Danielle Tarento Presents The Pitchfork Disney

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, currently on television screens as Curtis Donovan in Channel 4's Misfits, will play Cosmo Disney in the 21st anniversary revival of Philip Ridley's electrifying debut play The Pitchfork Disney.

Chris New, currently to be seen in the multi award-winning hit film Weekend, will play Presley Stray. Mariah Gale, who recently played Juliet in Rupert Goold's Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia to David Tennant's Hamlet, will play Haley Stray, with the prolific Italian film and theatre actor Steve Guadino as Pitchfork Cavalier.

The production will be directed by Edward Dick, who directed the critically-acclaimed revival of Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe at Hampstead Theatre in 2009, and designed by Bob Bailey, with lighting design by Malcolm Rippeth and sound design by Richard Hammarton.

When it premiered at London's Bush Theatre in 1991, The Pitchfork Disney caused a sensation. Ridley was hailed as a new and hugely talented voice in British theatre and The Pitchfork Disney has come to be seen as the play that kick started the 'in-yer-face' writing revolution. Now regarded as a contemporary classic, it is performed and studied internationally, and has influenced countless writers.

The Pitchfork Disney will run from 25th January to 17th March at the Arcola Theatre, London (press night 1 February).

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett is currently starring as Curtis in the third series of Channel 4's hit TV drama Misfits. His theatre credits include Wig Out! (Royal Court), The History Boys (National Theatre / West End) and Big White Fog (Almeida). Other television credits include Money (BBC TV) and Apples and Oranges (Channel 4).

Chris New played the lead role of Glen in the award-winning and critically-acclaimed film Weekend in 2011, and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival Awards for his performance. His theatre credits include the title role in Edward II at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, and starred opposite Matt Lucas in the 2009 West End production of Prick Up Your Ears. Other theatre credits include Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors (both RSC) and The Reporter (NT). 

Mariah Gale, has played the roles of Juliet, opposite Sam Troughton, and Ophelia, opposite David Tennant, as well as roles in Morte d'Arthur, The Grain Store, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It and Love's Labours Lost, all for the RSC. Her other theatre credits include The Sea (West End) and Vernon God Little (Young Vic). For her performance in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Southwark Playhouse in 2005, also directed by Edward Dick, Mariah won the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Ian Charleson Award, Television credits include Hamlet (RSC / BBC), The Diary of Anne Frank and Skins.

Edward Dick trained as an assistant director with Cheek by Jowl. Theatre directing credits include Philip Ridley's The Fastest Clock in the Universe (Hampstead Theatre); Twelfth Night (Regents Park); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sydney Theatre Company); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Globe); Much Ado About Nothing (Singapore); Our Country's Good (Liverpool Playhouse); Fewer Emergencies (National Theatre, Prague); 'Tis Pity She's A Whore (Southwark Playhouse) and The Age of Consent (Bush Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe). Opera credits include the world premiere of Tarik O' Regan's Heart of Darkness (Royal Opera House); The Rape of Lucretia (Aldeburgh) and The Turn of the Screw (King's Head).

Bob Bailey's theatre credits as designer include The Empire (Royal Court/Plymouth Drum); Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Plymouth Drum); Chekhov In Hell (Plymouth Drum/Soho); The Lying Kind (Royal Court); Stitching, Trance, Pumpgirl (Bush); Angels In America (Sheffield Crucible); Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Real Thing, Anything Goes (UK tours); Never Forget (Savoy/tours); Translations, Moll Flanders (Bristol Old Vic). Opera and dance credits include Fedora, Macbeth, La Sonnambula, Manon Lescaut (Opera Holland Park); The); About Face (Linbury Theatre), All Nighter, Horse-Play (Royal Ballet), The Happiest Day Of My Life DV8 (Set Design only - UK/ European Tour).

Malcolm Rippeth's theatre credits as lighting designer include The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Six Characters in Search of an Author (West End); Brief Encounter (Kneehigh - West End & Broadway); The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Don John, Cymbeline, Nights at the Circus, The Bacchae (Kneehigh); The Acid Test, Kin, Spur of the Moment (Royal Court); Decade, Faustus (Headlong); Calendar Girls (West End, Australia & Canada) and A VERY OLD Man With Enormous Wings (Little Angel). Malcolm won a 2010 OBIE as a member of the design team for Brief Encounter in New York.

Richard Hammarton's theatre credits as sound designer and composer include Judgement Day (The Print Room); Edward II, Dr Faustus (Manchester Royal Exchange); Persuasion, People at Sea, The Real Thing, Arsenic And Old Lace, Les Liasions Dangereuses, The Constant Wife (Salisbury Playhouse); Speaking in Tongues (Duke of Yorks); Ghosts (Duchess); Pride And Prejudice (Bath Theatre Royal & national tour); The Mountaintop (Trafalgar Studios1 & Theatre 503); Raisin In The Sun, Six Characters Looking For An Author (Young Vic); Ship Of Fools, (Theatre 503)

For more information, visit www.pitchfork2012.co.uk

As well as the revival of The Pitchfork Disney, Philip Ridley's new play, Shivered, will receive its world premiere at the Southwark Playhouse, previewing from 7th March.

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