Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon will be joined by Mark Hadfield, Claudie Blakley, Marcus Fraser and Alex Macqueen in London’s upcoming production of comic play The Painkiller.
Sean Foley’s adaptation of Francis Veber’s dark farce runs as part of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Season at the West End’s Garrick Theatre from 5 March.
The casting reunites Made In Dagenham’s Hadfield with Branagh and Brydon, the trio having previously starred in The Painkiller when it originally ran at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
Newcomer Blakley is a London stage regular with productions including Chimerica, Rules For Living and Di And Viv And Rose to her name. Macqueen is a rarer stage performer, but has a host of screen credits to his name, including playing the much maligned Neil’s Dad in The Inbetweeners. Fraser, a recent graduate of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, makes his professional debut with the production.
The Painkiller tells the story of two men in two lonely hotel rooms separated only by an adjoining door. One of them is a killer, the other wants to die. What could go wrong?
The production is the fourth in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s season. It follows the current revival of Tricycle Theatre hit Red Velvet, which stars Adrian Lester as Ida Aldridge, the young black actor asked to play Othello in London in 1833 as the public rioted in the street about slavery.