Ron Cook, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Harry Attwell and Michael Hadley are among the familiar faces joining Eddie Redmayne and Andrew Buchan in Richard II at the Donmar Warehouse this December.
The quartet, who all appeared in last year’s production of King Lear at the Donmar, have been recruited once again by director Michael Grandage for his final production as Artistic Director of the intimate Covent Garden venue.
Cook, who plays the Duke of York, is a Donmar regular, having also previously appeared in the Donmar West End productions of Hamlet and Twelfth Night. He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as making West End appearances in Art, Glengarry Glen Ross and Juno And The Paycock.
Bennett-Warner, who played Cordelia to Derek Jacobi’s Lear, returns to the Donmar to play Queen Isabel. A rising star of London theatre, her credits include Caroline, Or Change and Double Feature at the National Theatre and The Lion King in the West End.
In addition to King Lear, Atwell (Exton) appeared alongside Cook in the Donmar West End productions of Hamlet and Twelfth Night, while Hadley (John of Gaunt) has previously been seen in the Donmar’s Othello, The Little Foxes and The Vortex, which was Grandage’s inaugural production for the venue, back in 2002.
The cast also includes Donmar graduates Stefano Braschi, Sean Jackson, Ben Turner and Ashley Zhangazha, who, along with Phillip Joseph, also appeared in Grandage’s National Theatre directorial debut, Danton’s Death, last year.
They are joined by experienced actors Sian Thomas (Spring Awakening, Fram, The Price) and Daniel Flynn (Emperor And Galilean, The White Guard), both making their Donmar debuts.
Recent drama school graduates Joseph Timms, Michael Marcus and Daniel Easton complete the cast.
Richard II, Shakespeare’s tale of the decline of a kingdom and the solitude of power, marks the end of Grandage’s decade as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. He leaves the venue after much acclaim, numerous awards, and many West End and Broadway transfers, to pursue freelance work, leaving the venue in the hands of outgoing Bush theatre Artistic Director Josie Rourke.
CB