Sebastian Armesto & More to Join Frank Langella in Chichester & BAM's KING LEAR

Three time Tony Award-winning, Oscar nominated Broadway and film star Frank Langella plays King Lear at Chichester, prior to the Harvey Theater at BAM (Brooklyn Academy Of Music) in New York, joined by Sebastian Armesto, Max Bennett, Denis Conway, Isabella Laughland, Catherine McCormack, Harry Melling, Lauren O'Neil and Steven Pacey.

Sebastian Armesto plays Edgar. His theatre credits include A Woman Killed with Kindness (National Theatre) for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award 2012, Damned by Despair (National Theatre), Les Enfants du Paradis, The Four Stages of Cruelty, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Moby Dick (all for Simple 8 theatre company, for whom Armesto also writes and directs). Screen credits include Parades End, Anonymous, The Tudors, The Palace and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Max Bennett plays Edmund. His theatre credits include A Time to Reap and In Basildon (Royal Court Theatre), Posh (Royal Court Theatre and West End), Danton's Death (National Theatre), Luise Miller (Donmar Warehouse), and the West End production of Relatively Speaking. Screen credits include Anna Karenina and The Duchess.

Denis Conway plays Gloucester. He previously appeared at Chichester in Wallenstein; numerous other theatre credits include the title role in Richard III for which he won the 2002 Irish Times/ESB Theatre Award for Best Actor and The Walworth Farce (Edinburgh Festival, Brooklyn and National Theatre). Film credits include I Went Down, Michael Collins and The Wind That Shakes The Barley.

Isabella Laughland plays Cordelia. Her screen credits include the role of Leanne in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and 2 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Now Is Good, The Hollow Crown and Without You.

Catherine McCormack plays Goneril. She previously appeared at Chichester in Top Girls (also West End). Other theatre credits include an Olivier Award nominated performance in All My Sons, Dinner (both at The National Theatre) and the West End production of The 39 Steps. Screen credits include Braveheart, Spy Game and 28 Weeks Later.

Harry Melling plays The Fool. His screen credits include the role of Dudley Dursley in five Harry Potter films, Merlin and Just William. Theatre credits include Smack Family Robinson (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Mother Courage and Her Children and Women Beware Women (both for The National Theatre) and The School for Scandal (Barbican Theatre).

Lauren O'Neil plays Regan. Her theatre credits include This House, Travelling Light and Women Beware Women (all for The National Theatre).

Steven Pacey plays Kent. His theatre credits include By Jeeves, for which he received an Olivier Award nomination, and West End productions of The Birthday Party, Celebration and The Admirable Crichton.

The cast also includes Rob Heaps as France/Knight/Guard, whose credits include South Downs and The Browning Version (Chichester and West End), and Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (National Theatre); Tom Mothersdale as Oswald, whose theatre credits include Boys (Soho Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare's Globe and UK tour) and Romeo and Juliet (Headlong Theatre); Chu Omambala as Albany, Michael Sheldon as French Commander/Servant, whose credits include Timon of Athens, Hamlet, The Seagull, Democracy and Three Sisters (all for The National Theatre); Parth Thakerar as Servant/Herald/Messenger; Tim Treloar as Cornwall whose Chichester credits include Macbeth (also West End and Broadway) and Twelfth Night; and whose other credits include Henry V (National Theatre), Richard II and Romeo and Juliet (both for the RSC) and Alan Vicary as the Doctor, whose credits include Goodnight Mister Tom (West End and UK tour) and The Power of Yes (National Theatre).

Further casting is still to be announced.

Frank Langella earned one of his three Tony Awards for his performance as Richard Nixon in the acclaimed production Frost/Nixon (Donmar Warehouse, West End and Broadway). He was also the recipient of an Olivier Award nomination and an Oscar nomination for the same role in the film version. His additional Tonys were for roles in Seascape and Fortune's Fool, as well as three more nominations for Man and Boy, Dracula and Match. His over four decades on Broadway and close to two dozen productions also include, among others, The Father, Present Laughter, A Man for all Seasons and Amadeus.

In 2013/2014 Frank Langella will star in six films including Grace of Monaco opposite Nicole Kidman, Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight opposite Christopher Plummer, directed by Stephen Frears, and Draft Day opposite Kevin Costner. Among his 65 films, recent screen credits include the critically acclaimed Robot and Frank, Starting Out In The Evening, Good Night and Good Luck, Dave and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Chichester Associate Angus Jackson directed the 2013 Olivier Award-winning production Goodnight Mister Tom, and has directed two other Festival 2013 productions, If Only and Neville's Island. Jackson's other Chichester credits include The Browning Version (also West End), Bingo (also Young Vic), Wallenstein and Funny Girl. He has also directed Elmina's Kitchen, Fix Up, Rocket to the Moon and The Power of Yes for The National Theatre.

Designer Robert Innes Hopkins renews his collaboration with Jackson following their previous Chichester productions: Goodnight Mister Tom (UK tour and West End), Bingo (also Young Vic) and Wallenstein. Other credits include Clybourne Park (Royal Court Theatre and West End), The Malcontent and The Comedy of Errors (both RSC), and the National Actors Theatre production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which featured Al Pacino in the title role.

Lighting design is by Peter Mumford whose Chichester credits include Heartbreak House, The Last Confession, The Master and Margarita, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Out of this World, The Seagull, The Gondoliers, Heartbreak House, Easy Virtue and Saturday Sunday...and Monday, The Waltz of The Toreadors, Three Women and a Piano Tuner. Other theatre credits include Top Hat, Absent Friends, Much Ado about Nothing, The Lion in Winter, The Misanthrope, Carousel and Fiddler on the Roof (all for the West End), c*ckand The Seagull (Royal Court Theatre and New York), Jumpy (Royal Court Theatre and West End), and National Theatre productions of All's Well That Ends Well, The Hothouse, Exiles and The Bacchae (which won an Olivier Award).

Composer is Isobel Waller-Bridge whose credits include Festival 2013's If Only, Mydidae (Soho Theatre and West End), Blink, The Girl with the Iron Claws, A Woman killed with Kindness and A Christmas Carol (both for The National Theatre).

Sound Design is by Fergus O'Hare whose Chichester credits include Uncle Vanya and The Syndicate; other credits include Tiger Country (Hampstead Theatre), The Entertainer, Inherit the Wind, Richard II, The Philadelphia Story, Aladdin, Cloaca, Hamlet and The Tempest (all for The Old Vic), Julius Caesar, King Lear, Volpone and The Seagull (all for the RSC), The Merchant of Venice, The Black Album, Translations, Money and An Enemy of the People (all for The National Theatre).

King Lear is sponsored by World of Books.

King Lear will run at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester from Thursday 31 October - Saturday 30 November 2013. For further details, visit cft.org.uk or call 01243 781312.

Following the Minerva Theatre run, the production will transfer to BAM (Brooklyn Academy Of Music), New York playing from 7 January - 9 February 2014.

Tickets for King Lear at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester: Previews (31 October - 5 November)/Press Night: £24.50, Evenings/Matinees: £32. Evenings 7.45pm except Press Night (Friday 8 November, 7.00pm). No evening performance Wednesday 13 November. Midweek matinees Wednesday 13 November 3.00pm, Thursday 28 November 1.00pm. Saturday matinees 2.45pm. For further details, visit cft.org.uk or call 01243 781312.