Eleanor Bron, Robert Glenister and Peter Sullivan will join the previously announced Helen McCrory in the Donmar Warehouse’s production of The Late Middle Classes.
Simon Grey’s comedy tells the story of Celia, a wife and mother bored to distraction who turns to gin and tennis for entertainment. Her husband Charles is consumed by his work and their son is only just beginning to learn about life. Written in 1999, The Late Middle Classes is both a funny and melancholic play that centres on a young boy trapped between two types of oppressive love, revealing the frustration, secrects and guilt of middle class respectability in 1950s England.
Joining McCrory, Bron makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in the production. Her previous theatre work includes All About My Mother at the Old Vic, In Extremis at Shakespeare’s Globe and Doña Rosita The Spinster at the Almeida. Her TV appearances include Absolutely Fabulous, Fat Friends, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and Vanity Fair. On film, Bron’s credits include Wimbledon, Iris, House Of Mirth and Alfie.
Glenister plays the son’s piano tutor Brownlow. His London stage credits include Wrecks at the Bush theatre, Never So Good at the National and The Winterling at the Royal Court. Glenister is best known for his TV work, appearing in Spooks, Hustle, Moving On and Law And Order UK.
Taking on the role of Celia’s husband Charles is Sullivan. The actor was most recently seen in The Power Of Yes at the National. His other stage credits include Rosmersholm at the Almeida, and The Pain And The Itch, Rock ‘N’ Roll and Stoning Mary at the Royal Court Theatre. On screen he has appeared in Spooks, New Tricks and Extras.
The role of Celia and Charles’s son Holly will be shared by Laurence Belcher, Harvey O’Neil and Felix Zadek-Ewing.
The Late Middle Classes opens on 1 June, with previews from 27 May, and closes 17 July.
CM