Amanda Hale and Sarah Solemani are to join Shohreh Aghdashloo in Bijan Sheibani’s Iran-set production of The House Of Bernarda Alba at the Almeida theatre from 19 January (press night 26 January).
Hale is a London stage regular whose credits include The Glass Menagerie at the Lyric Hammersmith, Wastwater and The City at the Royal Court, After Dido and King Lear at the Young Vic and Sheibani’s production of Our Class at the National Theatre.
Solemani has been seen on stage in Pornography at the Tricycle, Burning Cars at the Hampstead theatre and The Graduate in the West End. She is also known for playing Becky in BB3 sitcom Him And Her.
Also joining them in The House Of Bernarda Alba are Jasmina Daniel (currently in The Last Of The Duchess at the Hampstead theatre), Seline Hizli (Jumpy at the Royal Court) and Pandora Colin (After The Dance at the National Theatre), along with Badria Timini, Hara Yannas, Jan Bertish and Mia Soteriou.
Sheibani’s production relocates Lorca’s best known work from Spain to rural Iran, with Iranian star Aghdashloo making her UK stage debut as matriarch Bernarda Alba, who, following the death of her husband, decrees that she and her five daughters should enter eight years’ mourning. While eldest daughter Angustias (Colin) seems likely to escape this fate, her siblings remain tied to the strict confines of the house, where jealousy and repressed sexuality rise to the surface as their mother’s oppression increases.
The House Of Bernarda Alba plays at the Almeida theatre following Reasons To Be Pretty, which begins previews this Thursday and runs until 14 January.
CB