Finn Cole Will Lead European Première of Lucas Hnath's RED SPEEDO

Orange Tree Theatre has announced Finn Cole, known for his roles in Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom, will make his professional stage debut playing Ray in the European première of Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo directed by Matthew Dunster.

Red Speedo opens on 18 July, with previews from 13 July, and runs until 10 August.

Creative Team: Designer: Anna Fleischle; Associate Designer and Costume Designer: Cat Fuller; Lighting Designer: Sally Ferguson; Sound Designer: Holly Khan; Casting director: Matilda James CDG; Fight Director: Rc Annie; Accent Coach: Aundrea Fudge

Ray lives to swim. He is within touching distance of international glory and a life-changing sponsorship deal. But everything changes when performance-enhancing drugs are discovered in the club's refrigerator. As tensions run high, Ray's brother wants them destroyed, his coach wants to call the authorities, his ex-girlfriend doesn't want to know, and Ray wants the drugs back. A thriller played at the breakneck pace of an Olympic sprint, Red Speedo tackles the unforgiving weight of success in a world where the only crime is getting caught.

Lucas Hnath is one of America's most exciting contemporary playwrights, whose A Doll's House, Part 2 was recently seen at The Donmar Warehouse. Matthew Dunster directs this European première, fresh from his hit West End productions of Shirley Valentine, 2:22 A Ghost Story and Hangmen.

Lucas Hnath is an award-winning playwright whose other plays include A Doll's House, Part 2 (South Coast Repertory and Broadway), The Christians (Humana Festival), A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep), nightnight (Humana Festival), Isaac's Eye (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and Death Tax (Humana Festival, Royal Court Theatre). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2015 Whiting Award, a Whitfield Cook Award, two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citations and a Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.

Finn Cole makes his professional stage debut as Ray. His television credits include Peaky Blinders (as series regular Michael Gray), An Inspector Calls and Animal Kingdom. For film his credits include Slaughterhouse Rulez, Dreamland, Here Are The Young Men, F9 and Locked In, and the forthcoming  Last Breath.

Matthew Dunster's directing credits include Shirley Valentine (Duke of York's Theatre), 2:22  A Ghost Story (Apollo Theatre), True West (Vaudeville Theatre), Oedipus (Bunkamura Theatre), Hangmen, (Royal Court Theatre, Golden Theatre), Liberian Girl (Royal Court Theatre) The Seagull, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Love's Sacrifice (RSC), The Lightning Child, Doctor Faustus (Shakespeare's Globe), The Love Girl andThe Innocent, You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse), Mametz (National Theatre Wales), Before the Party (Almeida Theatre), A Sacred Flame (ETT), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Royal Exchange Manchester), Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Manchester and Lyric Hammersmith), The Most Incredible Thing (Sadler's Wells), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Royal & Derngate, Northampton). His writing credits include Children's Children (Almeida Theatre), You Can See the Hills and Two Clouds Over Eden (Royal Exchange Manchester).

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