The Park Theatre’s forthcoming production of The Gathered Leaves is becoming quite the family affair after father/son duo Alexander and Tom Hanson has been announced to join Jane Asher and her daughter Katie Scarfe in the show’s world premiere next month.
The drama about a family that comes together for the first time in more than 17 years will play at the Park200 from 15 July to 15 August.
Alexander, whose recent London stage credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Stephen Ward and Accolade at the St James Theatre, and recent RADA graduate Tom will play father and son Giles and Simon in the production.
Clive Francis, who returns to the Park Theatre following his 2013 performance in Thark, will head up the family as 74-year-old William alongside Asher as his on-stage wife Olivia.
Alongside Hanson and Asher’s real-life daughter Scarfe, National Theatre regular Nick Sampson completes the family’s second generation as Samuel, while completing the line-up as the trio’s children, Emily and Aurelia, are Georgina Beedle (Game, Almeida Theatre) and Amber James, for whom the production marks her professional debut.
Described by Francis as “An exemplary piece of writing, wittily bittersweet and very disturbing”, The Gathered Leaves centres on the Pennington family as they gather with the aim of putting the past well and truly behind them.
The production, which is directed by current The Woman In Black star Antony Eden, will open following An Audience With Jimmy Savile, the story of how one man used fame, intimidation and manipulation to fool the very institutions we trust, which opens next week starring TV impressionist Alistair McGowan.