Linda Marlowe Joins Gender Balanced Cast for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Linda Marlowe (EastEnders, BBC 1; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Working Title Films; Greek, Decadence, East, The Trial, Metamorphosis by Steven Berkoff), Lowri Izzard (Hidden/Craith, BBC/S4C; Votes For Women, New Vic Theatre; I Capture The Castle, Watford Palace/Octagon Bolton/Oxford Playhouse), Christopher Hughes (EastEnders, BBC; Pure O, Kings Head; The Talented Mr Ripley, The Faction), Christopher York (Rellik, BBC/HBO; Macbeth, Henry V, Creation Theatre; Hamlet, The Faction), Laura Evelyn (Lovesick, Netflix; Silent Witness, BBC 1; Consolea, Southwark Playhouse), Jeremy Ang Jones (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Palace Theatre; Clockwork Canaries, Theatre Royal Plymouth; Richard III, The Faction), Tamarin McGinley (Our Town, Kings Head Theatre; A New Song as part of the New Plays from South Africa: 20 years after Democracy Festival, The Royal Court; Mirror, Mirror, Baxter Theatre) and Herb Cuanalo (Mary Stuart, The Faction) form the fantastic cast for The Faction's unique and magical take on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Multi award-winning ensemble The Faction, renowned for their intelligent interrogation of classic texts combined with powerful group physicality, return with this new production offering a fresh look at one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies.

Re-examining the linguistic detail of Shakespeare's verse, The Faction create unforgettable visual moments, unleashing the magic, energy and mayhem of this work, from the raw power of the fairies' rituals to an ass's head created entirely from the ensemble's arms and fingers.

One Midsummer's night, four young lovers, six local tradespeople and an entire kingdom of warring fairies descend upon the Athenian woods. This production will take advantage of the beautiful architecture of Wilton's Music Hall, fusing the character of the building with the design of the set.

Examining the intricacies of the text and stripping audiences of their preconceptions, The Faction will explore the aftermath of war and the sexual and power politics at play in this complex comedy. Doubling will be used to highlight the mirroring across the Athenian, Mechanical and Fairy worlds with doubles chosen through intense scrutiny of the text to bring out new interpretations of each character.

Director Mark Leipacher comments, We're delighted by this A Midsummer Night's Dream cast. Most of these actors have worked with The Faction before, continuing our drive towards a permanent ensemble. It's a genuinely diverse company in terms of age, class, ethnicity, sexuality and 50:50 in gender parity. It's important to us that we're representing society on stage. Most importantly of all though is they're all incredibly talented and absolutely right for these roles. It's a particular joy for me that Linda Marlowe is joining us to play Puck. I first saw Linda on stage twenty years ago performing Berkoff's Women when I was still a student, and we're finally getting the chance to work together.

Tickets are available from £12.50. Available from the Wilton's Music Hall box office, www.wiltons.org.uk or 020 7702 2789.

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