Lisa Dillon will star in the forthcoming production of Brendan Cowell’s tale about two children abandoned in a chicken coop, which opens at the Trafalgar Studio 2 later this year.
Playing from 4 June (press night 6 June) to 29 June, Happy New is set in the Australian outback and tells the story of Danny and Lyle, two siblings discovered living with hens after being deserted by their mother. In the years that follow, they become media celebrities and meet sultry television journalist Pru, but what happens when society gets bored of them?
Last seen on the London stage opposite Stephen Mangan in Joe Penhall’s far-fetched comedy Birthday at the Royal Court theatre, Dillon’s theatre credits include The Taming Of The Shrew and Othello for the RSC, A Flea In Her Ear and Design For Living at the Old Vic theatre, and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Present Laughter at the National Theatre.
The actress will be joined in the production by William Troughton, whose stage credits include West End productions The Ladykillers and The Woman In Black, and Joel Samuels, who has appeared on stage in productions including Murder at the Gate theatre and Pere Fouettard at the Battersea Arts Centre, but is more well known for his television roles in Doctors, The Bill and Holby City.
Directed by Robert Shaw, Happy New will open at the Trafalgar Studio 2 following another story about siblings, Third Finger, Left Hand, which tells the tale of two sisters who come together following their mother’s death to reminisce over a box of old photographs.