FRIDAY 11 – SATURDAY 26
MARCH
Book online at
watermill.org.uk or VIA the Box Office on 01635 46044
2 for 1 tickets available
as part of NATIONAL LOTTERY AND UK THEATRE
love your local theatre
campaign
Full
casting has been announced for the highly anticipated return of critically
acclaimed musical THE WICKER HUSBAND. Following the show’s premature
closure on its original press night on 16 March 2020, Artistic Director Paul
Hart, Executive Director Claire Murray and the team at Newbury’s The
Watermill Theatre are thrilled to welcome the creative team and cast to
The Watermill for a new run of the show this March.
Joseph Alessi
(Moonlight and Magnolias – Nottingham Playhouse and The Lorax –
Old Vic and Toronto) will play ‘Cobbler’, Gemma Sutton (Sweet Charity
– The Watermill, The Girl from the North Country – Gielgud and Toronto) will
play ‘Ugly Girl’, Olivier Award winner George Maguire (Sunny Afternoon
– West End, 20th Century Boy - touring) as ‘Wicker Husband’, Angela
Caesar (Caroline or Change - Playhouse Theatre, Chichester Festival
Theatre and National Theatre, Rags – Park Theatre) as ‘Cobbler's Wife’,
Jonathan Charles (The Butterfly Lion - Barn Theatre Cirencester, War
Horse - national tour) as ‘Innkeep’, Claire-Marie Hall (Operation
Mincemeat - Southwark Playhouse, The Colours - Soho Theatre) as ‘Innkeep's
Wife’, Jack Quarton (Amélie – Criterion, Assassins –
Watermill) as ‘Tailor’ and Davina Moon (The Last Temptation of Boris
Johnson – Park, Privates on Parade – Noel Coward) as ‘Tailor's Wife’,
Julian Forsyth (Local Hero - Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Sunset
Boulevard - ENO) as ‘Old Basket Maker’ with Jon Whitten as on-stage
band playing the Hammered Dulcimer, Rachel Barnes also as on-stage band,
and Pat Moran as onstage Musical Director.
Nisha Anil
(Rhia and The Tree
of Lights - Quirk
Theatre and Dr. Dolittle - Illyria Theatre)
and Sebastian Charles (Puppeteer for ‘Amal’ in The Walk - Good Chance and
Handspring Puppet Company) and Puppeteer and cover ‘Aslan’ in The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe – The Bridge)
will be the puppeteers of The Wicker Husband, with Tom Norman (War
Horse, UK and international and Circus 1903 – Southbank) as Swing.
Darren Clark (writer, music & lyrics) said,
“The Wicker
Husband was one of many shows that closed in 2020 due to the pandemic and sadly
many of those will never get the chance to be performed again. We feel so
incredibly fortunate that the Watermill Theatre continues to put its faith in
our story and for its continued perseverance and commitment to supporting
quality work by new British writers in remounting the show this coming March.
When we go into rehearsal, it will be nearly 10 years since we originally began
working on this beautiful, ambitious show and we simply cannot wait to share it
with you at the stunning Watermill with this extraordinary cast.”
Paul Hart, Artistic
Director, said, “It’s been a long road since The Wicker Husband, a piece
that is so perfect for The Watermill's stage, opened and was forced to almost
immediately close, in March 2020. With its beautiful score, and incredible
puppets, I can't wait to welcome back the whole team for this remarkable show.”
Directed by Charlotte Westenra, with
Book by Rhys Jennings, Music and lyrics by Darren Clark and based
on an original short story by Ursula Wills, this folk-inspired new musical
tells the timeless tale of the outsider and was the winner of the inaugural MTI
Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award in 2016 celebrating new British musical theatre
writers. It was also included in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's
30th Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York.
The show
will feature handcrafted wicker puppets created by Puppetry designer and
director Finn Caldwell whose credits include War Horse (West
End & International), Life of Pi (Sheffield Crucible) and The
Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic & West End), with highly skilled puppeteers from
Handspring, War Horse and Good Chance, bringing The Wicker Husband to
life.
THE
WICKER HUSBAND will play from Friday 11 –
Saturday 26 March 2022, with a press night on Tuesday 15 March.
‘Once upon a withy on the edge of a deep damp swamp,
nestled in the arms of a winding river, stood a pretty little town…’
In a superficial world, where beauty is only skin-deep, meet the
so-called ‘Ugly Girl’.
Ostracised by the shallow townsfolk because she doesn’t fit in, the Ugly
Girl becomes the envy of her neighbours when the mysterious Old Basketmaker
makes her a strong and loving husband woven from living wicker. As bitter
rivalry and jealousy threaten to tear the community apart, the townsfolk embark
on a cruel and destructive plan. Will the Ugly Girl’s happiness be ruined
forever?
The Wicker
Husband will have set design by Anna Kelsey, choreography by Steven
Harris, lighting design by Hartley T A Kemp, sound design by Ella
Wahlström, with Gregory Clarke as Associate Sound Designer. Musical
direction is by Pat Moran, with Gareth Aled as Associate Puppetry
Director.
The Stage Management team consists of Emily Stedman
as CSM, Alex Berridge-Schuter as DSM, Caitlin Ravenscroft
and Eleanor Walton as ASMs.
The
Watermill continues to follow measures to control the risk of Covid-19 and to ensure
the safety and confidence of its audience members, staff, actors and creative
teams. The wearing of face coverings continues to be requested in the auditorium.
Enhanced cleaning procedures, including regular fogging of the auditorium, and
an efficient ventilation system supplying conditioned and filtered fresh air
also remain in place.
To help audience members to book with confidence, The
Watermill are operating a flexible booking policy. In the event that their
booking is affected by Covid-19, audience members will be offered a ticket
exchange, account credit or refund.
The Watermill are taking part in the National
Lottery’s Love Your Local Theatre scheme this March. When purchasing a
ticket for The Wicker Husband during the month of March, patrons get
another ticket free, courtesy of the National Lottery. The National Lottery is
subsidising over 150,000 tickets at 100 theatres across the UK as a thank you
to National Lottery players for the £30m they raise each week for good causes -
including the arts and theatre. The initiative also helps to encourage people
to support their local theatre as venues across the UK look to recover from the
impact of Covid-19. This promotion is available to anyone who is a National
Lottery player and possesses a ticket or other proof of purchase for a National
Lottery game.
This campaign and promotion is run by UK Theatre.
The money for this initiative comes from a National
Lottery promotional fund. It is not being funded by money allocated for
National Lottery Good Causes or by Camelot.
