Natalie Cassidy and Anna Calder-Marshall will join Lisa Dillon and William Troughton to present a series of free public readings that will run alongside the West End premiere of Happy New at the Trafalgar Studio 2.
The production, which stars Dillon and Troughton, tells the story of two siblings discovered living with hens after being deserted by their mother and will play at the intimate Whitehall venue from 4 to 29 June, with the readings taking place towards the end of its run from 25 to 28 June.
Entitled Passion In Studio 2, the series of readings will see Calder-Marshall take on Anne Claire Poirier’s Let Me Go! (25 June), a passionate play about the death of the Canadian filmmaker’s daughter, a reading of Robert Shaw’s adaptation of Some Gorgeous Incident (26 June), James Kennaway’s notorious novel about life and love triangles in 1960s Soho, and Cassidy perform in Children Of Fate (28 June), Juan Radrigán’s modern classic exploring the lives of the marginalised and dispossessed in General Pinochet’s Chile.
Best known for her long-running role as Sonia Fowler in BBC soap EastEnders and later for her appearances in Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother, Cassidy has previously appeared on stage in productions including The Cherry Orchard at the Chichester Festival Theatre and Gertrude’s Secrets at the Arts theatre.
Calder-Marshall, who is currently appearing in Pastoral at the Soho theatre, is well-known for her performances on both stage and screen having appeared in productions including Martin Crimp’s In The Republic Of Happiness, which recently played at the Royal Court, the Olivier Award nominated production of Salt, Root And Roe at the Trafalgar Studios and 2009’s Love at the Lyric Hammersmith. Her on screen credits include films Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights, and BBC drama New Tricks.
Dillon, who was last seen on the London stage in Joe Penhall’s Birthday at the Royal Court, and Troughton, whose West End credits include The Woman In Black and The Ladykillers, are joined in Shaw’s production of Happy New by Joel Samuels, who reprises his role in the play following its UK premiere at the Old Red Lion theatre last year.
The three-hander will open next month following another of the Islington venue’s transfers The Play That Goes Wrong, which ends its run on 18 May.