Daniel Betts will take the lead role in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of To Kill A Mockingbird when it returns to the alfresco venue from 28 August.
Betts, who follows in the footsteps of Robert Sean Leonard to play Atticus Finch, returns to the London stage following his recent performance in Sweet Bird Of Youth at the Old Vic.
The actor is joined in the cast by Zackary Momoh as Tom Robinson and Christopher Akrill as Boo Radley. While Momoh’s recent stage credits include From Morning To Midnight at the National Theatre, Akrill is better known for his career as a dancer, which has recently seen him star in The Most Incredible Thing at Sadler’s Wells. Akrill has also appeared in Joe Wright’s hit film Anna Karenina and ITV’s Mr Selfridge.
Completing the cast are composer Phil King, who returns to perform his critically acclaimed score, Geoff Aymer (The Lightning Child, Shakespeare’s Globe), David Carlyle (Three Sisters, Southwark Playhouse), Natalie Grady (Rafta Rafta, National Theatre), Susan Lawson-Reynolds (The Scottsboro Boys, Young Vic), Christopher Saul (RSC’s King Lear), Jamie Kenna (War Horse, New London Theatre) and Call The Midwife’s Victoria Bewick.
The company of young performers will include Jemima Bennett, Ava Potter, Rosie Boore, Harry Bennett, Arthur Franks, Billy Price, Leo Heller, Connor Brundish and Milo Panni.
Based on Harper Lee’s prize-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird sees racial injustice envelop a small-town community and follows lawyer Atticus Finch as he seeks to find the truth, and his daughter Scout, who brings new hope to a neighbourhood in turmoil.
The production, which plays at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 13 September when it embarks on a UK tour, will follow The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess, which closes on 23 August.