The Donmar Warehouse today announces full casting for playwright Steve Waters’ searing new drama Limehouse. The play imagines what happened when the ‘Gang of Four’ met in 1981 to break away from the Labour party and form the SDP. Casting includes Roger Allam as Roy Jenkins and Tom Goodman-Hill as David Owen, joining the previously announced Paul Chahidi as Bill Rogers and Debra Gillett as Shirley Williams. Nathalie Armin will play Debbie Owen, wife of David Owen and co-host of that momentous day in east London. The production is directed by Olivier Award-winning Polly Findlay, who makes her Donmar debut.
A divisive left-wing leader at the helm of the Labour party. A Conservative prime minister battling with her cabinet. An identity crisis on a national scale.
This is Britain 1981.
One Sunday morning, four prominent Labour politicians – Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins and David Owen – gather in private at Owen’s home in Limehouse, east London. They are desperate to find a political alternative. Should they split their party, divide their loyalties, and risk betraying everything they believe in? Would they be starting afresh, or destroying forever the tradition that nurtured them?
Steve Waters’ thrilling new drama takes us behind closed doors to imagine the personal conflicts behind the making of political history.
Limehouse is a fictionalised account of real events. It is not endorsed by the individuals portrayed.
Steven Waters’ Limehouse plays at the Donmar Warehouse from Thursday 2 March till Saturday 15 April. For more information and to book tickets, visit the venues website.