Laura Wade’s new drama Posh, about an elite Oxford University dining society, boasts a cast of 14, including Leo Bill, Fiona Button, David Dawson, Kit Harington and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
Jolyon Coy, Richard Goulding, Harry Hadden-Paton, Charlotte Lucas, Joshua Mcguire, Tom Mison, James Norton, Daniel Ryan and Simon Shepherd complete the ensemble for the new tale about class, power, privilege and the influence of ‘old money’.
Posh, which began life as part of the Royal Court’s Rough Cuts season and has been over three years in development, tells of a meeting of the fictional ‘Riot Club’ as 10 boys prepare for a night of debauchery, decadence and takeover planning.
The cast ranges from London stage regulars to complete newcomers. Bill is a regular at the National Theatre, where he has appeared in The Reporter, The Hothouse, The Observer and Pains Of Youth. Button has starred in West End productions of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Madame De Sade and Ring Round The Moon, while Dawson’s credits include The Entertainer and Richard II at the Old Vic and an RSC production of Romeo And Juliet.
Rising star Lloyd-Hughes has credits including Rope at the Almeida theatre and Punk Rock at the Lyric Hammersmith, Harington is the former lead of War Horse, Ryan appeared in the National’s Gethsemane and the RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mison starred in When The Rain Stops Falling at the Almeida theatre.
Mcguire, by contrast, is still in his final year at RADA, though he has previously appeared in an RSC production of King John.
Posh runs at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs from 9 April, following current production Off The Endz, Bola Agbaje’s play which is as far removed from an Oxford dining club as it is possible to be. It tells of three friends who grew up on a London estate. Now in their 20s they want a different life, but how do they find a way out with temptation lurking around every corner?
MA