vic); Future Conditional (The Old Vic); Takin' Over the Asylum (Royal Lyceum/Citizen's); Macbeth, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Cherry Orchard (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); The Static, Blackout (ThickSkin) and Four Parts Broken (National Theatre Of Scotland/Traverse /Oran Mor).

Film and TV credits include: Dunkirk, Papillon, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Winter Song, Offender, Let Us Prey, Collateral, The Tunnel, Dr Who, The Missing 2, The Last Kingdom, The Casual Vacancy, Grantchester, Prey and The Field of Blood.

Simon Stephens

Simon is an award-winning playwright. For the Lyric: Fatherland (Manchester International Festival 2017 / Lyric & LIFT Festival 2018), Herons, Morning (also Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Three Kingdoms (also Tallinn/Munich), A Thousand Stars that Explode in the Sky and Punk Rock - winner 2009 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production (also Manchester Royal Exchange). Other theatre credits include: The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre); Heisenberg (Manhattan Theatre Company); Obsession (Barbican/Toneelgroep Amsterdam); Song From Far Away, The Cherry Orchard, I Am The Wind (Young Vic); Carmen Disruption (Deutsches Schauspielhaus/Almeida Theatre); Nuclear War, Birdland, Wastwater - winner 2011 Theater Heute's Award, Motortown - winner 2007 Theater Heute's Award, Country Music, Herons, Bluebird (Royal Court); The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time - Winner Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play (National Theatre /Apollo /Gielgud /Barrymore Theatre, Broadway); A Doll's House (Young Vic/Duke Of York's); Pornography - winner 2008 Theater Heute's Award (Deutsches Schauspielhaus/Edinburgh Festival/Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre); Sea Wall (Bush); Harper Regan, Port - winner 2001 Pearson Award for Best Play (Royal Exchange/National Theatre) and On The Shore Of The Wide World - winner 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play (Royal Exchange). Film and television credits include: Dive, Pornography and Cargese. Radio credits include: Five Letters Home to Elizabeth and Digging. Simon is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith and Associate Playwright at the Royal Court. He was also on the board for Paines Plough between 2009 and 2014, and was a Writers' Tutor for the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court between 2001 and 2005.

Sean Holmes

Sean is Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith. For the Lyric: Terror, Shopping and F**king, Bugsy Malone, A Midsummer Night's Dream (UK Tour/Manchester Royal Exchange/Brisbane Festival/Dublin International Festival), Herons, Secret Theatre Shows 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, Cinderella, Desire Under the Elms, Morning, Have I None, Saved, Blasted - winner Olivier Award 2011, Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, Ghost Stories (also Duke of York's/Liverpool Playhouse/Panasonic Theatre, Toronto/Arts Theatre), Three Sisters and Comedians. In 2016 Sean directed The Plough and the Stars at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin (also Irish/US Tour). Sean was an Associate Director of the OxfordStage Company from 2001 to 2006 and has also worked at the National Theatre, RSC, Tricycle, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

Photo credit: Jay Brooks

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