Photo Flash: Almeida Theatre's THE KNOT OF THE HEART

Michael Attenborough will direct Kieran Bew (Man) Abigail Cruttenden (Angela), Lisa Dillon (Lucy) Margot Leicester (Barbara) and Sophie Stanton (Marina) in the world premiere of David Eldridge's The Knot of the Heart which will run at the Almeida from 10 March - 30 April, with press night on 17 March 2011. The Knot of the Heart is designed by Peter McKintosh with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound and music by Dan Jones. 

Beautiful and privileged, Lucy is enjoying a burgeoning career in television. But her social drug habit has become a serious addiction, casting a dark shadow over her future happiness. As her charmed life begins to slip away Lucy comes to realise that the devoted support of her family does not come without a price.

Abigail Cruttendon is best known on television for her roles in ITV1's long running series Sharpe and Benidorm. Her many other screen credits include Sex, The City and Me, Foyles War, Rosemary and Thyme, Monarch of the Glen, Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre. Her theatre credits include Afterlife and Flight for the National Theatre, The Wood Demon and Tartuffe at The Playhouse, Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as many credits for Theatr Clwyd. On film her credits include Charlotte Gray and Hideous Kinky.

Lisa Dillon returns to the Almeida where she has previously been seen in Michael Attenborough's production of When the Rain Stops Falling, as well as A Period of Adjustment and Hedda Gabler. Her other theatre credits include Design for Living which is currently playing at the Old Vic, David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky at the Duke of York's Theatre, Private Lives at the Vaudeville Theatre and Present Laughter for the National Theatre. She won the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Ian Charleson Award for her performance as Hilda in The Master Builder at the Albery Theatre. On screen her credits include Cambridge Spies, Hawking, Bright Young Things and Cranford. Dillon can currently be seen at the Old Vic in Design for Living where she returns for Richard Eyre's production of A Flea in Her Ear later this year.

Margot Leicester has most recently been seen on stage at Bolton Octagon in All My Sons, Ghosts and The Enemy Within. Previously her theatre credits include Coriolanus for Shakespeare's Globe, The Lucky Ones for Hampstead Theatre, First Frame for the Donmar Warehouse, Memory of Water at the Vaudeville Theatre, Colder Than Here and Protection both for Soho Theatre Company. Previously she was seen in Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee for the Young Vic, and Broken Glass for the National Theatre and Ibsen's An Enemy of the People at The Playhouse. On television her credits include Peak Practice, The Bill, Holby City, The Take and Heartbeat.

David Eldridge's adaptation of Festen received its world premiere at The Almeida Theatre in 2005 and subsequently transferred to the West End and then Broadway. Most recently his A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, co written with Robert Holman and Simon Stephens, opened at the Lyric Hammersmith. His other writing for the theatre includes Summer Begins, Falling, Market Boy and Under the Blue Sky, which was presented in the West End in 2008. His adaptations for the stage include The Wild Duck and John Gabriel Borkman, and his writing for the radio includes Michael & Me, Stratford, Ilford, Romford and All Stations to Sheffield and The Picture Man. Eldridge's adaptation of Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea opens at the Royal Exchange Theatre later this month.

Michael Attenborough is Artistic Director of The Almeida Theatre where his productions have been The Mercy Seat, Five Gold Rings, Brighton Rock, The Late Henry Moss, Enemies, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Big White Fog, Awake and Sing!, The Homecoming, In a Dark Dark House, When the Rain Stops Falling, Measure for Measure and, most recently, Through A Glass Darkly. Previously, he was Associate Director at, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (1972-74), Leeds Playhouse (1974-79), Young Vic (1979-80) and Artistic Director at, Palace Theatre, Watford (1980-84), and Hampstead Theatre (1984-89), and was Principal Associate Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company (1990-2002). On leaving the Royal Shakespeare Company he became an Honorary Associate Artist. Attenborough‘s freelance work includes productions at the National Theatre, the Royal Court, in the West End and on Broadway.

Photo Credit: Keith Pattison

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