Sophie Okonedo to lead cast of A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY at Donmar Warehouse
Photo credit: Felicity McCabe
The Donmar Warehouse’s Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch have announced the full cast and creative team for A Month in the Country by Brian Friel, after Ivan Turgenev, which plays at the London venue from 22 August - 3 October.
Sophie Okonedo (Medea, @sohoplace) leads the company as Natalya Petrovna, and she is joined by Thomas Arnold (Mnemonic, National Theatre) as Arkady Islayev, Jessica Brindle (Christmas Day, Almeida Theatre) as Katya, Susan Brown (Home, I’m Darling, National Theatre) as Anna Islayeva, Rachelle Diedericks (Mother Courage and her Children, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Vera Aleksandrovna, Patrick Gibson (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Young Vic) as Aleksey Belyayev, Mark Hadfield (Dr Strangelove, West End) as Herr Schaaf, Michael Hodgson (Waiting for Godot, Citizens Theatre/Tour) as Alfanasy Bolshintsov, Jonathan Livingstone (A Ghost in Your Ear, Hampstead Theatre) as Matvey, Alistair Petrie (Hamlet, National Theatre/New York) as Michel Rakitin, Daniel Rigby (One Man Two Guvnors, National Theatre/West End/New York) as Ignaty Shpigelsky, and Amanda Wilkin (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, RSC) as Lizaveta Bogdanovna.
Hundreds of women would envy me, wouldn’t they?
A beautiful house in the Russian countryside.
A doting husband, a circle of admirers.
A life of order, tranquillity and quiet restraint.
It’s enough to make you scream.
Natalya Petrovna looks to all the world like a contented woman, but the arrival of a penniless young tutor stirs a restless heart, igniting a spark of desire that sets the Summer ablaze.
A Month in the Country pits passion against propriety, as a cast of characters struggle to reconcile the lives they lead with the happiness they crave.
Joining director Lyndsey Turner on the creative team are designer Leslie Travers, sound designer Max Pappenheim, lighting designer Tim Lutkin, movement director and intimacy coordinator Anna Morrissey, composer Angus MacRae, and casting director Lotte Hines CDG.
