Full casting has been announced for the production of Clifford Odets's Awake And Sing! which opens the Almeida's autumn season. Joining the previously announced Stockard Channing are Trevor Cooper, Kieron Jecchinis, Paul Jesson, Nigel Lindsay, John Lloyd Fillingham, John Rogan, Ben Turner and Jodie Whittaker. The production is directed by Almeida Artistic Director Michael Attenborough and runs from 31 August-20 October (press night 6 September).
Whittaker is one of British drama's hottest properties. Since graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2005, she has already taken a leading role in an award-winning film, Roger Michell's Venus, and appeared at the Almeida (Enemies, Chain Play) and the Trafalgar Studios (Bash).
Cooper is a West End regular, having trodden the boards in productions including By The Bog Of Cats, The Lieutenant Of Inishmore (Wyndham’s), The Iceman Cometh (Old Vic) and A Night At The Dogs (Soho). His last appearance at the Almeida came last year in The Late Henry Moss.
Jesson is another cast member with plenty of experience, having worked extensively with the RSC, National Theatre, Liverpool Everyman and Manchester's Library Theatre. In London he has been seen in The Seagull (Royal Court), Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse) and The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe), while on film he has worked with Mike Leigh on Vera Drake and All Or Nothing.
Lindsay played Nathan Detroit in the popular production of Guys And Dolls in 2005, but could be considered an Almeida regular, having previously appeared in Romance, The Earthly Paradise and The Tower at the North London venue. Rogan is another performer with previous Almeida history, performing in both Macbeth and The Iceman Cometh. Elsewhere his credits include Julius Caesar (Barbican), Buried Child, The Cripple Of Inishmann and Jumpers (all National Theatre).
Awake And Sing! tells the story of the Bergers, a lower-middle-class, three-generation Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment during the 1930s. Odets gives a true depiction of the hardships faced by working-class immigrant families during the 1930s, documenting their strife and hopes, and capturing the pressured existence of such a crowded home.
Awake And Sing! is followed at the Almeida by a revival of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine and family show Marianne Dreams.
MA