Full Casting Announced For Sheffield Theatres' Brian Friel Season

Artistic Director Daniel Evans announces the full cast for Wonderful Tennessee, completing the casting for The Brian Friel Season.

Continuing the tradition of producing whole seasons dedicated to the work of one writer, Sheffield Theatres is proud to present three plays by Brian Friel: Afterplay, Translations and Wonderful Tennessee. Taking place across all three stages, alongside a programme of complementary events, this season offers the opportunity to experience the breadth of Brian Friel's work from four decades of his writing career.

Afterplay opens the season. Directed by Róisín McBrinn, it stars Niamh Cusack (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Heartbeat) as Sonya and Sean Gallagher (Silent Witness, Coronation Street) as Andrey, and takes to the Studio Theatre stage from Thursday 6 February - Saturday 1 March.

Translations, on the Crucible stage from Thursday 13 February - Saturday 8 March, features Niall Buggy (The Birthday Party, Waiting for Godot), who first took to the Crucible stage in the inaugural season of 1971 (Peer Gynt and The Shoemaker's Holiday) as Hugh and John Conroy (who returns to Sheffield Theatres for the first time following his appearance in Me and My Girl) as Jimmy Jack. Directed by James Grieve, Translations is set in 19th century rural Ireland and is a co-production between Sheffield Theatres, English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston.

Completing the season is Wonderful Tennessee for which Sheffield Theatres' Associate Director Paul Miller (Democracy, The Daughter-in-Law and The Winter's Tale) will direct Cathy Belton (The Hanging Gardens, Philomena) as Berna, Dermot Kerrigan (Juno and the Paycock, Waking Ned) as Terry, Jean-Paul Van Cauwelaert (Ullysses, Neville's Island) as Frank, Andrea Irvine (The Real Thing, Hedda Gabbler) as Angela, Luke Carver Goss (Secret Heart, Eye Catcher as Composer and Musical Director) as George and Melanie McHugh (Spanish Golden Age season for the RSC, Peer Gynt) as Trish. Set in present day Ireland, the third play in the season tells the story of Terry, his wife Berna and their four friends as they set off on a trip to the coast of Donegal and the Island of Mystery.

Tickets for The Brian Friel Season are on sale now from Sheffield Theatres' Box Office. To book, or for more information, call 0114 249 6000 or visit sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.

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