Lockdown Theatre Announces Live Virtual Table Read Of Tom Stoppard's THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND In Aid Of The Royal Theatrical Fund

Following the success of Noël Coward's Private Lives in September which raised £44,000 for the Royal Theatrical Fund, Lockdown Theatre today announces a live virtual table read of The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard, in association with The Royal Theatrical Fund. The table read will take place via Zoom, followed by a live Q&A with the cast and director on Sunday 25 October at 7pm. Limited tickets available at www.rtflockdown.com

Performing live from the comfort of their own homes, Jonathan Church directs Sanjeev Bhaskar (Magnus), Samantha Bond (Cynthia), Simon Callow (Moon), Emilia Clarke (Felicity), Freddie Fox (Simon), Derek Jacobi (Birdboot), Jennifer Saunders (Mrs Drudge), Gary Wilmot (Hound) and Robert Lindsay narrates. Tickets are £35 and all the funds raised from Lockdown Theatres' The Real Inspector Hound will be used as a crisis grant to support those who are struggling financially in the theatre industry.

An Agatha Christie-like farce that follows two theatre critics who become embroiled in a mysterious melodrama upon the discovery of a fellow critic's body, The Real Inspector Hound premièred at the Criterion Theatre, London in 1968 with a cast that included Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker.

Lockdown Theatre's production is a unique opportunity to take part in a one-night-only, once-in-a-lifetime live event. It will not be repeated, it will not be recorded, and there is only one place to see it - your house. This is a chance to take a peek behind the curtain of the theatrical process, in the company of national treasures!

Sanjeev Bhaskar plays Magnus. His credits for the company include Private Lives. His theatre credits include Dinner with Saddam (Menier Chocolate Factory), Dumb Show (Rose Theatre Kingston), Spamalot (Palace Theatre), Art (Whitehall Theatre), and Peter Sellers is Dead (Whitehall Theatre). His television credits include Unforgotten, Sandylands, Porters, Election Spy, Horrible Histories, The Kumars at No. 42 (Winner of two Emmy Awards, a Bronze Rose of Montreaux Award and a Brit Comedy Award), The Indian Doctor, Outnumbered, Chopra Town and Goodness Gracious Me; and for film, Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans, Yesterday, Paddington 2, The Zero Theorem, Arthur Christmas, London Boulevard, It's a Wonderful Life, Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy, Scoop, The Guru, Anita & Me and Notting Hill.

Samantha Bond plays Cynthia. Her theatre credits include Lie (Menier Chocolate Factory), Amy's View, The Ends of the Earth, The Cid (National Theatre), The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre), Passion Play, Arcadia (Duke of York's Theatre), A Winter's Tale, As You Like It and Man of the Moment (RSC). Her television credits include Death in Paradise, Downton Abbey, Outnumbered, Midsomer Murders and The Queen. She played Miss Monneypenny in the Bond films Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies, Goldeneye and The World is not Enough, and her other film credits include The Last Step, A Winter Prince and Bunch of Amateurs.

Simon Callow plays Moon. His theatre credits include Juvenalia (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Waiting For Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Equus (Trafalgar Studios), Amadeus (National Theatre) and Titus Andronicus (Bristol Old Vic); his credits as a theatre director include Shirley Valentine (Vaudeville Theatre), Shades (Albery Theatre) and My Fair Lady (UK tour). His television work includes Chance in a Million, Death in Paradise, Midsomer Murders, and Angels in America; and for film his credits include Amadeus, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love and The Phantom of the Opera. Callow has directed acclaimed operas and fronted documentaries celebrating the work of many classical composers. As an author, his credits include Being an Actor, Love is Where it Falls, Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor, Orson Welles: One Man Band and My Life in Pieces.

Emilia Clarke plays Felicity. Her credits for the company include Private Lives. Her theatre credits include The Seagull (Playhouse Theatre) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (Cort Theatre, New York). Her television credits include as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones; and for film, Spike Island, Dom Hemingway, Terminator: Genisys, Me Before You, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Last Christmas.

Freddie Fox plays Simon. His theatre credits include An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre), Travesties (Apollo Theatre), The Judas Kiss (Hampstead Theatre/Duke of York's Theatre/UK tour), Romeo and Juliet (Garrick Theatre). His television credits include The Crown, Worried About the Boy, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cucumber,Banana and The Murders at White House Farm. His film credits include The Three Musketeers, Victor Frankenstein and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Derek Jacobi is a BAFTA award-winning actor who plays Birdboot. He made his 1986 West End debut as Alan Turing in Hugh Whitemore's Breaking the Code, his other theatre credits include Don Carlos (Sheffield Theatres/Gielgud Theatre), King Lear (Donmar Warehouse/National Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Garrick Theatre), The Tempest (The Old Vic), Cyrano de Bergerac (Barbican - Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Revival), Voyage Round My Father (Donmar Warehouse), Twelfth Night (Wyndham's Theatre/Apollo Theatre - Oliver Award for Best Actor) and Much Ado About Nothing (Gershwin Theatre - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play). His film credits include Gladiator, Gosford Park, Last Tango in Halifax, Dead Again and The Tenth Man (Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special) while his extensive television credits include I, Claudius, Doctor Who, Inside Number 9 and The Crown.

Jennifer Saunders is a BAFTA-winning actor, writer and comedian who plays Mrs Drudge. Her theatre credits include Blithe Spirit (Duke of York's Theatre) and Lady Windermere's Fan (Vaudeville Theatre). She co-wrote, created and starred in the acclaimed BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, further television credits include The Comic Strip Presents..., Friends, Girls on Top and Happy Families. Her film credits include Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Coraline, Muppet Treasure Island, and Shrek 2.

Gary Wilmot is an actor and singer and plays Hound. He made his West End debut in Me and My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre in 1989. His other theatre credits include Flowers for Mrs Harris (Chichester Festival Theatre), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dick Whittington, Wind in the Willows (London Palladium), Big The Musical (Theatre Royal Plymouth), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre), The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre), Me and My Girl (Adelphi Theatre), Carmen Jones (Old Vic - directed by Simon Callow), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pirates of Penzance (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Oliver! (UK tour). His solo albums include Love Situation and The Album.

Robert Lindsay narrates. He is a BAFTA award-winning actor, whose credits range from the smash hit Citizen Smith in the Seventies to My Family in the noughties, with a generous sprinkling of award-winning stage roles in between, including Me and My Girl, which won him the Olivier Award in the West End, and a Tony Award when it transferred to Broadway. His TV work has ranged from sitcoms (his first was Get Some In!) to BBC Shakespeare productions, and Stephen Poliakoff dramas Friends and Crocodiles and Gideon's Daughter. He appeared in Ricky Gervais's Extras as an arrogant, mean-spirited version of himself. Or, as his friends prefer to say: as himself. He performed in Lockdown Theatres' live table read of Waiting For Godot in April and Noël Coward's Private Lives in September.

Jonathan Church CBE directs. He is currently Artistic Director of Bath Theatre Royal's Summer Season, Chair of Marlowe Theatre Canterbury and on the Board of the Almeida Theatre. He was Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre (2006-2016); Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2001-2006); Associate Director of Hampstead Theatre (1999-2001); Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse (1995-1999); Associate Director of Derby Playhouse (1994-1995) and Assistant Director of Nottingham Playhouse (1992- 1994).

Church's West End Productions as a Director include Hobson's Choice, Taken At Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Singin' In The Rain (Palace Theatre), The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Duchess Theatre), Of Mice and Men (Savoy Theatre and The Old Vic), The Witches (Wyndham's Theatre), A Busy Day (Lyric Theatre), The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby (Gielgud Theatre).

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