Full Cast Set For BACKSTROKE At The Donmar Warehouse

The full company has been set for the world premiere of Anna Mackmin's new play, Backstroke – joining the previously announced Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie are Lucy Briers, Anita Reynolds and Georgina Rich. Chloe Hart and Rhashan Stone also feature in filmed scenes within the production.

Backstroke opens on 20 February, with previews from 14 February, and runs until 12 April.

Bo is busy - balancing the pressures of work and the needs of her struggling daughter. When her mother, the irrepressible force-of-nature Beth, is admitted to hospital following a stroke, the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past.
 

Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig play mother and daughter in this kaleidoscopic and compassionate new play, written and directed by Anna Mackmin.

Meet the Company

Anna Mackmin returns to the Donmar – she previously directed The Dark. Her first novel Devoured was published by Propolis 2018. It was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, won the New Angles book of the year and the East Anglian book award for best novel. Her other work as a director includes The Divine Mrs S (Hampstead Theatre), Woman in Mind (Chichester Festival Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Hampstead Theatre/Vaudeville Theatre), Hedda Gabler, The Real Thing, Dancing at Lughnasa (The Old Vic), Really Old, Like Forty Five; Chatroom, Burn & Citizenship (National Theatre), Hedda Gabler, Ghosts (Gate Theatre Dublin), In Celebration, Under the Blue Sky (Duke of York's), Dying for It, The Lightning Play (Almeida Theatre), Mammals (Bush Theatre/tour), Breathing Corpses, Food Chain (Royal Court Theatre), Auntie and Me (Wyndham's Theatre/Gaiety Theatre Dublin), In Flame (Bush Theatre/Ambassadors Theatre), Airswimming (Battersea Arts Centre), Me and My Girl, The Crucible, Iphigenia, Teeth ‘n' Smiles, and The Arbor (Sheffield Theatres).

Lucy Briers plays Carol. Her previous work for the Donmar includes Ivanov (Wyndham's Theatre). Her other theatre credits include Orlando (Garrick Theatre), All of Us, The Voysey Inheritance (National Theatre), Rosmersholm - winner of the Clarence Derwent Award (Duke of York's Theatre), Forty Years On; The Seagull, Ivanov (Chichester Festival Theatre), Show Boat (Chichester Festival Theatre/Gillian Lynne Theatre), Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (RSC/Aldwych Theatre/Broadway), Top Girls (Chichester/Trafalgar Theatre), Behud (Belgrade Coventry/Soho Theatre), Bedroom Farce, Miss Julie (Rose Theatre Kingston), Private Fears in Public Places, Just Between Ourselves (Theatre Royal Northampton), Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Norwich Theatre Royal), Some Kind of Bliss (Trafalgar Studios/Brits Off Broadway), Ship of Fools (Theatre503), Catch (Royal Court Theatre), The Winter's Tale (Southwark Playhouse), Musik; Rose Bernd (Arcola Theatre), The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick Theatre), Cloud Nine - nominated for TMA Best Supporting Actress, Teeth ‘n' Smiles, Don Juan (Sheffield Theatres), Electra (Gate Theatre), Spike (Nuffield, Southampton), Keepers (Hampstead Theatre), As You Like It (Sheffield Theatres/Lyric Hammersmith), All That Trouble That We Had (Birmingham Rep), The Rivals (Nottingham Playhouse), Henry IV (The Old Vic/English Touring Theatre), Othello (New Victoria Theatre), Emma (Edinburgh Fringe), The Entertainer (Leeds Playhouse/Birmingham Rep), The Tempest (Salisbury Rep), and Syme (Birmingham Rep/National Theatre). For television, her work includes House of the Dragon, Lockwood & Co, Home, Endeavour, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Gentleman Jack, Victoria, Mrs Wilson, Press, Father Brown, Count Arthur Strong, Our Girl, DCI Banks, The Thick of It, Parade's End, The Night Watch, Twenty Twelve, Ashes to Ashes, Einstein and Eddington, The Green Green Grass, Genie in the House, Rough Crossings, Bonkers, Broken News, Bodies, Poirot: The Hollow, Fathers and Sons, Beast, Wives and Daughters, Dangerfield, Imogen's Face, Game On, Unfinished Business, Only You, Pride and Prejudice, Unnatural Causes, Screaming, The Ten Percenters, The Brittas Empire, Red Dwarf, A Masculine Ending, and Blackheath Poisonings; and for film, Flavia de Luce, Downton Abbey 3, We Live in Time, My Policeman, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Emma, The Show, Genius, Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa, Children of Men, and Perks.

Tamsin Greig plays Bo. Her theatre credits includes The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath), Peggy for You, iHo (Hampstead Theatre), Talking Heads Live: Nights in The Garden of Spain (Bridge Theatre), A Kind of Alaska/Landscape (Harold Pinter Theatre), Labour of Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Theatre), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Jumpy (Royal Court Theatre), God of Carnage (Gielgud Theatre), The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC and Novello – Olivier & Critics Award for Best Actress), and Gethsemane (National Theatre). Her television work includes The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Suspect, Sexy Beast, The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, Belgravia, Elementary, Diana and I, Inside No 9, The Guilty, White Heat, Episodes (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Friday Night Dinner (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Emma, Green Wing (Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), and Black Books (British Comedy Award nomination for Best Actress); and for film, Land of Legend, My Happy Ending, Official Secrets, Romeo and Juliet, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Tamara Drewe (Nominated BIFA Best Supporting Actress), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Breaking the Bank, and Stop the World.

Celia Imrie returns to the Donmar to play Beth – she previously appeared in Polar Bears and Habeas Corpus. Her other theatre work includes Party Time / Celebration, The Hothouse (Harold Pinter Theatre), Noises Off (The Old Vic), Hay Fever (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Rivals (Southwark Playhouse), Mixed Up North (Wilton's Music Hall), Plague Over England (Duchess Theatre), Unsuspecting Susan (King's Head/59th Street Theatre, New York), Acorn Antiques: The Musical (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical), The School for Scandal (RSC), Dona Rosita the Spinster (Almeida Theatre), and The Sea (National Theatre, Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress). Her television work includes The Diplomat, Better Things, Short Adam, Keeping Faith, Hang Ups, Patrick Melrose, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Vicious, Our Zoo, Blandings, Coming Up, Love & Marriage, Doctor Who, Titanic, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, Cranford, After You've Gone, Kingdom, Still Game; Doctor Zhivago, Daniel Deronda, Sparkhouse, Absolutely Fabulous, Love in a Cold Climate, Gormenghast, dinnerladies, Microsoap, Duck Patrol, The History of Tom Jones and Wokenwell; and for film, Good Grief, Love Again, Love Sarah, Nativity Rocks!, Malevolent, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Finding Your Feet, A Cure for Wellness, Bridget Jones's Baby, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Year by the Sea, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?!, What We Did on Our Holiday, The Love Punch, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fool's Gold, St Trinian's, Nanny McPhee, Imagine Me & You, Wah-Wah, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon, Out of Bounds, Calendar Girls, Bridget Jones's Diary, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Hillary and Jackie, The Borrowers, In The Bleak Midwinter, Frankenstein, Highlander, and the forthcoming The Thursday Murder Club and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. She was awarded the Women in Film and Television Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Anita Reynolds plays Jill. Her work in theatre includes The Comedy of Errors, Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare's Globe), Twelfth Night (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Romeo and Julie (National Theatre/Sherman Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (ETT/ Leeds Playhouse/ Rose Theatre), A Monster Calls - Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Performance (The Old Vic/Bristol Old Vic/US tour), Ear For Eye (Royal Court Theatre), Absolute Hell (National Theatre), Hang (Run Amok/The Other Room), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Arabian Nights, Romeo And Juliet, Measure For Measure, Horrible Histories (Sherman Theatre), Speechless (Shared Experience/Sherman Cymru), The Move (Made in Wales), Carers (Turning Point Theatre Co), Cinderella (Unicorn Theatre), Forbidden Fruit (Nottingham Roundabout Theatre), Wishful Thinking (Hijinx Theatre), Dealing With Feelings (London Bubble Theatre), and  How High Is Up/Mirror Mirror (Theatre Centre). For television, his work includes The Light in the Hall; Somewhere Boy, The Pembrokeshire Murders, In My Skin, Rellik, Keeping Faith, Stella, Gwaith Cartref, Talking to the Dead, Being Human, Caerdydd; Belonging; Dau Dy a Ni, Nice Day for a Welsh Wedding, Doctors; The Story of Tracy Beaker, Dose, Bay College, Nuts and Bolts, The Bench, and The Hull Project; and for film, I Used to Be Famous, Mother's Day, G Flat, Wild Geese, Telling Tales, Sweet 16, Rain, and Paradise Grove.

Georgina Rich plays Paulina. Her theatre credits include Richard III, Between Us (Arcola Theatre), Rabbit Hole (Hampstead Theatre), As You Like It (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre), Honour (Wyndham's Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Lear (Sheffield Theatres), and Twelfth Night (English Touring Theatre). Her television work includes Industry, The Jetty, Grace, Heartstopper, Criminal Record, Malpractice, War of the Worlds, Sister Boniface, Queens of Mystery, Call the Midwife, Wallis: The Queen That Never Was, Rellik, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation, Cuffs, River, Ripper Street, In and Out of the Kitchen, The Game, Sherlock, New Tricks, Public Enemies, Spooks, Waking the Dead, Law and Order: UK, The Catherine Tate Show, Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore, and Peter Warlock: Some Little Joy; and for film, September 5, Blithe Spirit, Radioactive, and Dimensions.

To post a comment, you must register and login.