Full Cast Set for THE COCKTAIL PARTY in The Coronet's Main Auditorium

Full casting is announced for the first major London revival of The Cocktail Party in over 25 years, which will be staged in the main auditorium at the iconic Coronet, and marks a transitional moment in the building's redevelopment as the larger space becomes home to the Print Room's eclectic programme. Directed by rising star Abbey Wright, this new Print Room production of TS Eliot's masterpiece plays from 14 September to 10 October, with a cast that includes Helen Bradbury, Richard Dempsey, Hilton McRae, Chloe Pirrie, Christopher Ravenscroft, John Wark and Marcia Warren.

As a wider celebration of TS Eliot's work during the run, there will be a weekly series of pre-show Platform Events with well-known contemporary poets David Harsent, Glyn Maxwell and Lavinia Greenlaw, and Eliot's biographer, Lyndall Gordon. For an extra shot of authenticity, a pop-up 1950's cocktail bar will be created in the stalls of the theatre, complete with piano, vintage aesthetic and gin cocktails.

The Cocktail Party was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1949, starring Alec Guinness. It went on to have commercial success in London and on Broadway, where it received the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play. Often considered one of Eliot's best works, The Cocktail Party is a radical, absurdist drama about the human mind and the life of the spirit, and offers a piercing and perceptive look at marriage and relationships.

Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne have organised a cocktail party for their friends. The only problem is, four days before the party, Lavinia leaves Edward. Resolved to go ahead with party preparations, Edward must navigate his way through the evening without answering questions on Lavinia's disappearance. That is, until Lavinia unexpectedly turns up, with a mysterious guest in tow. What ensues is an examination of the Chamberlaynes' relationship, through the lens of mysticism and emotional deconstruction.

Helen Bradbury plays Lavinia Chamberlayne. Her theatre credits include Death & the Maiden (The English Theatre, Frankfurt); Versailles (Royal Court); (Our Country's Good (UK tour); Top Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Last of the Duchess (Hampstead Theatre); Crash (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Miser (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Fairy Queen (Glyndebourne/Royal Albert Hall); Airswimming (Courtyard Theatre); A Month In The Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Lethe (Richmond, Yorkshire); Monsieur Venus (Masterclass/Haymarket Theatre); Where Soldiers Sleep (Felixstowe); Northanger Abbey (Salisbury Playhouse). For TV her credits include The Outcast, Knifeman, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Lucan, Sherlock, The Borgias, Upstairs Downstairs, Phone Shop, The Ladies' Paradise and Lennon Naked; and for film, Love, Honour, Obey and Hindsight.

Richard Dempsey plays Edward Chamberlayne. Richard's recent theatre credits include Damsel in Distress (Chichester Festival Theatre), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Michael Grandage Company, West End). Other theatre credits include A Winter's Tale/Henry V, (Propeller, Hampstead/World Tour), The Merchant of Venice (BAM New York/World Tour), Citizenship (National Theatre), Peepshow (Frantic Assembly), Into The Woods (Original West End Cast) and Fame (Original West End Cast). Television credits include Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, Ladies Of Letters, Island At War, Cleopatra, Wives And Daughters, Aristocrats, Scarlet Pimpernel, The Prince Of Hearts, Wycliffe, Inspector Alleyn, Sherlock Holmes, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Hilton McRae plays Unidentified Guest / Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly. Hilton's extensive theatre credits include Henry V (Globe), Pericles (Stockholm), Timon of Athens (National Theatre), The Kreutzer Sonata (The Gate/La MaMa, New York), End of the Rainbow (West End), Caroline Or Change (National), Rabbit (West End & Brits off Broadway), The Oresteia (Bard, New York),The Comedy of Errors (Sheffield Crucible), Macbeth (Dundee), Hamlet (Tour), Othello (Birmingham), The Tempest (Southwark), My One and Only (Chichester/West End), Mamma Mia (West End), The Front Page (Donmar), Les Miserables (West End), Miss Saigon (West End), Piaf (West End)Hedda Gabler (Manchester Royal Exchange), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (West End and Broadway), The Danton Affair, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, The Innocent, Anthony and Cleopatra, The Churchill Play, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida (all for the RSC), and LayOff/Yobbo-Nowt (7:84). Television credits include Endeavour, New Tricks, Red Riding Trilogy, The Execution of Gary Glitter, Lewis, Silent Witness, Baby Father, Monarch of the Glen, Deacon Brodie, King of Hearts, First Take, Roll Over Beethoven, and Poppyland. Film credits include: Macbeth, Far From the Madding Crowd, Genius, Mansfield Park, Return of the Jedi, Secret Rapture, Greystoke and The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Chloe Pirrie plays Celia Coplestone. Theatre credits include Men Should Weep (National Theatre) and The Rover (Hampton Court Palace). Film credits include Burn, Burn, Burn; Youth and Shell for which Chloe won the Most Promising Newcomer Award at the British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the London Film Festival 2012. Television credits include An Inspector Calls, War and Peace, The Last Panthers, The Game, Misfits and Black Mirror. Chloe was a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2013.

Christopher Ravenscroft plays Alex. For theatre his credits for the RSC include Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Crimes in Hot Countries and the original RSC production of Nicholas Nickleby. Other theatre credits include High Society (The Old Vic), The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith (Primavera/Jermyn Street Theatre), Storm In A Flower Vase (Arts Theatre), Dances Of Death (The Gate Theatre), The Stepmother/The Man Who Pays The Piper (Orange Tree Theatre), Summer And Smoke (Nottingham/West End) and The Woman In Black (Fortune Theatre), Comedy Of Errors (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), The Conspirators, and The Promise (Orange Tree Theatre) Taking Care Of Baby and The Maths Tutor (Hampstead Theatre), Sitting Pretty (Chelsea Centre), Good Grief (Theatre Royal Bath & No 1 Tour), A Doll's House & A Portrait of A Lady (Peter Hall Co. Bath), As You Like It (Sheffield Crucible), The Tempest (Liverpool Playhouse) and Educating Rita (Derby Playhouse). For TV credits include The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, The Shell Seekers, Dream Team, Courtroom, Mile High, The Hound of The Baskervilles, John Halifax Gentleman, Pericles, Secret Army, The Levels, Twelfth Night and PD James: Mind To Murder; and for film, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Tom and Thomas; The Football Factory and Henry V directed by Kenneth Branagh.

John Wark plays Peter Quilpe. Theatre work includes The Winter Guest (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ AlmeidaTheatre), Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us (National Theatre of Scotland/Traverse Theatre), Dog In The Manger, Tamar's Revenge and Pedro The Great Pretender (all for RSC), Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic/Barbican), The Fear of Breathing and Jamie the Saxt (Finborough Theatre), and The Only Girl in The World (Arcola Theatre). For television, his work includes The Ten Commandments, Robin Hood, Taggart, GForce; and for film A Little Chaos, The Fitzroy, Within The Woods, The Oxford Murders, Late Night Shopping and Breaking The Waves.

Marcia Warren plays Julia. Marcia's extensive theatre credits include Ladykillers (Gielgud), Really Old, Like Forty Five and Once in A Lifetime (National), The Sea (Haymarket), We Happy Few (Gielgud), Nude with Violin (Manchester Royal Exchange), Arsenic and Old Lace (Strand), Humble Boy (National/Gielgud Theatre - Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress), Pygmalion (Albery), Blithe Spirit (Strand), Stepping Out (Duke of York's - Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress), and directed by Alan Ayckbourn - Season's Greetings, A Small Family Business, Tons of Money and Joking Apart in the West End. Television credits include Penelope in the sitcom Vicious, with other credits including Edge of Heaven, Father Brown, Life of Riley, Kingdom, The Long Walk to Finchley, Midsomer Murders, Trial and Retribution, 20,000 Streets Under the Sky, My Dad's the Prime Minister, and Dangerfield; and for film: Fear of Water, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Unconditional Love, Mr. Love, South by South East and Spotters.

The Cocktail Party was TS Eliot's most popular play during his lifetime. His preoccupation with time, the human condition, and existential meaning can be traced through his best known poems The Waste Land, Four Quartets and The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, through to his verse dramas Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party.

Abbey Wright's most recent credit is The Mentalists with Stephen Merchant and Steffan Rhodri in the West End. Her production of The Father at Trafalgar Studios was widely acclaimed. She is the Artistic Director of tackroom theatre which she founded in 2013 to create new work, which is regularly selected for Critics' Choice. Her other recent work includes: Ghosts (New Vic Theatre), Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios 2), Holiday and The Eisteddfod (The Bussey Building), The Glass Supper (Hampstead Downstairs), Dublin Carol (Donmar@Trafalgar), Foxfinder (GEST), Rose (Pleasance Forth), Lakeboat and Prairie du Chien (Arcola), and The Ones That Flutter (Theatre 503). Abbey was Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse under Michael Grandage and worked on The Family Reunion, Creditors, Piaf, The Man Who Had All the Luck, Be Near Me, Small Change and The Chalk Garden. She was Staff Director to Danny Boyle on Frankenstein at The National Theatre.

Following The Cocktail Party, from 15 October - 7 November 2015 in the main auditorium, the internationally-renowned Handspring Puppet Company presents their highly acclaimed production of Ubu and the Truth Commission written by Jane Taylor, and directed by artist and film-maker William Kentridge.

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