Alex Ferns (pictured left) and Emily Dobbs will lead the cast of August Strindberg’s The Father when Laurie Slade’s new version of the drama receives its London premiere at the Trafalgar Studios in March.
The production, which is directed by Abbey Wright, will play in the venue’s intimate Trafalgar Studio 2 from 11 March to 11 April.
A psychologically astute portrayal of gender roles, attitudes to marriage and the battle between science and religion, The Father follows a captain and his wife as an all-out war is triggered over a disagreement about their daughter’s future. Laura will stop at nothing to take control of her child’s future and when she suggests to the captain that he may not be the girl’s father it sets in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped.
EastEnders’ Ferns, who was last seen on the London stage in True West at the Tricycle Theatre, will play the Captain alongside Dobbs as his wife Laura. Dobbs, whose company Jagged Fence Productions is producing the play, was one of the three women producing shows as part of the recent One Stage Season at the St James Theatre, but also boasts a number of acting credits including The Seagull at Southwark Playhouse.
Ferns and Dobbs are joined in the cast by June Watson, who is reunited with director Wright following their work together on Mrs Lowry & Son at the Trafalgar Studio 2, Thomas Coombes (The Merchant Of Venice, Shakespeare’s Globe) and Barnaby Sax (Serious Money, Royal Court). Full casting is still to be announced.
Slade’s adaptation of the Strindberg classic originally played at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre in 2012. It will arrive at the Trafalgar Studio 2 following Clara Brennan’s two-hander Boa, starring Olivier Award winner Harriet Walter and her husband Guy Paul, which runs from 5 February to 7 March.