Full Cast Revealed For The World Premiere of Jack Thorne's WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS at Donmar Warehouse

With Noël Coward's Private Lives currently running until 27 May, Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch have announced full casting for the world première of Jack Thorne's play When Winston Went to War with the Wireless. Katy Rudd directs Kitty Archer, Ravin J Ganatra, Haydn Gwynne, Mariam Haque, Kevin McMonagle, Luke Newberry, Seb Philpott, Elliott Rennie, Laura Rogers, Shubham Saraf, alongside the previously announced Stephen Campbell Moore as John Reith and Adrian Scarborough as Winston Churchill.

The production opens on 13 June, with previews from 2 June, and runs until 29 July. The Donmar continues its 30th anniversary celebrations providing £10 tickets for audiences aged under 30 to mark the milestone, with generous support from Associate Sponsor Barclays.

The production is designed by Laura Hopkins, with sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, lighting design by Howard Hudson, movement direction by Scott Graham, music by Gary Yershon, video design and animation by Andrzej Goulding and casting by Anna Cooper CDG.

Director - Katy Rudd; Designer - Laura Hopkins, Sound Designers - Ben and Max Ringham, Lighting Designer - Howard Hudson, Movement Director - Scott Graham, Composer - Gary Yershon, Casting Director - Anna Cooper CDG, Video Designer and Animator - Andrzej Goulding, Foley Consultant - Tom Espiner, Voice Coach - Charlie Hughes-D'Aeth, Dialect Coach - Penny Dyer, Associate Sound Designer - Ellie Isherwood; Resident Assistant Director - Adam Karim; Assistant Set & Costume Designer - Jingyi; Assistant Sound Designer: Raffaela Pancucci.

In May 1926 Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for The General Strike.

With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the government's The British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. What follows is a fierce battle for control of the news and who gets to define the truth.

At a time when the BBC is faced once again with the challenges of impartiality, When Winston went to War with the Wireless is a gripping new play about the birth of a great British institution by multi award-winning stage and screen writer Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play, His Dark Materials for BBC One), directed by Katy Rudd (Ocean at the End of the Lane, Eureka Day).

This production is generously supported by Charles Holloway, Season Supporter.

Additionally, we would like to thank our Production Supporters: Charles J Burdick, Mr Rajeev Philip and an anonymous supporter.

Jack Thorne's credits as a playwright include The Motive and the Cue, After Life (National Theatre), A Christmas Carol, Woyzeck (Old Vic Theatre), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (The Palace Theatre/Lyric Theatre Broadway), Sunday (Atlantic Theatre), The End of History, Hope (Royal Court), King Kong (Broadway Theatre), Mydidae (Soho Theatre), Stacy (Tron, Arcola Theatre, New Diorama Theatre), Let the Right One In (Apollo Theatre, Dundee Rep, Royal Court), Junkyard (UK tour), The Solid Life of Sugar Water (UK tour, National Theatre, Orange Tree Theatre), Bunny (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK tour, E9E59 Theatres) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Sheffield Theatre/UK tour). His television credits include Help, Then Barbara Met Alan, Crip Tales, The Eddy, The Accident, His Dark Materials, Electric Dreams, Kiri, National Treasure, The Last Panthers, Don't Take My Baby, This is England, The Fades, Glue, Cast-Offs and for film; The Swimmers, Enola Holmes, The Secret Garden, The Aeronauts, Dirt Music, Radioactive, Wonder, War Book, The Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys. His work for television has won him 5 BAFTAs and an RTS Television Award. In 2022, he was the recipient of both the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing, and the Royal Television Society's award for Outstanding Contribution to British Television. Jack is a patron of Graeae Theatre Company, and associate artist of the Old Vic Theatre, and launched the pressure group Underlying Health Condition to champion disabled representation in the TV industry.

Kitty Archer plays Isabel Shields. Her theatre credits include Present Laughter (Old Vic), One For Sorrow (Royal Court Theatre), Tartuffe (National Theatre) and Othello (English Touring Theatre). For television, her credits include The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Pursuit of Love and Call the Midwife. Kitty trained at RADA.

Stephen Campbell Moore plays John Reith. He previously appeared in Berenice at The Donmar Warehouse. His other theatre credits include Consent (Harold Pinter Theatre); Photograph 51 (Michael Grandage Company/Noël Coward Theatre); Chimerica; Richard II; Coriolanus (Almeida); Clybourne Park (Royal Court/Wyndham's); All My Sons (Apollo Theatre); The History Boys (National Theatre/Broadway); Much Ado About Nothing; Antony and Cleopatra (RSC); Death of a Salesman (Compass Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Albery); The Changeling (Salisbury Playhouse). TV includes: Criminal Record; The Confessions of Frannie Langton; Masters of the Air; The One; Responsible Child; The One; War of the Worlds; Traitors; Action Team; The Child in Time; The Last Post; Stag; The Wrong Mans; The Go Between; Our Zoo; Hunted; Just Henry; Titanic; Sleepyhead; Pulse; Ben Hur; Larkrise to Candleford; Ashes to Ashes; Rough Crossings; Hustle; Wallis and Edward; He Knew He Was Right; Byron. Films include: Our Man from Jersey; Downton Abbey; Red Joan; Goodbye Christopher Robin; How to Talk to Girls at Parties; The Lady in the Van; The Ones Below; Burnt; Moonwalkers; Man Up; Complicit; Johnny English Reborn; Season of the Witch; A Short Stay in Switzerland; Sea Wolf; The Children; The Bank Job; Amazing Grace; The History Boys; A Good Woman; Bright Young Things.

Ravin J Ganatra plays Archbishop of Canterbury / JCC Davidson. His theatre credits include The Father and the Assassin, Aurengzebe (National Theatre), Laila, The Deranged Marriage (Rifco Arts/Watford Palace), Bombay Dreams (Apollo Victoria Theatre), Behud (Soho Theatre), The Jigsaw Puzzle (Kali Theatre), Journey to the West (Parts 1-3) (Tara Theatre), and The Life of Galileo (Manchester Library Theatre). For television, his credits include This England, The Canterville Ghost, War of the Worlds, The Boy with the Topknot, In the Club, Torchwood, The Fugitivies, Dalziel and Pascoe; and for film, Unicorns, Goldfish, On the Line, A Girl Can Touch the Sky, Greed, The Infidel, Tom and Thomas, Entrapment and No Child of Mine.

Haydn Gwynne returns to the Donmar to play Stanley Baldwin. She previously appeared in The Way of the World and Company. Her other theatre credits include Anything Goes (Barbican Theatre), Copenhagen (Bath Theatre Royal), The Welkin, The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), Hedda Tesman (Chichester Festival Theatre), A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre Boston), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), The Audience (Gielgud Theatre), Duet for One (UK Tour), Richard III (The Old Vic, BAM New York), Becky Shaw (Almeida Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Coriolanus, Peer Gynt, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC), Billy Elliot the Musical (Victoria Palace Theatre, West End - Olivier Award nomination), The Memory of Water (Hampstead Theatre), (RSC Stratford), City of Angels (Princes Wales Theatre - Olivier Award Nomination), The Recruiting Officer, The Cabinet Minister (Manchester Royal Exchange), Macbeth (Ludlow Festival), The Way of the World (Theatre Royal Bath), Hedda Gabler (Bolton Octagon Theatre), Zeigfield (London Palladium) and His Monkey Wife (Stephen Joseph Theatre). Her television credits include The Crown, The Midnight Gang, The Windsors, Father Brown, Ripper Street, The C Word, Law and Order, Death in Paradise, Uncle, Silent Witness, Sherlock, New Tricks, Poirot, The Third Girl, Lewis, Consenting Adults, Absolute Power, Dalziel and Pascoe, Rome, Midsomer Murders, The Secret, Mersey Beat, Peak Practice, Verdict, Hospital, Rory Bremner, A Brand from the Burning, The Merchant of Venice and Drop the Dead Donkey; and for film, Beauty and the Beast, Hunky Dory, These Foolish Things, Remember Me and The Pleasure Principle.

Mariam Haque plays Muriel Reith. Her theatre credits include Folk (Hampstead Theatre), Living Newspaper Edition 2, Primetime (Royal Court Theatre), All of Us, Dara, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre), When the Crows Visit (Kiln Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (RSC), Home Truths (Cardboard Citizens, Bunker Theatre), Diana of Dobsons (New Vic), Almost Near, Hurried Steps (Finborough Theatre), Twelve (Kali Theatre, The Knight and the Crescent Hare (Ankur Productions), Roundabout/Bush Bazaar (Bush Theatre, Theatre Delicatessen), Leon and the Place Between (Building Site Theatre Company, The Unicorn), Crossed Keys (Eastern Angles), Invasion! (Tooting Arts Club), The House of Bilquis Bibi (Hampstead Theatre, Tamasha), Monster Under the Bed (Polka Theatre), Hearts and Minds (Khayaal Theatre) and Au Revoir Les Enfants (Tour de Force, European Theatre). For television her credits include Henpocolaypse, Live at the Moth Club, Plebs: The Finale, Ladhood, Worzel Gummidge, This is Going to Hurt, Pls Like, Finding Alice, Trying, Homeland, Flowers, Black Mirror: Shut Up and Dance, Nemesis and Hunted; and for film, What's Love Got to do with it?, Benjamin, Undercliff, Smear, The Long Weekend, Reparations for the Soul and Lost Paradise.

Kevin McMonagle plays Ernest Bevin. He previously appeared in The Family Reunion at the Donmar. His other theatre credits include Best of Enemies (Noel Coward, Young Vic, Headlong); I Joan, Henry VIII (Shakespeare's Globe); Afterlife (National, Headlong); Witness for the Prosecution (County Hall); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bridge Theatre); Mother Courage and Her Children (Royal Exchange, Headlong); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Park Theatre); Junkyard (Headlong, Bristol); People, Places and Things (Wyndham's, St Ann's NY, National Theatre, Headlong); The Divided Laing (Arcola); No Nothing (Lemon Tree); The Tempest (Coronet); A Doll House (National Theatre of Scotland); Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Richard III (RSC); Kin, Ladybird, Thyestes, Ambulance (Royal Court); Pieces of Vincent (Arcola); Ghosts, Educating Agnes, Therese Raquin, Waiting for Godot (Glasgow Citizens); Fall, Further than the Furthest Thing (Traverse, National); The Unconquered, Anna Karenina, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Girls of Slender Means (Stellar Quines); The Escapologist (Suspect Culture); Russian National Mail (Sputnik); Hamlet, Broken Glass (Leeds Playhouse). Television includes: New Tricks; Rebus; Krakatoa - The Last Days; Monarch of the Glen; Quite Ugly One Morning; Rose and Maloney; Blue Murder; Bramwell. Film includes: Highs; Dracula; Cla'am and Greenfingers.

Luke Newberry returns to the Donmar to play Charlie Bowser. He previously appeared in Teddy Ferrara. His other theatre credits include Living Newspaper Edition 7: The Last Word (Royal Court Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth (RSC/Barbican), iHo (Hampstead Theatre), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Antigone (National Theatre), The Aliens (Trafalgar Studios) and The Secret Garden (RSC). His television credits include Gentlemen Jack, The Singapore Grip, To Walk Invisible, Death in Paradise: Man Overboard, From Darkness, Banana, Lightfields, Mrs Biggs and Sherlock; and for film, Dusty and Me, The Legend of Hercules, Frankenstein's Army, Quartet, Anna Karenina, 8 Minutes Idle, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Heart of Me.

Seb Philpott plays Speaker of the House/Musician. His theatre credits include Aladdin (Prince Edward Theatre), Everybody's Talking About Jamie (Apollo Theatre), Evita, On The Town (Regent's Park Theatre), Les Misérables (Sondheim Theatre), Matilda (Cambridge Theatre), Motown (Shaftesbury Theatre), Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre), Follies, Saint George and the Dragon (National Theatre), Funny Girl (Savoy Theatre), Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre), Crazy For You (Chichester Festival Theatre), My Neighbour Totoro (Barbican) and Elf (Dominion Theatre).

Elliott Rennie plays Arthur Pugh/Musician. His theatre credits include Hopeless Romantics (Courtyard Theatre), Icarus (VAULT and Nottingham Playhouse), The Man in the White Suit (Theatre Royal Bath and Wyndham's Theatre), The Jungle Book (Derby Theatre), Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, Pinocchio (Stephen Joseph Theatre), No Place for a Woman (Theatre503), The Trench (UK tour), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), 101 Dalmatians (New Vic Theatre), Jekyll and Hyde (Southwark Playhouse), Matchgirls (Wilton's Music Hall), Faust (Greenwich Theatre), Sweet Charity (MAC, Belfast) and The BFG (Derby Theatre).

Laura Rogers plays Clemmie Churchill/Amelia Johnson. Her theatre credits include Pressure (Royal Alexandra Theatre, Canada/Park Theatre/Ambassadors Theatre), Murder on the Orient Express (Chichester Festival Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal) The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre, Duke of York's Theatre), The Memory of Water, Revelations (Hampstead Theatre), Platonov (The Faraway Plays), Our Town (Regent's Park Theatre), Suzy Storck (National Theatre of Brittany, Paris), Rules for Living (UK tour), A Lie of the Mind (Southwark Playhouse), Winter Solstice (Orange Tree Theatre), A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (The Print Room), Private Lives (UK tour), Tipping the Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith/Lyceum), An Ideal Husband, Blue Remembered Hills, Hay Fever (Chichester Festival Theatre), Masterpieces (Royal Court Theatre), Wolf Hall/ Bring up the Bodies (RSC), Three Sisters (The Wapping Project), 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare's Globe, Santa Barbara/Santa Monica), 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre), The Dark Philosophers (National Theatre of Wales), Macbeth, A New World, A Life of Thomas Paine, As You Like it, Timon of Athens, The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III (Shakespeare's Globe), Gloucestershire (Arcola Theatre), See How They Run (Manchester Royal Exchange), Bad Girls the Musical (Garrick Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Three Musketeers, The Barber of Seville (Bristol Old Vic), Celestina (Birmingham Rep, Edinburgh Festival and The Hague), Jamaica Inn (Salisbury Playhouse), Hay Fever (Oxford Stage Company) and Blackwater Angel (Abbey Theatre). Her television credits include Grantchester, New Tricks, The Smoke, Law and Order, Dates, Dark Matters, Twelfth Night, Midsomer Murders, Albert's Memorial, Missing, Elvia Mania, Bad Girls, Rockface, Relic Hunter, The Sins, Tales of Pleasure Beach and Running Scared; and for film, Love Me Do.

Shubham Saraf plays Peter Eckersley. His theatre includes The Father and the Assassin (National Theatre), Three Sisters (Almeida Theatre), An Adventure (Bush Theatre), Hamlet/As You Like It, Lions and Tigers (Shakespeare's Globe), and (I Feel Fine) (Fat Git Theatre). For television his credits include Shantaram, Criminal, A Suitable Boy, Bodyguard, Boomers and Fresh Meat; and for film, I'll Play Mother, Romeo and Juliet, 6 Underground, Overlord, The Cut, Honour and Suspension of Disbelief.

Adrian Scarborough plays Winston Churchill. He previously appeared in Accidental Death of an Anarchist and To The Green Fields Beyond at The Donmar Warehouse. Other theatre credits include Leopoldstadt, Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham's Theatre), The Madness of George III, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse), Exit the King, King Lear, After the Dance, The Habit of Art, Time and the Conways, Once In A Lifetime, Henry IV Part 1 and 2, The Mandate, The False Servant, The Day I Stood Still, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, The Miser, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The Wind in the Willows, The Recruiting Officer, A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Theatre), Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre), Humble Boy (Gielgud Theatre), Platonov, The Tempest (Almeida Theatre), What the Butler Saw (Sheffield Theatres), Comedians, Hamlet (Belgrade Theatre), The Comedy of Errors, Little Murders (Royal Exchange Theatre), and Dona Rosita, The Master Builder, Master Harold and The Boys and Oliver Twist (Bristol Old Vic). His television credits include The Chelsea Detective, Bloods, Sanditon, The Bremmer Files, The Windsors, The Accident, Killing Eve, A Very English Scandal, Urban Myths: The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie, Little Women, Maigret, Professor Branestawn, Crashing, Midsomer Murders, Blunt Talk, Up the Women, Father Brown, Plebs, Edge of Heaven, Death in Paradise, The Paradise, Our Story, Restless, Doctor Who, Mrs Biggs, Watson and Oliver, Miranda, Upstairs/Downstairs, Gavin & Stacey, Cranford, Psychoville, Minder, Kingdown, Ten Days to War, Poppy Shakespeare, The Cranford Chronicles, The Commander: The Fraudster, Maxwell, New Tricks, The History of Mr Polly, The Trial of Tony Blair, Saxondale, Promoted to Glory, T.L.C, Let Them Eat Cake, The Passion, The Governor and Fist of the Dragonfly; and for film, 1917, Artemis Fowl, Lyrebird, Christopher Robin, Patrick, On Chesil Beach, A Little Chaos, Delicious, Les Miserables, The King's Speech, Golden Age, The Tenth Man, Notes on a Scandal, The History Boys, Vera Drake, Bright Young Things, To Kill a King, Dirty Pretty Things, Gosford Park, Love is the Devil, In the Bleak Midwinter and The Madness of King George.

Katy Rudd's credits as a director include Eureka Day, Camp Siegfried (The Old Vic), The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre/Duke of York's Theatre), The Almighty Sometimes - Winner of The Stage Debut Award for Best Director (Royal Exchange Theatre), and her credits as an Associate Director include Lungs, The Master Builder (The Old Vic), Groundhog Day (The Old Vic/August Wilson Theater), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (National Theatre/Piccadilly Theatre/UK tour), Husbands and Sons, Pinocchio (National Theatre), Linda (Royal Court), and as an Assistant Director; Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), The Playboy of the Western World (Old Vic Theatre) and Into the Woods (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre).

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