Additional casting has been announced for Queen Anne, in which Romola Garai will star as Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough alongside Emma Cunniffe as the eponymous monarch in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production.
Completing the cast will be Daisy Ashford (recent credits including the RSC’s Love For Love) as Lady Clarendon, Sheena Bhattessa (Romeo And Juliet – National Theatre) as Lady Somerset, Gabrielle Brooks (Lazarus – King’s Cross Theatre) as Jezebel and Lady Russell, Dave Fishley (Macbeth – Theatre Severn) as King William III and Groom, Jonny Glynn (the RSC’s Henry IV Parts I & II) as Jonathan Swift, Chu Omambala (RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as John Churchill and Sid Sagar (The Invisible Hand – Tricycle Theatre) as Samuel Masham and Inns of Court Singer.
They join the previously announced Jonathan Christie (Arthur Maynwaring), Michael Fenton Stevens (Dr John Radcliffe), James Garnon (Robert Harley), Richard Hope (Sidney Godolphin), Hywel Morgan (Prince George), Beth Park (Abigail Hill) and Carl Prekopp (Daniel Defoe).
Queen Anne originally opened at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2015. It will transfer to Theatre Royal Haymarket for a thirteen week limited run from 30 June until 30 September, with a press night on 10 July.
Written by Helen Edmundson (The Heresy of Love, RSC) and directed by Natalie Abrahami (Happy Days, Young Vic), this gripping new play explores the life of one of England’s little-known sovereigns and her intimate friendship with her childhood confidante Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
A timely production for turbulent political climes, the reign of Queen Anne saw the rise of the free press as well as the Act of Union between England and Scotland.