Full Cast Set For PLAYHOUSE CREATURES at the Orange Tree Theatre

With the world première of Howard Brenton's Churchill in Moscow currently in rehearsals, Orange Tree Theatre has announced the full cast for the upcoming revival of April De Angelis' Playhouse Creatures directed by Michael Oakley. Joining the previously announced Anna Chancellor (Mrs Betterton) are Zoe Brough (Nell Gwyn), Doña Croll (Doll Common), Katherine Kingsley (Mrs Marshall) and Nicole Sawyerr (Mrs Farley).

Playhouse Creatures opens on 21 March, with previews from 15 March and runs until 12 April before touring to Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford from 22 – 26 April and Theatre Royal Bath from 28 April – 3 May.

I'm an actress. They've never had one of those before. I'm a novelty. It's the swinging (16)60s, and ‘the merry monarch' Charles II is on the throne. After violent civil war, England's theatres have finally reopened and, for the first time, women are allowed to perform in public.

In the West End, grande dame Mrs Betterton (Chancellor) rules the roost. But there's a new face in town: an orange-seller with dreams of stardom.

From dressing-room camaraderie to bitter rivalry, April De Angelis' gloriously exuberant, bawdily funny and deeply poignant play celebrates five women grabbing this newfound freedom and making their way in an unfamiliar world. But at what price?

April De Angelis' extensive theatre work includes The Divine Mrs S (Hampstead Theatre), Infamous (Jermyn Street Theatre), Kerry Jackson (National Theatre), Saving Grace (Riverside Studios), Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate Theatre), My Brilliant Friend, a dramatisation of Elena Ferrantes' epic family saga (Rose Theatre Kingston, National Theatre), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Frankenstein (Royal Exchange), 2018 Gastronauts, Wild East (Royal Court Theatre), Jumpy (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York's Theatre), an adaptation of Wuthering Heights (Birmingham Rep), A Laughing Matter (Out of Joint at National Theatre); A Warwickshire Testimony (RSC), The Positive Hour (Out of Joint at Hampstead Theatre), Playhouse Creatures (Old Vic Theatre), The Life And Times Of Fanny Hill (The Old Fire Station) and Flight (Glyndebourne Opera).

Zoe Brough plays Nell Gwyn. Her theatre credits include The Still Room (Park Theatre), Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith) and The Nether (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York's Theatre). Her television credits include Outrageous and Father Brown; and for film, Porcelain.

Anna Chancellor plays Mrs Betterton. Her theatre credits include The Seagull, The Observer, Never So Good, Stanley (National Theatre), The Wolf from the Door (Royal Court Theatre), Browning Version/ South Downs (Chichester Festival Theatre, Harold Pinter Theatre), Private Lives (Chichester Festival Theatre, Gielgud Theatre), The Last Duchess (Hampstead Theatre) Creditors (Donmar Warehouse, American Theatre of Actors), Boston Marriage, The Real Inspector Hound, Black Comedy (Donmar Warehouse), Mammals (UK tour), King Lear (RSC), Witness for the Prosecution, Lady Windermere's Fan, Dear Brutus (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and Faithless (National Studio). Her television credits include My Lady Jane, Rain Dogs, Fifteen-Love, The Dirty Black Dog, Hotel Portifino, Compulsion, The Watch, The Split, Pennyworth, Time Wasters, Ordeal by Innocence, Trust, The Crown, Flowers, Shetland, New Blood, The Last Dragon Slayer, Grantchester, Inside No. 9, Fleming, Penny Dreadful, Downton Abbey, Mapp & Lucia, A Touch of Cloth, Pramface, Hustle, Waking the Dead, Lewis, Miranda, The Hour, We'll Take Manhattan, Hidden, My Family, Marple: Murder Made Easy, Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, Suburban Shootout, The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton, Rebus, Spools, A Waste of Shame: Shakespeare and His Sonnets, Blue Dove, Roman Road, Forty Something, Doc Martin, Tipping the Velvet, Cazalet Chronicles, The Vise, Karaoke / Cold Lazarus, Pride and Prejudice, Poirot, Inspector Morse: Cherubin and Seraphim, Jupiter Moon and Longitude; and for film, Stromboli, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Come Away, Nativity Rocks!, Benjamin, The Happy Prince, For Love or Money, Love of My Life, The Carer, This Beautiful Fantastic, Testament of Youth, How I Live Now, Hysteria, St. Trinians, Breaking and Entering, The Best Man, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Agent Cody Banks, What a Girl Wants, The Dreamers, Crush, Heart, Fairy Tale (One Golden Afternoon), The Man Who Knew Too Little, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Staggered, Princess Caraboo and Killing Dad.

Doña Croll plays Doll Common.  Her theatre credits include The Score, The American Plan (Theatre Royal Bath), The Doctor (Duke of York's Theatre, Park Avenue Armory), Richard II (RSC), Home (Chichester Festival Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, UK tour), Mouthful, All My Sons (UK tour), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Theatres) and All My Sons (Royal Exchange Theatre). Her television credits include Death in Paradise, The Long Song, West of Liberty, Eve, Moving on and Eden; and for film, Mr Malcom's List and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.

Katherine Kingsley plays Mrs Marshall. Her theatre credits include The Witches, Top Girls (National Theatre), Noises Off, Relative Values (Theatre Royal Bath), Party Time/Celebration – also Harold Pinter Theatre, Present Laughter, The Rehearsal, Hobson's Choice (Chichester Festival Theatre), Dusty, She Loves Me, Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory), Welcome Home, Captain Fox!, The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee, Company – also Sondheim Theatre, Piaf – also Vaudeville Theatre (Donmar Warehouse), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Noël Coward Theatre), Singin' in the Rain (Chichester Festival Theatre, Palace Theatre), Dusk Rings A Bell (HighTide Fesitval), Black and White Ball (Kings Head Theatre), The Trojan Theatre (Tristan Bates Theatre), High Society (Shaftesbury Theatre, UK tour), The Canterbury Tales, The Memory of Water (Bristol Old Vic) and Suddenly at Home (Theatre Royal Windsor). Her television credits include Unforgotten, The Larkins, Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar, No Offence, Eric, Ernie and Me, The Alienist, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation, Decline and Fall, The Secret, Bad Education, Uncle, Operation Good Guys and the upcoming Amandaland; and for film, Matilda, Genius, 100 Second Marriage, Days of the Siren, Now We Are Three and Weekend.

Nicole Sawyerr playing Mrs Farley. Her stage credits include My Mother's Funeral: The Show, Wuthering Heights (UK tours), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), Don Quixote – Man Of Clackmannanshire (Dundee Rep, Perth Theatre), Road (Northern Stage), Beneath the City (Birmingham Rep), The Fairytale Revolution, The Words are Coming Now, Boom (Theatre503), Where De Mangoes Grow (Pleasance Theatre), Beam Me Upperthorpe (Paperfinch theatre), Do You Pray? (Southwark Playhouse), Hansel and Gretel: The Fairytale Detectives (Theatre Clwyd), Croydon Avengers (Ovalhouse Theatre, Brixton House), Aladdin (Perth Theatre) and Miss-able (Dare to Dream) (Arcola Theatre).

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