London stage regulars Ian Gelder and David Burke will join the previously announced Jessica Raine, Linda Bassett, Michael Jibson and Emma Stansfield in the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Arnold Wesker’s Roots.
Gelder and Burke, whose careers have seen them star in productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and across the West End, will play Stan Mann and Mr Bryant in the 1958-set drama about a woman finding her voice amid unprecedented social change.
Raine, who is best known for her role in BBC drama Call The Midwife but boasts National Theatre credits including Earthquakes In London and Rocket To The Moon, will play the woman at the heart of Wesker’s play, Beatie Bryant, who has fallen in love with a young socialist while on a trip to London and now waits for his arrival at her family farm in Norfolk, her head swimming with new ideas.
Bassett, a Royal Court regular in recent years, is also well known to audiences of BBC Sunday night drama, having starred in Lark Rise To Candleford.
The cast is completed by Lisa Ellis, Carl Prekopp and Nic Jackman, who makes his professional stage debut in the production.
Roots, which is directed by James Macdonald (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei, Glengarry Glen Ross), begins its run at the Donmar Warehouse on 3 October, following the powerhouse producing venue’s current show The Same Deep Water As Me, which opened last week.