Mrs Briggs star Daniel Mays will return to the London stage next month to appear in E.V. Crowe’s new drama Hero at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin, Mays will be joined by Liam Garrigan, Tim Steed and Susannah Wise in the drama that tackles issues surrounding a primary school teacher coming out of the closet.
Playing from 23 November, Garrigan will take centre stage as Danny, a heroic teacher afraid of nothing. The actor was last at the Sloane Square venue in The Honeymoon Suite, but is arguably best known for his screen work which includes appearances on series Strike Back, The Pillars Of The Earth and Land Girls.
Mays will reunite with Garrigan following the Donmar Warehouse’s Moonlight, in which they both appeared, to play his colleague Jamie who is convinced Danny should be straight. The acclaimed stage and screen actor is a familiar face at the Royal Court Theatre, with Hero marking his seventh outing at the venue following Scarborough, Motortown, The Winterling, Ladybird, Just A Bloke and The One With The Oven.
On screen, Mays was last seen in the high profile television drama Mrs Biggs and has appeared in numerous films including Made In Dagenham, Atonement, Vera Drake and The Bank Job, as well as television series Ashes To Ashes, The Street, Doctor Who and the critically revered Red Riding trilogy.
Steed and Wise complete the cast as Danny and Jamie’s other halves. Steed was last seen at the Royal Court in The Pride, with other credits including Rocket To The Moon at the National Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing, while Wise, who recently appeared in the Young Vic’s hugely successful A Doll’s House, returns following her role in the venue’s Seven Jewish Children.
Hero plays in the theatre’s diminutive space following Dominic West’s starring turn in The River, the forthcoming production that marks the reunion of the creative team from the stage phenomenon Jerusalem.