Casting details have been released for The Family Plays, a double-bill of The Good Family and The Khomenko Family Chronicles, which plays in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs as part of the theatre’s international season.
The full cast is Samantha Spiro, Jeremy Swift, Harry Lloyd, Daisy Lewis and Lewis Lempereur-Palmer. They are directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins.
Spiro’s London theatre credits include Merrily We Roll Along at the Donmar Warehouse, Bedroom Farce at the Aldwych and Mike Leigh’s Two Thousand Years at the National. Swift appeared in Abigail’s Party, also by Leigh, at the Ambassadors in 2002, as well as Feelgood at the Hampstead and the Garrick. Lloyd’s face is familiar to fans of the current BBC series Robin Hood, in which he plays Will Scarlett. On stage he appeared in Bash at Trafalgar Studios in January this year and Manfred at the King’s Head in March.
Director Hill-Gibbins’s previous work includes Under The Curse at the Gate, A Thought In Three Parts at the BAC and Wedding in The Big Brecht Fest at the Young Vic earlier this year.
The Good Family, by Sweden’s Joakim Pirinen, translated by Gregory Motton, is a comedy about Lasse and his family, who discover just how interesting and funny their wonderful lives can be. The Khomenko Family Chronicles, by Ukrainian playwright Natalia Vorozhbit, translated by Sasha Dugdale, is a light-hearted family portrait pitched against the darker milestones of global history, including Chernobyl and the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.
The Family Plays run from 30 November-21 December (press night 5 December) in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
CB