Juliet Stevenson and James Fleet will lead the cast of Richard Bean’s climate change black comedy The Heretic, which opens at the Royal Court on 10 February (previews from 4 February).
Stevenson plays Dr Diane Cassell, a lead academic in Earth Sciences who is at odds with the orthodoxy over man-made climate change. Finding herself increasingly vilified, she is forced to ask if the issue is political as well as personal; is the belief in man-made global warming a 21st century religion?
A familiar face on stage and screen, Stevenson has previously appeared at the Royal Court in Alice Trilogy, The Country, Other Worlds and Death And The Maiden, for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award in 1992. She was last seen on stage in Duet For One at the Almeida theatre, which transferred to the West End and earned Stevenson a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress earlier this year. Her numerous films include Bend It Like Beckham, Truly, Madly, Deeply and Mona Lisa Smile, while she has recently been seen in TV drama Accused.
Fleet is no stranger to Bean’s work, having appeared in the playwright’s In The Club at the Hampstead theatre in 2007. Fleet’s other recent stage credits include The Observer at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night at the Duke of York’s theatre and Cloud Nine at the Almeida theatre. He is also well known for his screen work which includes hit sitcom The Vicar Of Dibley.
The cast of The Heretic also includes Lydia Wilson, who last month starred in Blasted at the Lyric Hammersmith, Leah Whittaker and Adrian Hood, who both appeared in the Royal Court’s production of Bean’s Harvest, and Johnny Flynn.
They are directed by Royal Court Deputy Artistic Director Jeremy Herrin, whose work at the venue includes Spur Of The Moment, That Face, The Vertical Hour and the current production of Kin.
The Heretic plays in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs following Get Santa!, which ends its run on 22 January.
CB