Casting Announced For ALL YOU NEED IS LSD At The Belgrade Theatre

Following the announcement that Leo Butler's new play All You Need Is LSD will run at the Belgrade Theatre 15-17 November, full casting for the world premiere tour has now been revealed.

Presented by Told by an Idiot in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, this exhilarating comedy playfully dissects the UK's ongoing drugs debate, exploring questions around personal freedom, and weighing up claims about both the risks and benefits of "recreational" drugs.

Written by acclaimed playwright Leo Butler, the play draws on Butler's own first-hand experiences, after he accepted an invitation from former government drugs tsar Professor David Nutt to be a guinea pig in the world's first LSD drug trials since the 1960s.

Casting for the show includes Told by an Idiot Associate Artist Annie Fitzmaurice, whose previous work with the company includes And the Horse You Rode in on (Barbican, national tour) and Shoot Me in the Heart (Gate Theatre, international tour). She is also the founder and artistic director of Coal, an award-winning touring company based in Manchester, for whom she has created and performed in works including Johnny Come Lately, The Fragility of X and Not with that Hand.

Joining her is George Potts, whose theatre credits include Shirleymander (Playground Theatre), Seeing the Lights (New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme) and Cyrano de Bergerac (Northern Stage, Royal & Derngate). TV credits include Peep Show, Man Down and Parade's End, and film credits include The Death of Stalin, Nativity! The Second Coming and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Completing the cast are recent graduates Jack Hunter and Sophie Mercell, who trained at Queen Margaret University and Guildford School of Acting respectively, and who both appeared in Told by an Idiot's Let Me Play the Lion Too at the Barbican. A budding stand-up comic, Jack Hunter has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and is co-founder of the satirical comedy company That's Bull. Sophie Mercell's theatre credits include Bread and Roses (Oldham Coliseum), Fémage à Trois (Loquitur Theatre and Theatre 503) and The Roaring Girl (Sam Wanamaker Festival at the Globe).

The production is directed by Told by an Idiot's co-founder and Artistic Director Paul Hunter, together with "Associate Idiot" Stephen Harper, who has devised and performed in six productions with the company.

Leo Butler said: "This play takes inspiration from a lifetime of my experiences - from a misspent youth through to the responsibilities of fatherhood, and from being a guinea pig in medical trials to actually creating the play itself... I can't wait to see it unfold on stage - the next step in an already extraordinary journey."

All You Need Is LSD shows at the Belgrade Theatre 15-17 November. Tickets are available to book now by calling the box office on 024 7655 3055, or visiting www.belgrade.co.uk where prices are even cheaper

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