Full Cast Announced for Sam Mendes' THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE

With a week to go before rehearsals begin, the full cast for Jack Thorne's new play, The Motive and the Cue, directed by Sam Mendes, is revealed.

It is announced today that Janie Dee (Follies, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, A Celebration) will play Eileen Hurlie, joining Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton, Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor.

The cast also includes Aaron Anthony, Tom Babbage, Allan Corduner, Elena Delia, Ryan Ellsworth, Phoebe Horn, Aysha Kala, Luke Norris, Huw Parmenter, David Ricardo-Pearce, David Tarkenter, Kate Tydman, Laurence Ubong Williams and Michael Walters.

This startling new play opening in the Lyttelton Theatre on 20 April, is inspired by the making of Burton and Gielgud's Hamlet.

Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title in an experimental new production of Hamlet under John Gielgud's exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

The Motive and the Cue was originally commissioned by Neal Street Productions and has been developed and co-produced by The National Theatre and Neal Street Productions. Set design is by Es Devlin, costume designer is Katrina Lindsay, lighting designer is Jon Clark, composer is Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound designer is Paul Arditti, video designer is Luke Halls, casting by Alastair Coomer CDG and Naomi Downham and associate director is Zoé Ford Burnett.

Inspired by Letters from an Actor by William Redfield and John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton in Hamlet by Richard L. Sterne.

The Motive and the Cue runs from 20 April to 15 July

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