Casting Announced for THE COUNTRY WIFE at Southwark Playhouse

Co-Artistic Directors of Morphic Graffiti, Luke Fredericks and Stewart Charlesworth, today announce casting of the 'Bright Young Things' for their new adaptation of William Wycherley's restoration comedy The Country Wife. Luke Fredericks directs EastEnders' Eddie Eyre as Harry Horner, Call the Midwife's Leo Staar (Harcourt), West End stars Siubhan Harrison (Alithea) and Nancy Sullivan (Margery Pinchwife) with Daniel Cane (Sparkish), Mabel Clements (Lucy/ Dainty Fidget) and Joshua Hill (Dorilant) completing the company. Thrust into the excesses and seductions of late 1920s London: a city exploding with a heavy mix of jazz, gin and scandalous affairs the production, opens at Southwark Playhouse on 4 April, with previews from 28 March, and runs until 21 April. Full casting still to be announced.

"Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power". Oscar Wilde

Renowned playboy, Harry Horner, has made it known in the society pages that he is now impotent. For the jealous husbands, this cunning lothario is neither a threat to their wives nor their reputations.

Meanwhile, business brings the newly married Jack Pinchwife to the city with his much younger wife Margery in tow. Dazzled by everything laid out in front of her, Margery is determined to savour it all, regardless of the consequences.

This is the Twenties, the ladies are now very much on top and they alone will decide what, and indeed who, comes their way.

With the decadence of the London social scene and the creative and sexual revolution of the 'Bright Young Things' movement, it won't just be the hemlines that are rising at Southwark this spring.

Eddie Eyre plays Harry Horner. For theatre his credits include The Mousetrap (St Martin's Theatre), Women of Troy (The Scoop), Mansfield Park (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds) and The Seagull (UK tour); and for television, Game of Thrones and he can currently be seen playing series regular Josh Hemmings in EastEnders.

Leo Staar plays Harcourt. His theatre credits include Hello/Goodbye (Hampstead Theatre), Celebrity Night at Cafe Red (Trafalgar Studios), Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham's Theatre), Hamlet, After the Dance (National Theatre) and Pride and Prejudice (Theatre Royal Bath). For television his credits include Jack Ryan, Maigret, Death in Paradise, Call the Midwife, Dancing on The Edge and Dark Matter.

Siubhan Harrison plays Alithea. Her credits for theatre include Working (Southwark Playhouse), I Call My Brothers (Arcola Theatre), Pitcairn (Shakespeare's Globe and Chichester Festival Theatre), The Soft Of Her Palm and In Quest of Conscience (Finborough Theatre), Earthquakes in London (National Theatre), Grease (Piccadilly Theatre), Marianne Dreams (Almeida Theatre), Bad Girls The Musical (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Carmen (New Vic Theatre and UK tour); and for film, Little Deaths.

Nancy Sullivan plays Margery Pinchwife. Her theatre credits include The Beggar's Opera (Storyhouse), Gutted (Marlowe Theatre), FABRIC (Underbelly Edinburgh - Winner of Fringe First and The Stage Edinburgh Award 2016), The Rise & Fall Of Little Voice (Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse) The Fastest Clock in The Universe (Old Red Lion), The Good Person Of Sichuan (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Beautiful Thing (Arts Theatre), Les Miserables (Queen's Theatre), Judy The Righteous (Trafalgar Studios), Never Forget (UK tour), The Wizard of Oz (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and The Likes Of Us (Sydmonton Festival). For television her credits include Harry Price Ghost Hunter; and for film Les Miserables.

Daniel Cane plays Sparkish. His theatre credits include Spamalot (Mercury Theatre, Colchester and UK tour), A Christmas Carol (Winter Gardens), Will Harvey's War, The Irving Berlin Songbook and The Mill on the Floss (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham), Free as Air and Merrie England (Finborough Theatre) and Gay's The Word (Finborough Theatre and Jermyn Street Theatre); and for film, Westminster, Cold Turkey and Human Nature.

Mabel Clements plays Lucy/ Dainty Fidget. Her theatre credits include A Christmas Carol (Antic Disposition at Middle Temple Hall), A Doll's House (Young Vic and BAM, New York), Crime and Punishment (Glasgow Citizens, Liverpool Playhouse and Edinburgh Lyceum) Angus, Thongs and Even More Snogging (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and The Black Balloon (Bush Theatre); and for film, The Window and The Tap Tap Lady.

Joshua Hill plays Dorilant. His credits for theatre include Pink Confetti (The Courtyard Theatre) and We Are Proud (Bush Theatre). For television his credits include Tennison, Death in Paradise and Vera; and for film, Legend and Pride.

Luke Fredericks and Stewart Charlesworth worked separately as performers and met while wearing stilettos and doing the Time Warp in the European Tour of The Rocky Horror Show. The pair have had extensive careers working in the West End, nationally and internationally. With Fredericks working as a theatre director and Charlesworth as a theatre designer, the two combined their passions to create Morphic Graffiti, with the aim of creating work that is recognised for its creativity, artistic integrity and quality. Their inaugural production Jekyll and Hyde (Union Theatre) received rave reviews and was listed in The Stage newspaper's Top 100 Highlights of the year. The production attracted the attention of its Oscar winning co-author Leslie Bricusse, who approached the company to work on his pre-existing piece based on Sherlock Holmes - The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes! (Hoxton Hall). The company then presented the critically acclaimed, sell out revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel (Arcola Theatre). The production garnered 5-star reviews and 4 Off West End Award nominations. Most recently Morphic Graffiti were the creative team behind the revival of cult classic Bat Boy: The Musical (Southwark Playhouse). The company were proud to be awarded the highly regarded Stage One Bursary for new producers for both Jekyll and Hyde and The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes!

The company also run Morphic Education, their learning and participation wing, that runs workshops and masterclasses that compliment all of Morphic Graffiti's productions.

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