The West End will welcome a new line-up of Prime Ministers, including David Calder, Mark Dexter and Michael Gould, when Peter Morgan’s The Audience returns to the capital with Kristin Scott Thomas in the lead role this spring.
The Olivier Award-winning play, which enjoyed a sell-out run in 2014 with Helen Mirren as Her Majesty The Queen, will return to the Apollo Theatre from 21 April to 25 July.
Directed by Stephen Daldry, the production follows the private discussions between Elizabeth II and the 12 Prime Ministers that have been in power during the course of her 60 year reign. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said, but The Audience imagines how each Prime Minister uses the sessions as a sounding board and a confessional, sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.
Calder, who can currently be seen in Jennifer Haley’s hit thriller The Nether at the Duke of York’s Theatre, will take on the role of Winston Churchill. His other theatre credits include The Doctor’s Dilemma and Hamlet at the National Theatre, while on screen he has appeared in television series including Titanic, Mr Selfridge and New Tricks.
Dexter will play David Cameron in the production. The actor, who is also soon to play the current PM on screen in Channel 4 drama Coalition, has previously appeared on stage in productions including Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Inherit The Wind at the Old Vic.
Taking on the role of John Major, Gould is currently appearing in the West End transfer of the Mark Strong-led A View From The Bridge. His other recent London stage credits include ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and 2011’s Hamlet at the Young Vic.
Britain’s only female Prime Minister will be played by Sylvestra Le Touzel, who follows in the footsteps of numerous actresses – The Audience’s Haydn Gwnne and Handbagged’s Stella Gonet and Fenella Woolgar – to take on the role of Margaret Thatcher in the West End in the past year. Le Touzel has worked extensively at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company but returns to the West End following performances in Hay Fever and An Inspector Calls.
Like Le Touzel, Nicholas Woodeson has big shoes to fill. The Chariots Of Fire actor will portray Harold Wilson, the role that earned Richard McCabe an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in last year’s production.
The cast of former leaders will also include Gordon Kennedy, who follows appearances in productions including the National Theatre’s trilogy The James Plays to play his Scottish namesake Gordon Brown, and David Robb (An Ideal Husband, Old Vic) in the role of Anthony Eden.
Other cast members include David Peart, Charlotte Moore, Marnie Brighton, Madeleine Jackson-Smith, Izzy Meikle-Small, Matt Plumb and Harry Feltham.
The production will open at the Apollo Theatre following the current run of Donmar Warehouse transfer My Night With Reg, which closes on 11 April.