Casting Announced For ARMS AND THE MAN at the Orange Tree Theatre

The Orange Tree Theatre has announced the full cast for Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, marking Paul Miller's final production as Artistic Director, following his lauded rediscoveries of Shaw's other early plays How He Lied to Her Husband, Misalliance and The Philanderer. Miller directs Kemi Awoderu, Alex Bhat, Rebecca Collingwood, Miranda Foster, Jonah Russell, Jonathan Tafler and Alex Waldmann. The production opens on 23 November, with previews from 19 November, and runs until 14 January 2023. It will be available to watch via OT On Screen between 17-20 January.

In the midst of a bloody central European war, a chance moonlit encounter throws together an idealistic young woman and a Swiss mercenary with an unexpectedly realistic attitude to soldiering.

Raina's youthful love for Sergius, the swashbuckling fighting hero of the Bulgarian army, is challenged when she learns more of the realities of war. Bluntschli's coolly ironic good sense starts to seem more like the future.

When Louka, the servant of the family with a spirit and ambition all of her own, sets her sights on Sergius, the stage is set for an epic moral battle. Shaw's delightful romantic comedy was one of his first commercial successes and remains enduringly relevant.

Kemi Awoderu plays Louka. Her theatre credits include Living Newspaper: Edition 7 (Royal Court Theatre) and Jerusalem (Apollo Theatre). For television, her credits include The Third Day; and for film, Death on the Nile.

Alex Bhat returns to the OT to play Sergius. He previously appeared in Overruled and French Without Tears. His other theatre credits include O, Island, Ivy Tiller: Vicar's Daughter, Squirrel Killer (RSC), Sweet Bird of Youth (Chichester Festival Theatre), Dr Angelus (Finborough Theatre) and Henry V (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre). His television credits include Miss Scarlet and The Duke, Gentleman Jack, Des, Devils, London Kills, War and Peace, Fungus The Bogeyman, Chewing Gum and Gameface; and for film, Hanna, Annabel Lee and Deep Blue Sea.

Rebecca Collingwood returns to the OT to play Raina. She previously appeared in While The Sun Shines, Precious Little Talent and Widowers' Houses. Other theatre credits include Malory Towers (Wise Children), The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre and Gimble/Fuel), Castle (Finborough Theatre), and Much Ado About Nothing and Love's Labour's Lost (RSC/Chichester/Theatre Royal Haymarket).

Miranda Foster returns to the OT to play Catherine, she previously appeared in Summer Again, Greenwash, Springs Eternal and King Cromwell. Other theatre credits include The Long Song (Chichester Festival Theatre), Mr and Mrs Nobody, All's Well That Ends Well, Tonight at 8.30 (Jermyn Street Theatre), Dance Nation (Almeida Theatre), The Special Relationship, Shraddha (Soho Theatre), Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The God of Soho, The Bible (Shakespeare's Globe), Years of Sunlight, Madagascar (Theatre 503), The Talented Mr Ripley (Royal & Derngate), God of Carnage (Nuffield Theatre), The Lucky Ones (Hampstead Theatre), Born in the Gardens (Rose Theatre/Bath Theatre Royal), Festen (UK tour), Pera Palas (Gate Theatre), Blithe Spirit (Royal Exchange), The Cherry Orchard (Aldwych Theatre), Gilgamesh, The Women, Schism in England, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Neaptide, The Futurists, Pravda, The Government Inspector, Animal Farm, The Spanish Tragedy and The Fawn (National Theatre). Her television credits include Sticks and Stones, Shakespeare Uncovered, The Trial of Gemma Lang, Rosemary and Thyme, Where the Heart is, The Knock, The Turnaround, Brotherly Love, The Contractor and Merry Wives of Windsor.

Jonah Russell plays Nicola. His theatre credits include Henry VIII, I, Joan (Globe Theatre), My Brilliant Friend, Pains of Youth, Waves, Women of Troy, Attempts on her Life, The Seagull (National Theatre), Suzy Storck, Emperor Jones (Gate Theatre), Hood, Hood (Theatre Royal Nottingham), The Mikvah Project (Yard Theatre), A View from the Bridge, Kursk (Young Vic), Making Stalin Laugh (JW3), Clytemnestra (Sherman Theatre), Yerma (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Small Hours (Hampstead Theatre), The Madness of George Dubya (Arts Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Hammersmith Lyric Theatre) and With Love from Nicolae (Bristol Old Vic/International tour). His television credits include La Fortuna, Hatton Garden, Stephen Sutton Locked Up Abroad, Good Murder, Green Wing; and for film, 1917, Dark River, Unseen, Deathly Presents, Queen and Country, Hell's Pavement, What a Girl Wants, Chocolate, Phoenix Blue, Refugee and Honey Trap.

Jonathan Tafler returns to the OT to play Major Petkoff, he previously appeared in The Promise, Love's Comedy and Sauce for the Goose. His other theatre credits include Twelfth Night (Kew Gardens), The Permanent Way (The Vaults), The Mousetrap (St Martin's Theatre), The Crucible (UK tour), The Mighty Walzer, Dr Faustus (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (Almeida Theatre), Lost in Yonkers (Watford Palace), Man in the Middle (Theatre503), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Curve), Brendan at the Chelsea (Riverside Studios), Vertigo (Pleasance Theatre), A View from the Bridge (Birmingham Rep), A Patriot for Me, Timon of Athens, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida, Richard III, The Love Girl and the Innocent and La Ronde (RSC). His television credits include Should We Bomb Auschwitz?, Foyle's War, Witch Hunter, Shadow Line, Murphy's Law, New Tricks, Maigret and Anno Domini; and for film, One Life, The Infidel and Song of Songs.

Alex Waldmann returns to the OT to play Bluntschli, he previously appeared in The Mikvah Project and Widower's Houses. Other theatre credits include Jews. In Their Own Words (Royal Court), The Fever Syndrome (Hampstead Theatre), Youth Without God (Coronet Theatre), Julius Caesar, All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, Hamlet, King John, A Soldier in Every Son, Richard III (RSC), All My Sons, War of the Roses (Rose Theatre), In The Night Time Before the Sun Rises, Big Love (Gate Theatre), King John, Knight of the Burning Pestle, Duchess of Amalfi (Globe Theatre), Jonah and Otto (Park Theatre), The Holy Rosenbergs (National Theatre), Rope (Almeida Theatre), Shradda (Soho Theatre), Hamlet, Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse), Angry Young Man (Trafalgar Studios), Hobson's Choice (Chichester Festival Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Birmingham Rep), Angry Young Man (Battersea Arts Centre), Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (Finborough Theatre) and Fishbowl (Theatre 503). His television credits include Father Brown, Call the Midwife, Humans, Duchess of Malfi, The Nightwatch, Psychoville and First Light.

Paul Miller directs. As Artistic Director of the OT, he has directed The False Servant, While The Sun Shines, French Without Tears (also UK tour with ETT), Losing Venice, Humble Boy, Misalliance, The Philanderer, Widower's Houses, Poison, The Lottery of Love, Sheppey, Each His Own Wilderness and The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd. He was previously Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres and has directed major productions at The National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Old Vic and in the West End.

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