The Donmar Warehouse today announces full casting for Elinor Cook’s new version of Ibsen’s masterpiece The Lady from the Sea. As previously announced Nikki Amuka-Bird will play Ellida, and she is joined by Ellie Bamber, Jake Fairbrother, Jim Findley, Jonny Holden, Finbar Lynch, Tom McKay and Helena Wilson.
Following his production of the Olivier Award-nominated One Night in Miami.... Donmar Associate Director Kwame Kwei-Armah returns to direct Ibsen’s moving play about duty and self- determination.
Ellida, the lighthouse-keeper’s daughter, is trapped in her marriage and longs for the sea. When a former lover returns from years of absence, she is forced to decide between freedom and the new life she has made for herself.
Making theatre accessible to as many people as possible remains at the heart of the Donmar’s mission. The Lady from the Sea has KLAXON tickets available throughout the run: an allocation of tickets, starting from £10, put on sale every Monday for performances in the following three weeks. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.
The Donmar’s YOUNG+FREE scheme, which provides free tickets to those aged 25 and under, will also continue throughout The Lady from the Sea, with releases for tickets at the end of every month. YOUNG+FREE is made possible thanks to donations from Donmar audiences via PAY IT FORWARD.
The Donmar has allocated almost 7,500 free tickets to those aged 25 and under since September 2016, thanks to their partnership with Delta Airlines and public donations.
Audiences can sign up to receive information about ticket releases on the Donmar's website www.donmarwarehouse.com
Nikki Amuka-Bird (Ellida) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after appearing in World Music by Steve Waters in 2004. Other theatre credits include God Bless the Child, Birdland, Love and Information (Royal Court),The Trial of Ubu (Hampstead),Welcome to Thebes (National Theatre), andTwelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic) for which she was nominated for an Ian Charleston Award. She has worked extensively in television and was BAFTA-nominated for her role in the BBC adaption of Zadie Smith’s NW. She is perhaps best known for her appearance in BBC One’s Small Island, as well with other TV credits including Quarry, Denial, Inside No.9,Luther,House of Fools,Sinbad,Survivors,The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Torchwood, Robin Hood, The Line of Beauty and Death in Paradise.
Ellie Bamber (Hilde) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in The Lady from the Sea. Ellie’s theatre credits include High Society (The Old Vic) for which she received a nomination for Best Newcomer in a Musical at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory). Television credits include The Musketeers and A Mother's Son. For film Ellie’s credits include Taipei, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Extracurricular Activities, Nocturnal Animals, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Falling.
Jake Fairbrother (The Stranger) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in The Lady from the Sea. Jake’s theatre credits include Twelfth Night (Crucible/ ETT), The Last Days Of Troy (Royal Exchange, Shakespeare’s Globe), Orphan Of Zhao, A Life Of Galileo and Boris Gudonov (RSC), Hamlet (National Theatre) and Macbeth (Cheek By Jowl). Television credits include NW, Transylvania and Holby. Film credits include Stratton, Sand Castle, City of Tiny Lights and Skyfall.
Jim Findley (Ballested) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in The Lady from the Sea. Theatre credits include: Inside Out Of Mind (Meeting Ground Theatre/Lakeside Arts); The Duchess of Malfi, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth, A Flea in Her Ear, The Cherry Orchard, Mother Courage(Nottingham Playhouse), Watership Down (Lyric Hammersmith), A River Sutra (Three Mills Island Studios), Playboy of the West Indies (Oxford Playhouse/Tricycle Theatre), Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (Almeida Theatre), where he also appeared in Maya Angelou’s production of Moon On A Rainbow Shawl, V.S Naipaul’s Miguel St (Latchmere Theatre) which he also co-adapted. Television credits include Silent Witness, Doctors, Livin’ It, EastEnders, Casualty, Dr Who-Resurrection Of The Daleks, and Johnny Jarvis. Film credits include Cry Freedom, Socrates and Playing Away.
Jonny Holden (Lynstrand) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in The Lady from the Sea. Jonny’s theatre credits include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Headlong / Abbey Theatre), Blood Stained Tree (Young Vic), The Man with the Hammer (Theatre Royal Plymouth), and Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Crucible). Television credits include Paula.
Finbar Lynch (Dr Wangel) previously appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in Translations by Brian Friel, as well as Hecuba, Fool for Love and To the Green Fields Beyond. He also previously starred in the Donmar in the West End production of The Silence of the Sea at the Trafalgar Studios. His extensive theatre credits include Richard III (Almeida Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Hothouse, Antony and Cleopatra, Not About Nightingales and King Lear (National Theatre), Antigone (Barbican Centre / World Tour), Desire Under The Elms, The Big Fellah (Lyric Hammersmith), The Fairy
Queen (Glyndebourne / Paris / New York), The Duchess of Malfi and Dancing at Lughnasa (The Old Vic), Faith Healer (Bristol Old Vic), The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist (Chichester Festival Theatre / Liverpool Everyman), The Fastest Clock in the Universe (Hampstead Theatre / Leicester Curve), Portrait of a Lady and A Doll’s House (Bath Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Rose Theatre Kingston), Three Sisters on Hope Street (Hampstead Theatre / Liverpool Everyman), Ghosts (Gate Theatre), The Tempest, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, The Alchemist, The Virtuoso, Amphibians, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC), The Birthday Party (Duchess Theatre), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Manchester Royal Exchange) and Three Sisters (Royal Court / Gate Theatre Dublin). For television his credits include Foyle’s War, DCI Banks, Breathless, Game of Thrones, Silk, Richard II, Proof, Dalziel and Pascoe, Waking the Dead, Red Cap, Atilla the Hun, Second Sight, Mind Games, Holby City, Small World, Between the Lines and Glenroe. Film credits include The World We Knew, Black 47, Property of the State, Suffragette, Child 44, Departure, The Numbers Station, Matilde, To Kill a King, Lost Batallion, King Lear, Scold’s Bridle, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Schooner and Rawhead Rex.
Tom McKay (Arnholm) previously appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in Frost/Nixon. Tom’s other theatre credits include Drones Baby Drones (Arcola Theatre), Julius Caesar (The Globe), The Great Game (Tricycle Theatre/ U.S Tour / Public Theatre NYC), Rough Cuts (Royal Court), Dedication (Nuffield Theatre) and Henry V (National Theatre). Television credits include Primeval, Spooks, The Bastard Executioner and White Queen. For film his credits include Kill Command, Chromophobia, Imagine Me and You, Clubbed and The Harrow.
Helena Wilson (Bolette) recently graduated from Oxford University. Helena’s theatre credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (The Old Vic), Romeo and Juliet (Thelma Holt International Tour), The Alchemist (OUDS National Tour), Breathing Corpses (Knack Kneed Theatre), The Architect (Hypnotist Theatre), Dahling, You Were Marvellous! (Burton Taylor Studio), Lord of the Flies (O'Reilly Theatre), Slag (Burton Taylor Studio) and Cabaret (Robinson Theatre).
Elinor Cook (Writer) was the winner of the George Devine Award 2013 for Most Promising Playwright, and is currently under commission to the Gate Theatre and Warwick Arts Centre (co- commission). Her commission by Paines Plough for The Roundabout 2017 season, Out of Love, is now playing in Edinburgh. Plays include Extra Yaran (Orange Tree Theatre), Pilgrims (HighTide Festival 2016), Ten Weeks and Image of an Unknown Woman (Gate Theatre), The Boy Preference (National Theatre Connections), The Girls Guide to Saving The World (HighTide Festival 2014), and This is Where we got to When you Came in (Bush Theatre). In 2012 Elinor was part of the Royal Court’s ‘Supergroup’ and Paines Plough’s ‘The Big Room’ in association with Channel 4. For television, Elinor wrote an episode of The Secrets for BBC One.
Kwame Kwei-Armah (Director) is Associate Director at the Donmar where his directing credits include the Olivier Award-nominated One Night In Miami.... Kwame is an award-winning British playwright, director, actor, and broadcaster. His plays include Marley, Beneatha’s Place, Seize the Day, A Bitter Herb, Blues Brother Soul Sister, Big Nose, and his seminal triptych of plays chronicling the struggles of the British African-Caribbean community in London—Elmina’s Kitchen,Fix Up
and Statement of Regret—which each premiered at the National Theatre between 2003-2007. With Elmina’s Kitchen he became the first Black Briton to have a play produced in London’s West End; Elmina’s Kitchen and Let There be Love each had their American debuts at Center Stage in the US. He wrote the 2010 teleplay, Walter’s War, about the first black commissioned officer to lead British troops during WWI. As an actor, Kwei-Armah has appeared in Casualty, Holby City, Afternoon Play, Between the Lines and The Bill. He has presented documentary programmes for Channel 4 including Christianity: A History and On Tour With the Queen. He has also appeared on Newsnight, Question Time and The Culture Show. He is Artistic Director of Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland, where he made his directing debut with Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours. Since then he has directed One Love: The Bob Marley Musical at the Birmingham Rep, the Pulitzer nominated playwright Esa Davis’s 10-minute play Dave Chappelle was Right for the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, and two successful productions of his play Let There Be Love at the Tricycle Theatre. Kwei-Armah was Goodwill Ambassador for Trade for Christian Aid; Chancellor of University of the Arts London; and served as Artistic Director for the World Arts Festival in Senegal, a month-long World Festival of Black Arts and Culture. He was awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to drama.
THE LADY FROM THE SEA
By Henrik Ibsen
In a new version by Elinor Cook
Thursday 12 October – Saturday 2 December 2017
Press Night Wednesday 18 October 2017 at 7pm
Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
www.donmarwarehouse.com
Box Office: 020 3282 3808 (No booking fees, £1 postage fee may apply) Telephone Mon-Sat 10am-6pm
In person Mon-Sat, 10am-curtain up (No booking fee)
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.30pm Matinees Thu & Sat: 2.30pm
TICKET PRICES
Stalls £40, £30 Circle £30, £20, £10
PREVIEW PRICES
Stalls £37.50, £27.50 Circle £27.50, £17.50
CONCESSIONS
For over 60s, £40 tickets reduced to £32.50 and £30 tickets reduced to £25 (matinees only).
£20 for disabled customers. Must be booked in advance and proof of eligibility must be shown on collection. Phone bookings only. A booking fee of £1 will be applied for delivery by post.
STANDING TICKETS
£10 standing tickets available every day from 10am in person at the box office (except 18 October).
ACCESS
The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is an infrared system in the main auditorium and there is also a hearing loop in the box office.
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
Tickets cost £20. To book call 020 7845 8573 or email access@donmarwarehouse.com For all other access enquiries or bookings call 0844 871 7624
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES – 7.30PM (captioned by Stagetext) Monday 20 November 2017, 7:30pm
AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE - 2.30PM (audio-described by Vocaleyes) (TOUCH TOUR AT 1.30PM)
Saturday 25 November 2017, 2:30pm
TRANSPORT & PARKING
Tubes: Covent Garden, Leicester Sq, Charing Cross, Holborn, Tottenham Court Road
Buses: Destination Leicester Sq.14, 19, 24, 29, 38, 176
Parking: Masterpark
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the Donmar encourages audiences to use public transport where possible.
