Samuel West will direct Harley Granville Barker's Waste, which runs at the Almeida from 25 September – 15 November 2008, with press night on 2 October. Designs are by Peter McKintosh with lighting by Guy Hoare and sound by John Leonard.
The cast includes
Nancy Carroll (Amy O'Connell),
Richard Cordery (Russell Blackborough),
Patrick Drury (Justin O'Connell),
Peter Eyre (Lord Charles Cantilupe),
Will Keen (Henry Trebell),
Helen Lindsay (Countess Mortimer/Bertha),
Hugh Ross (Cyril Horsham) and
Michael Thomas (George Farrant). Final casting will be announced shortly.
Radical politician Henry Trebell sees his personal and political lives collide. An affair with a married woman threatens Trebell's power and passionate ideals; her insistence on a woman's right to choose brings private scandal into the public spotlight. Controversially banned by the Lord Chamberlain on its release, Waste is a rich portrait of early 20th Century society with strong resonances and relevance for today.
Nancy Carroll's theatre credits include Coward, Cocktails and Cabert for
Chichester Festival Theatre and The Enchantment, Man of Mode, The Voysey Inheritence, The False Servant and The Talking Cure all for
The National Theatre. For the
Royal Shakespeare Company her credits include Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, As You Like It, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Winter's Tale. Sam West has previously directed her in The Lady's Not for Burning for
Chichester Festival Theatre. Carroll was last at the Almeida in
Jonathan Kent's production of King Lear. Her film credits include Iris and An Ideal Husband and on television she has been seen in Cambridge Spies, Doctors and Midsommer Murders.
Richard Cordery's extensive credits for the
Royal Shakespeare Company include
Michael Boyd's productions of Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, Richard II and Richard III as well as
Nancy Meckler's production of The Comedy of Errors and Lindsey Posner's production of Volpone. His other theatre credits include Othello for
Michael Attenborough in Stratford Ontario, The Winter's Tale for the Young Vic and The Front Page for
Chichester Festival Theatre. His film credits include The Loss Adjuster and Lorenzo's Oil. On television his credits include Midsommer Murders, Absolute Power, The Falklands Play and Trauma.
Peter Eyre's Almeida credits include Camera Obscura, Chère Maître in which he played opposite
Irene Worth and Hamlet in which he played Polonius. His other, more recent, theatre credits include Ring Round the Moon at
The Playhouse, The Cherry Orchard for Sheffield Crucible, Terre Haute for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, on tour nationally and in the West End, The Wild Duck for the Old Vic and Don Carlos for
Sheffield Theatres and The Gielgud. His film credits include The Affair of the Necklace, Surviving Picasso, Remains of the Day and Maurice. His television credits include Question of God, Cambridge Spies, Don Quixote, Bertie and Elizabeth and Friends.
Will Keen was last at the Almeida as T S Eliot in Tom and Viv. His other theatre credits include The Arsonists for the Royal Court, Kiss of the Spider Woman for the
Donmar Warehouse, Five Gold Rings - also for the Almeida,
Cheek by Jowl's The Changeling at the Barbican, The Rubenstein Kiss for
The Hampstead Theatre,
Peter Hall's productions of Don Juan and Man and Superman for the Theatre Royal Bath,
Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia at
The National Theatre, and
Neil Bartlett's production of Pericles at the Lyric Hammersmith. His film work includes Love and Other Disasters and The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz. On television he has been seen as Francis Bacon in C4's Elizabeth and Cezanne in The Impressionists for the BBC.
Samuel West's directing credits include The Romans In Britain, Insignificance and As You Like It for
Sheffield Theatres where he was Artistic Director. His production of
Patrick Marber's Dealer's Choice recently completed a run at the Trafalgar Studios following its opening at the
Menier Chocolate Factory. He directed Cosi Fan Tutte for the
English National Opera and Three Woman and a Piano Tuner for the
Minerva Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. As an actor his extensive work on stage includes Betrayal for the
Donmar Warehouse, A Number and Much Ado About Nothing for
Sheffield Theatres, Doctor Faustus and The Master and Margarita for
Chichester Festival Theatre, the title roles in Hamlet and Richard II both directed by Stephen Pimlott for the
Royal Shakespeare Company and The Sea and Arcadia for
The National Theatre. His many screen credits include Iris, Jane Eyre and Persuasion and on television his credits include Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley, Foyles War and Cambridge Spies.
For more information please visit www.almeida.co.uk
Will Keen (Henry Trebell) and Nancy Carroll (Amy O'Connell)
Will Keen (Henry Trebell) Phoebe Nicholls (Frances Trebell)
Jessica Turner (Lady Julia Farrant) and Helen Lindsay (Countess Mortimer
Nancy Carroll (Amy O'Connell)
Peter Eyre (Lord Charles Cantilupe)
Peter Eyre (Lord Charles Cantilupe) Michael Thomas (George Farrant) and Patrick Drury (Justin O'Connell)
Will Keen (Henry Trebell) and Peter Eyre (Lord Charles Cantilupe)
