Michael Beckley, Emily Dobbs to Star in Southwark Playhouse's THE SEAGULL

A successful actress visits her brother's isolated estate far from the city, throwing the frustrated residents unfulfilled ambitions into sharp relief. As her son attempts to impress with a self-penned play, putting much more than his pride at stake, others dream of fame, love and the ability to change their past.

Chekhov's darkly comic masterpiece is ignited for the 21st century by one of the most exciting new voices in British Theatre, Anya Reiss, Winner of Most Promising Playwright at both the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards.

This production, as part of Southwark Playhouse's final season beneath the arches of London Bridge Station, marks Russell Bolam's second play in the Main House this year following the success of Philip Ridley's Shivered.

The full cast is Michael Beckley, Emily Dobbs, Joseph Drake, Anthony Howell, Lily James, Julia St John, Matthew Kelly, Ben Moor, Malcolm Tierney and Sasha Waddell.

Michael Beckley's theatre credits include Buried Child, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Leicester Curve), The Invisible Man, Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson (Menier Chocolate Factory), Mamma Mia! (International Tour), Cabaret, A Few Good Men (West End) and Merrily We Roll Along (Derby Playhouse).

Emily's Dobbs trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre credits include Gotcha, Stars in the Morning Sky (Riverside Studios), The Hostage (Southwark Playhouse), Love on the Dole (Finborough Theatre) As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Riverside Studios/Wirksworth Festival), Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (Arcola) and Puppets and Prophets (Theatre 503). Television credits includes ITV's Primeval and The Bill.

Joseph Drake trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He was recently nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award and longlisted for an Evening Standard Best Newcomer Award. Theatre credits include Russell Bolam's production of Shivered (Southwark Playhouse), Vernon God Little (Young Vic), Macbeth (Sheffield Crucible), The Lion in Winter (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Rattigan's Njinsky, Deep Blue Sea (Chichester Festival Theatre), Kingdom of Earth (The Print Room).

Anthony Howell trained at Drama Centre. Theatre includes two consecutive years as Henry VIII in Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare's Globe), Portrait Of A Lady (Theatre Royal Bath), The French Lieutenant's Woman (No 1 Tour), And Then There Were None (Gielgud Theatre), As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Company). Television credits include Foyle's War, Hawking, The Other Boleyn Girl, Helen West, Wives and Daughters and Dirk Gently.

Lily James trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is best known for her appearances in Fast Girls and ITV's Downton Abbey. Theatre credits include Desdemona in Othello (Sheffield Crucible), Play House/ Definitely the Bahamas (Orange Tree Theatre), Vernon God Little (Young Vic) and The Last Five Years (Barbican). Other television credits include Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Just William.

Julia St. John trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Theatre includes The Archbishop's Ceiling (Southwark Playhouse), Our Father (Watford Palace Theatre), The Madness of George The Third (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Three Sisters (Chichester Festival Theatre), A Tale of Two Cities (Cambridge Theatre Company), Nana (Shared Experience), McGrotty and Ludmilla (Tron Theatre), Larkrise (Almeida), Private Lives, Far From The Madding Crowd, Amadeus, King Lear, She Stoops to Conquer (New Victoria Theatre) and Gulliver's Travels (Gate Theatre). Film credits include Young Victoria and Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

Matthew Kelly's theatre credits include Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith), Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare's Globe), Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf (Trafalgar Studios), Victory (Arcola), Of Mice and Men (Savoy - Olivier Award Best Actor), Endgame (Liverpool Everyman), The Wizard of Oz (Mayflower Theatre), Oh What a Lovely War (Octagon Theatre), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), Mirandolina (Manchester Royal Exchange), Don Quixote (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Tour), Season's Greetings (Tour), The Taming of the Shrew (Stratford Festival) and Kafka's Dick (York Theatre Royal).

Ben Moor's theatre credits include self-penned solo shows Not Everything is Significant, Coelacanth and A Supercollider for the Family (all Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival; published by Portobello Books as More Trees to Climb) and A Busy Day (Bristol Old Vic and West End). Film includes Three Musketeers, Casanova and Radiomania: An Abandoned Work. TV includes Knowing Me, Knowing You, Men Behaving Badly and The IT Crowd. Radio includes Talking and Not Talking and, as a writer and actor, Elastic Planet and Undone.

Malcolm Tierney's theatre credits include George Melley (Finborough Theatre), Hecuba (Royal Shakespeare Company), Noises Off (Comedy Theatre), Richard III (Phoenix Theatre and Tour) Just Not Fair (Birmingham Repertory Studio), The Price and Mr Lowry (Bristol Old Vic).

Television credits include The Hindenburg – Titanic of the Skies, Midsomer Murders, Nicholas Nickleby, Daziel and Pascoe, The House of Cards and Lovejoy. Film credits include Great Expectations, Wallander, In the Name of the Father, Braveheart and Star Wars.

Sasha Waddell trained at Drama Studio London. Theatre credits include Eight Women (Southwark Playhouse), Volcano (Vaudeville Theatre), The Village Bike (Royal Court), The Mousetrap (St. Martins Theatre), Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company), Out of Oder (British Theatre Playhouse), Duet for One (Vienna's English Theatre), Candida (UK Tour), Lady Windmere's Fan (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Dear Brutus (King's Head). Television credits include Parade's End, A Touch of Cloth, Midsomer Murders, Julian Fellowes Investigates: The Case of the Earl of Errol, Krakatoa, The People's Princess, Ealing Comedy.

Playwright Anya Reiss wrote her first play when she was 14 before becoming a member of The Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers' Programme. Her debut play, Spur of the Moment (written when she was 17) opened at The Royal Court Theatre in 2010 winning the TMA Award for Best New Play and Anya the Most Promising Playwright Award at both the Evening Standard Awards and at the Critics' Circle Awards. Her second play The Acid Test opened in 2011 again at the Royal Court was also a box office sellout earning rave reviews. Since then she has contributed to the Bush Theatre's Sixty Six Books writing a response to a chapter of the St James Bible and has written Forty Five Minutes for The National Theatre's 2013 Connections Festival.

Director Russell Bolam's theatre credits include Shivered (Southwark Playhouse), The Road to Mecca (Arcola Theatre), The Roman Bath (Arcola Theatre), Captain Oates' Left Sock (Finborough), Three More Sleepless Nights (Tristan Bates Theatre), Fourplay (Tristan Bates Theatre), Fairytaleheart (Old Red Lion) and The Physicists (Aphra Studio).

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