Soap stars line up for Birdsong: Celebrity casting for WW1 story at The Lowry
Birdsong
Tue 3 – Sat 7 April
Alfie Browne-Sykes (Hollyoaks) and Riley Carter-Millington (Eastenders) to star in Rachel Wagstaff’s highly acclaimed adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ best-selling novel Birdsong at The Lowry Tue 3 – Sat 7 April.
Riley Carter-Millington who played Kyle Slater in EastEnders hails fromStretford. He studied Drama at Eccles Sixth Form Centre and is the first trans-man to play a trans-male character in a British soap. Alfie Browne-Sykes played Jason Roscoe in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks from 2013 – 2016.
The cast will be headed by Tom Kay and Madeleine Knight as Stephen Wraysford and Isabelle Azaire. Tom Kay, appeared to great acclaim in a recent production of Journey’s End, performed on a First World War battlefield at Ypres. Madeleine Knight’s television and film credits include Poldark and Florence Foster Jenkins. Also in the cast are Olivia Bernstone, Alice Brittain, Alfie, Martin Carroll, James Findlay (winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2010), Liz Garland, Jeffrey Harmer and Simon Lloyd.
Birdsong tells a mesmerising story of love and courage, before and during the war. In pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their worlds upside down. As the war breaks out, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle and the idyll of his former life as his world explodes around him.
Birdsong is directed by Alastair Whatley with Charlotte Peters, with set design by Victoria Spearing, lighting by Alex Wardle for Charcoalblue and sound by Dom Bilkey.
Birdsong is produced on tour by Anne-Marie Woodley and Jon Woodley for Birdsong Productions Ltd in association with The Original Theatre Company.
Birdsong is suitable for ages 12+