The Wire star Clarke Peters will make his Hampstead theatre debut next month when he stars in Olivier Award-winning director Terry Johnson’s production of David Mamet’s politically charged drama Race.
Peters will be joined in the UK premiere of the gripping legal drama by Jasper Britton, Charles Daish and Nina Toussaint-White when it begins previews from 23 May.
Peters and Britton will star as attorneys Henry and Jack who represent Daish’s Charles, a white man accused of raping a black woman. As Henry and Jack grapple with the evidence alongside their associate Susan (Toussaint-White), they find themselves also having to deal with the reality of their own perceptions of race when faced with the subtle shades between being a victim and being victimised.
While Peters may be best known for his leading roles in HBO series Treme and The Wire, the actor has appeared in many productions on the London stage across his hugely successful career including Mourning Becomes Electra and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the National Theatre, The Amen Corner at the Tricycle, Kiss Of The Spiderwoman at the Shaftesbury theatre and The Iceman Cometh at the Almeida. The actor also found success with his own musical Five Guys Named Moe, which played at Theatre Royal Stratford East and the West End.
Britton was last seen at the Hampstead theatre in 2009’s Private Lives and boasts numerous other stage credits including the RSC’s West End productions of The Taming Of The Shrew and Marat/Sade, Fram and Oedipus at the National Theatre and Little Shop Of Horrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Casualty’s Daish returns to the stage following his last performance in the Donmar Warehouse’s 2009 award-winning production of A Streetcar Named Desire, and reunites with Race director Johnson following their work together on the West End production of Rain Man. His other many credits include Journey’s End at the Duke of York’s and Julius Caesar at the Lyric Hammersmith.
In contrast to her fellow company members, Race will mark Toussaint-White’s professional theatrical debut following her success on screen in series including Switch, Scott And Bailey, Doctor Who, EastEnders and Primeval.
Race plays until 29 June at the Hampstead theatre following the venue’s current high-profile production #aiww: The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei, which will open to the press this week.