STEPHEN CAMPBELL MOORE AND ADRIAN SCARBOROUGH TO STAR IN THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF JACK THORNE’S
WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS
Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch today announce casting for the world première of Jack Thorne’s play When Winston went to War with the Wireless. Katy Rudd directs Stephen Campbell Moore as John Reithand Adrian Scarborough as Winston Churchill. Further casting to be announced.
The production opens on 13 June, with previews from 2 June, and runs until 29 July. The Donmar continues its 30th anniversary celebrations providing £10 tickets for audiences aged under 30 to mark the milestone, with support from Associate Sponsor Barclays.
The production is designed by Laura Hopkins, with sound design by Ben and Max Ringham,lighting design by Howard Hudson, movement direction by Scott Graham, music by Gary Yershon and casting by Anna Cooper CDG.
Jack Thorne says today “So delighted to announce this wonderful cast. Adrian is going to dazzle as the younger Churchill we’ve barely seen before, and Stephen will delight in bringing all the Gary Lineker shades in Reith. The BBC has constantly found itself pinched by Government crows, this was the first pinching and it feels an ever more apposite time to bring it to the stage.”
World Première
WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS
by Jack Thorne
Director – Katy Rudd; Designer – Laura Hopkins, Sound Designers – Ben and Max Ringham, Lighting Designer – Howard Hudson, Movement Director – Scott Graham, Composer – Gary Yershon, Casting Director – Anna Cooper CDG
2 June – 29 July 2023
A true story about truth
In May 1926 Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for The General Strike.
With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the government’s The British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. What follows is a fierce battle for control of the news and who gets to define the truth.
At a time when the BBC is faced once again with the challenges of impartiality, When Winston went to War with the Wireless is a gripping new play about the birth of a great British institution by multi award-winning stage and screen writer Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play, His Dark Materials for BBC One), directed by Katy Rudd (Ocean at the End of the Lane, Eureka Day).
This production is generously supported by Charles Holloway, Season Supporter.
Additionally, we would like to thank our Production Supporter, Charles J Burdick.
Jack Thorne’s credits as a playwright include After Life (National Theatre), A Christmas Carol, Woyzeck (Old Vic Theatre), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (The Palace Theatre/Lyric Theatre Broadway), Sunday (Atlantic Theatre), The End of History, Hope (Royal Court), King Kong (Broadway Theatre), Mydidae (Soho Theatre), Stacy (Tron, Arcola Theatre, New Diorama Theatre), Let the Right One In (Apollo Theatre, Dundee Rep, Royal Court), Junkyard (UK tour), The Solid Life of Sugar Water (UK tour, National Theatre, Orange Tree Theatre), Bunny (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK tour, E9E59 Theatres) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Sheffield Theatre/UK tour). His television credits include Help, Then Barbara Met Alan, Crip Tales, The Eddy, The Accident, His Dark Materials, Electric Dreams, Kiri, National Treasure, The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby, This is England, The Fades, Glue, Cast-Offs and for film; The Swimmers, Enola Holmes, The Secret Garden, The Aeronauts, Dirt Music, Radioactive, Wonder, War Book, The Long Way Down and The Scouting Book for Boys. His work for television has won him 5 BAFTAs and an RTS Television Award. In 2022, he was the recipient of both the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing, and the Royal Television Society’s award for Outstanding Contribution to British Television. Jack is a patron of Graeae Theatre Company, and associate artist of the Old Vic Theatre, and launched the pressure group Underlying Health Condition to champion disabled representation in the TV industry.
Stephen Campbell Moore plays John Reith. He previously appeared in Berenice at the Donmar Warehouse. His other theatre credits include: Consent (Harold Pinter Theatre); Photograph 51 (Michael Grandage Company/Noël Coward Theatre); Chimerica; Richard II; Coriolanus (Almeida); Clybourne Park (Royal Court/Wyndham’s); All My Sons (Apollo Theatre); The History Boys (National Theatre/Broadway); Much Ado About Nothing; Antony and Cleopatra (RSC); Death of a Salesman (Compass Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Albery); The Changeling (Salisbury Playhouse). TV includes: Criminal Record; The Confessions of Frannie Langton; Masters of the Air; The One; Responsible Child; The One; War of the Worlds; Traitors; Action Team; The Child in Time; The Last Post; Stag; The Wrong Mans; The Go Between; Our Zoo; Hunted; Just Henry; Titanic; Sleepyhead; Pulse; Ben Hur; Larkrise to Candleford; Ashes to Ashes; Rough Crossings; Hustle; Wallis and Edward; He Knew He Was Right; Byron. Films include: Our Man from Jersey; Downton Abbey; Red Joan; Goodbye Christopher Robin; How to Talk to Girls at Parties; The Lady in the Van; The Ones Below; Burnt; Moonwalkers; Man Up; Complicit; Johnny English Reborn; Season of the Witch; A Short Stay in Switzerland; Sea Wolf; The Children; The Bank Job; Amazing Grace; The History Boys; A Good Woman; Bright Young Things.
Adrian Scarborough plays Winston Churchill. He previously appeared in Accidental Death of an Anarchist and To The Green Fields Beyond at the Donmar Warehouse. Other theatre credits include Leopoldstadt, Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham’s Theatre), The Madness of George III, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse), Exit the King, King Lear, After the Dance, The Habit of Art, Time and the Conways, Once In A Lifetime, Henry IV Part 1 and 2, The Mandate, The False Servant, The Day I Stood Still, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, The Miser, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The Wind in the Willows, The Recruiting Officer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (National Theatre), Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre), Humble Boy (Gielgud Theatre), Platonov, The Tempest (Almeida Theatre), What the Butler Saw (Sheffield Theatres), Comedians, Hamlet (Belgrade Theatre), The Comedy of Errors, Little Murders (Royal Exchange Theatre), and Dona Rosita, The Master Builder, Master Harold and The Boys and Oliver Twist (Bristol Old Vic). His television credits include The Chelsea Detective, Bloods, Sanditon, The Bremmer Files, The Windsors, The Accident, Killing Eve, A Very English Scandal, Urban Myths: The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie, Little Women, Maigret, Professor Branestawn, Crashing, Midsomer Murders, Blunt Talk, Up the Women, Father Brown, Plebs, Edge of Heaven, Death in Paradise, The Paradise, Our Story, Restless, Doctor Who, Mrs Biggs, Watson and Oliver, Miranda, Upstairs/Downstairs, Gavin & Stacey, Cranford, Psychoville, Minder, Kingdown, Ten Days to War, Poppy Shakespeare, The Cranford Chronicles, The Commander: The Fraudster, Maxwell, New Tricks, The History of Mr Polly, The Trial of Tony Blair, Saxondale, Promoted to Glory, T.L.C, Let Them Eat Cake, The Passion, The Governor and Fist of the Dragonfly;and for film, 1917, Artemis Fowl, Lyrebird, Christopher Robin, Patrick, On Chesil Beach, A Little Chaos, Delicious, Les Miserables, The King’s Speech, Golden Age, The Tenth Man, Notes on a Scandal, The History Boys, Vera Drake, Bright Young Things, To Kill a King, Dirty Pretty Things, Gosford Park, Love is the Devil, In the Bleak Midwinter and The Madness of King George.
Katy Rudd’s credits as a director include Eureka Day, Camp Siegfried (The Old Vic), The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre/Duke of York’s Theatre), The Almighty Sometimes – Winner of The Stage Debut Award for Best Director (Royal Exchange Theatre), and her credits as an Associate Director include Lungs, The Master Builder (The Old Vic), Groundhog Day (The Old Vic/August Wilson Theater), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (National Theatre/Piccadilly Theatre/UK tour), Husbands and Sons, Pinocchio (National Theatre), Linda (Royal Court), and as an Assistant Director; Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), The Playboy of the Western World (Old Vic Theatre) and Into the Woods (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).
LISTINGS
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41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Box Office: www.donmarwarehouse.com / 020 3282 3808
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.30pm
Matinees Thu & Sat: 2.30pm
TICKET PRICES
£55 (£50) / £41 (£38) / £21 (£19)
£10 standing tickets
Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only
BARCLAYS UNDER 30s £10 TICKETS
To celebrate our 30th birthday and thanks to generous support from our Associate Sponsor Barclays a limited number of £10 tickets are available for under 30s for every performance.
YOUNG+FREE
YOUNG+FREE tickets for 16–25-year-olds released by ballot. Sign up at www.donmarwarehouse.com.
Generously supported by IHS Markit.
DONMAR DAILY
New tickets on sale every day at the Donmar. Allocations of tickets will be made available every day for performances 7 days later. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.
ACCESS
The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is a Loop system and a Radio Frequency system fitted in the main auditorium and there are also hearing loops at all the front of house counters.
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free. To book call 020 3282 3808 or email [email protected].
For all other access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808.
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES – 7.30pm (captioned by Stagetext)
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless: Monday 17 July
AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE – 2.30pm (audio-described by VocalEyes)
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless: Saturday 8 July, touch tour at 1pm
BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES – 7.30pm
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless: Friday 22 July