Casting has been announced for the Royal Court theatre’s forthcoming production Remembrance Day, with Lark Rise To Candleford’s Ruby Bentall starring in Aleksey Scherbak’s political drama.
Joining the young actress are Michelle Fairley, Ewan Hooper, Sam Kelly, Iwan Rheon, Luke Norris, Struan Rodger, Michael Nardone and Nick Court.
Bentall, whose credits also include The Miracle and DNA at the National Theatre, will play Anya, a teenager who becomes a political activist against the wishes of her father. Set in Latvia, Remembrance Day takes an unflinching look at the fight for the political soul of the country, as a group of Latvians who fought for the Third Reich take to the streets to parade as heroes.
Playing Sveta is Fairley, who was most recently seen in Dancing At Lughnasa at the Old Vic and has also appeared in Greta Garbo Comes To Donegal at the Tricycle and Othello at the Donmar Warehouse.
Her co-star Hooper last appeared at the Royal Court in The Weir and Toast, which also starred fellow cast member Kelly. Kelly can currently be seen on the London stage in the Garrick theatre’s When We Are Married and is perhaps best known for his parts in long-running television series Barbara, ‘Allo ‘Allo and Porridge.
Star of the popular E4 series Misfits, Rheon started his career on stage in cult musical Spring Awakening, which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award. He returned to the stage for the National Theatre of Wales’s The Devil Inside Him and has also appeared on BBC 2’s Grandma’s House.
National Theatre regular Norris has appeared in The Habit Of Art and War Horse at the Southbank venue, as well as acting for the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Gods Weep and Days Of Significance. Rodger was most recently seen in the Barbican Theatre’s Julius Caesar, while Nardone appeared at the venue in the National Theatre of Scotland’s acclaimed Black Watch. Completing the cast, Court has credits including Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe and Antony And Cleopatra and Julius Caesar for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Remembrance Day is directed by Michael Longhurst and opens on 23 March, with previews from 18 March, at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. The drama follows Pedro Miguel Rozo’s Our Private Life, which is presented alongside Remembrance Day as part of the Royal Court’s International Playwrights season and opens tonight.
CM