Full Cast Announced For Merlynn Tong's Adaptation of ANTIGONE

Steve Mannix, Executive Director and Tracey Childs, Executive Producer of the Mercury Theatre, which reopened this summer, following an £11.3 million refurbishment, today announce full cast for the upcoming UK première of Antigone by Merlynn Tong (after Sophocles). Dawn Walton OBE directs Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (Ismene), Liz Crowther (Tiresias), Wendy Kweh (Creon), Joseph Payne (Haemon) and Adeola Yemitan in her professional stage debut as Antigone. The production opens on 6 October, with previews from 1 October, and runs until 16 October.

In a war-torn city, two brothers lie dead: one hailed and buried a hero, the other denounced as a traitor, his body to be displayed as a warning to anyone daring to defy the new leader, Creon, who is ruthless in her grip on power.

A grieving, defiant Antigone strikes out against Creon's brutal regime in a furious act of civil disobedience which will have devastating consequences for them both. The conflict between these fierce, bold women forces them, and those around them, to question their ideas of family and morality, as well as the nature of justice and leadership.

Merlynn Tong credits as a playwright include Good Grief, Ma Ma Ma Mad and Blue Bones - winner of the Matilda Award for Best New Australian Work. As an actor her credits include, White Pearl (Sydney Theatre Company/National Theatre of Parramatta), The Shot (Queensland Theatre), The Lost Lending Library (Punchdrunk/Imaginary Theatre), Viral (Gold Coast Arts Centre) and Straight White Men (La Boite Theatre).

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers plays Ismene. Her theatre credits include Hear Me Now (Theatre503) and Random (Tristan Bates Theatre).

Liz Crowther plays Tiresias. Her theatre credits include A Passage to India (Park Theatre), Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre/Regent's Park Open Air Theatre/UK tour) Oliver Twist, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Kite (Soho Theatre The Witch of Edmonton, The White Devil, The Roaring Girl (RSC), The Middlemarch Trilogy, The Memorandum, Bodies, What the Heart Feels, Four Attempted Acts, King Lear (Orange Tree Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (The Rose Playhouse/Shakespeare's Globe), The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Onassis (Novello Theatre), Abigail's Party (Hampstead Theatre/UK tour), The Real Thing (UK tour), Animal Farm (National Theatre/international tour) and Ducktastic (Noël Coward Theatre). Her television credits include as series regular Alison Hemmings in London's Burning and Annie Hart in Family Affairs as well as appearing in Growing, French Fields, Watching, No Place Like Home, Slinger's Day, Tripper's Day, Mansfield Park, Shoestring, A Different Drummer, One Fine Day, The Queen Street Gang and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; and for film, Jimmy Wilde.

Wendy Kweh plays Creon. Her theatre credits include Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Welkin, Top Girls (National Theatre), Dark Night of the Soul - The Little Sob (Shakespeare's Globe), A Kettle of Fish (The Yard Theatre), Big Aftermath of a Small Disclosure (UK tour), Describe the Night (Hampstead Theatre), Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), The Trap (Omnibus Theatre), Snow in Midsummer (RSC), Boy (Almeida Theatre), You for Me For You (Royal Court Theatre), Image of an Unknown Young Woman (Gate Theatre), Chimerica (Harold Pinter Theatre), Moon Walking in Chinatown (Soho Theatre) and The Oresteia (National Theatre). Her television credits include as series regular DC Suzie Sim in The Bill, The Bay and The Crooked Man; and for film, Hot, Hot, Hot and The Blue Mansion.

Joseph Payne plays Haemon. His theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (London Touring Shakespeare); and for television, The Third Day: Autumn, and the upcoming BBC series Showtrial.

Adeola Yemitan will also be joining the cast, making her professional stage debut in the titular role of Antigone.

Dawn Walton OBE directs. She is Founder, and former Artistic Director and Chief Executive, of Eclipse Theatre, the UK's principal Black-led national production company. Her theatre credits include Salt (Royal Court Theatre/Schaubühne, Berlin/Public Theater, New York), The Gift (Theatre Royal Stratford East/Belgrade Theatre/UK tour), Red Dust Road (National Theatre Scotland/Home), Black Men Walking (Royal Court Theatre/Royal Exchange Theatre/UK tour), The Princess and the Hustler (Bristol Old Vic/UK tour), A Raisin in the Sun (Sheffield Theatres/UK tour), One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Tricycle Theatre/UK tour), Michael X (Tabernacle), There's Only One Wayne Matthews (Sheffield Theatres), The Hounding of David Oluwale (West Yorkshire Playhouse - TMA Award nomination for Best Director), Oxford Street (Royal Court Theatre - Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre), 92.3FM (Royal Court Theatre and UK tour) and Winners (Young Vic). She developed, produced and directed 10by10 a series of 10 short film dramas for the digital arts platform The Space (ACE/BBC).

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