A cast including Christine Bottomley, Neil D’Souza and Michael Shaeffer will join the previously announced Maxine Peake in Zinnie Harris’ How To Hold Your Breath when it premieres at the Royal Court in February.
Harris’ dark and witty play marks all three performers’ return to the Sloane Square venue. Bottomley’s Royal Court credits include Alaska and Ladybird, D’Souza was last seen in 2014’s Khandan, and Schaeffer, whose recent London stage credits include Little Revolution and Mr Burns at the Almeida, returns following his performance in Friday Night Sex.
They are joined in the cast by Peter Forbes, whose credits include Afterlife and Never So Good at the National Theatre, Siobhán McSweeney, who was last seen on the capital’s stage in Fathers And Sons at the Donmar Warehouse, and Danusia Samal, who recently appeared in two Tricycle Theatre productions, The House That Will Not Stand and Circles.
Playing from 4 February to 21 March in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, How To Hold Your Breath takes a dive into our recent European history, providing an epic look at the true cost of our principles and how we live now.
The production is directed by the venue’s Artistic Director and opens following Jack Thorne and John Tiffany’s latest collaboration Hope, a funny and scathing fable attacking the squeeze on local government, which closes on 10 January.