Preview: Brave New World at Darlington Civic Theatre

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Full Cast Announced For Brave New World

Brave New World

Darlington Civic Theatre

Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th November 2015

The full cast and creative team has been announced for the world premiere of a brand new stage adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s seminal novel Brave New World, presented by Touring Consortium Theatre Company and Royal & Derngate Northampton which comes to Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 14 November.

Brave New World, widely considered to be one of the finest and most prophetic dystopian novels of the twentieth century, bursts into life on stage in an adaptation by award-winning playwright Dawn King, directed by James Dacre and designed by Naomi Dawson, with original new music by the ground breaking British band These New Puritans.

Sophie Ward - Photo: Gemma Betts

Sophie Ward, whose extensive screen credits include TV series Land Girls, Heartbeat and Holby City, and films including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Young Sherlock, will play ‘Margaret Mond’, the Regional World Controller for Western Europe (a character that was the male ‘Mustapha Mond’ in the original novel),. Her theatre work includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Go Back For Murder and Private Lives. Olivier Award-winning Abigail McKern, last seen in Northampton in A Tale of Two Cities and fresh from Shakespeare in Love in the West End, takes the role of ‘Linda’. The ensemble cast also includes Olivia Morgan (Macbeth, West End, The Taming of the Shrew,

Shakespeare’s Globe), William Postlethwaite (King Lear, Bath Theatre Royal, Collaborators, National Theatre) as John the Savage, Scott Karim (The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare’s Globe, Great Britain, National Theatre) as Helmholtz Watson, and Gruffudd Glyn (Three Sisters, Young Vic, Hamlet, RSC) as Bernard. The cast also includes Theo Ogundipe as Benito, Samantha Pearl as Polly, James Howard as the Director and David Burnett as Henry.

The play is directed by Royal & Derngate’s Artistic Director James Dacre (The Body of an American, King John, Arthur Miller’s The Hook) with original music by These New Puritans, whose last album was described by Record Collector as “arguably the musical achievement of the 2010s so far.” It has been adapted for the stage by Dawn King, whose credits include the plays Ciphers and Foxfinder, and the BAFTA-nominated short film The Karman Line. The production is designed by Naomi Dawson, whose recent credits include The Roaring Girl, King John and As You Like It for the RSC, with Frantic Assembly’s Eddie Kay (The Pass, Royal Court, Othello, Frantic Assembly) as movement director. Lighting design is by Colin Grenfell (Black Watch, National Theatre of Scotland, The Mother, Theatre Royal Bath) with sound design by George Dennis (Regeneration, Royal & Derngate/Touring Consortium Theatre Company, Liberian Girl, Royal Court).

Video designer Keith Skretch also joins the creative team, with fight direction by RC Annie.

Tickets:

Brave New World is at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday 10^th to Saturday 14^th November 2015.

Tickets* are priced from £17.40

*All ticket prices include a £1 restoration levy.

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk