FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR WORLD PREMIÈRE OF
HOWARD BRENTON’S CHURCHILL IN MOSCOW AT ORANGE TREE THEATRE
With Guards at the Taj currently running at the venue, and Twelfth Night in rehearsals, Orange Tree Theatre (OT) today announces full casting for the world première of Churchill in Moscow by Howard Brenton directed by OT Artistic Director Tom Littler. Joining the previously announced Roger Allam as Winston Churchill are Alan Cox as Archie Clerk Kerr, Julius D’Silva as Vyacheslav Molotov, Peter Forbes as Joseph Stalin, Tamara Greatrex as Svetlana Stalin, Jo Herbert as Sally Powell and Elisabeth Snegir as Olga Dovzhenko.
Churchill in Moscow, which reunites Brenton and Littler for their sixth collaboration, opens on 11 February 2025, with previews from 3 February, and runs until 8 March. They previously worked together on Cancelling Socrates, The Blinding Light and Brenton’s adaptations of Strindberg’s Dances of Death, Miss Julie and Creditors. This new historical thriller explores the meetings between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin in 1942.
Tom Littler said today, “I’m delighted to be working with an inspiring company of actors to join Roger Allam in Howard Brenton’s new play – Churchill in Moscow. Tamara Greatrex is the latest actor to make her professional theatre debut at the Orange Tree. Many of this cast have appeared in Howard’s work before, and they share my excitement about this project: it is an exciting, thought-provoking and hugely entertaining insight into a resonant historical episode.”
The world première production of
CHURCHILL IN MOSCOW
By Howard Brenton
Cast: Roger Allam (Winston Churchill), Alan Cox (Archie Clerk Kerr), Julius D’Silva (Vyacheslav Molotov), Peter Forbes (Joseph Stalin), Tamara Greatrex (Svetlana Stalin), Jo Herbert (Sally Powell) and Elisabeth Snegir (Olga Dovzhenko)
Director: Tom Littler; Designer: Cat Fuller; Lighting Designer: Johanna Town; Sound Designer and Composer: Max Pappenheim; Assistant Director: Rosie Tricks
3 February – 8 March 2025
Everything is possible in Moscow at night.
The Kremlin, Moscow, 1942. A top-secret meeting between Winston Churchill (Allam) and Joseph Stalin (Forbes): one, a wealthy aristocrat from a blue-blooded line of English nobility, the other a Georgian peasant, hell-bent on destroying capitalism and the class system. Can they find common ground? As diplomats struggle to control the escalating chaos, two interpreters find themselves caught in the eye of the storm.
The world première of Howard Brenton’s gripping drama imagines the meetings between two unpredictable titans as history teeters on a knife-edge.
Following its run at the OT, Churchill in Moscow will be available to stream through OT On Screen from Tuesday 11 – Friday 14 March.
Howard Brenton’s plays include Cancelling Socrates, The Blinding Light (Jermyn Street Theatre), Jude, Lawrence After Arabia, Drawing the Line, The Arrest of Weiwei, 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre), The Shadow Factory (Nuffield Theatre), Ransomed, Epsom Downs (Salisbury Playhouse), Doctor Scroggy’s War, Anne Boleyn, In Extremis (Shakespeare’s Globe), Dances of Death (Gate Theatre), The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (Liverpool Everyman, Chichester Festival Theatre), The Romans in Britain, Paul, Pravda, Weapons of Happiness (National Theatre), Snogging Ken – co-written by Tariq Ali and Andy de la Tour(Almeida Theatre), Kit’s Play (Jerwood Theatre, RADA), Collateral Damage (Tricycle Theatre), and Playing Away (Opera North). Berlin Bertie, Iranian Nights, Greenland, Bloody Poetry, The Genius, Magnificence, Revenge (Royal Court Theatre), Moscow Gold (RSC Barbican Centre), (National Theatre), Thirteenth Night, Sore Throats (RSC at Donmar Warehouse), A Short Sharp Shock (Royal Court at Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Churchill Play (Nottingham Playhouse, RSC), Brassneck (Nottingham Playhouse). Adaptations include Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo, Georg Büchner’s Danton’s Death (National Theatre), August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (Jermyn Street Theatre) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust – Faust: Parts I and II (RSC, The Pit Theatre). For television, his credits include Spooks and Dead Head.
Roger Allam plays Winston Churchill. His theatre credits include Frank and Percy (Theatre Royal Windsor, Theatre Royal Bath, The Other Palace), A Number (Bridge Theatre), Rutherford and Sons, Afterlife, The Cherry Orchard, Albert Speer, Summerfolk, Money – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor, Troilus and Cressida, The Way of the World (National Theatre), Limehouse, Privates on Parade – Olivier Award for Best Actor (Donmar Warehouse), The Moderate Soprano (Hampstead Theatre, Duke of York’s Theatre), The Tempest, Henry IV Parts I and II – Olivier Award for Best Actor,(Shakespeare’s Globe), La Cage Aux Folles (Duke of York’s Theatre), God of Carnage (Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour), The Giant, Semina (Hampstead Theatre), Boeing Boeing, What the Night is For (Comedy Theatre), Pravda (Chichester Festival Theatre), Blackbird (King’s Theatre Edinburgh, Noël Coward Theatre), Democracy (National Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre), Art (Wyndham’s Theatre), Arcadia (Haymarket Theatre), City of Angels (Prince of Wales Theatre), Les Misérables (Barbican) and The Learned Ladies and Macbeth (RSC). His television credits include The Sandman, Murder in Provence, Game of Thrones, Endeavour, The Missing, The Life of Rock, Bad Education, Politician’s Husband, Parades End, The Jury, Krod Mandoon, Ashes to Ashes, The Curse of the Steptoe, The Thick of It, A Class Apart, I Do, Spooks, The Catherine Tate Show, Meet the Robinsons, Inspector Lynley, Manchild, Foyle’s War, Walking the Dead, Chambers, A Century of Troubles: Cromwell’s War, Henry IV, Inspector Morse, Between the Lines, Landing on the Sun and The Jury; and for film Tetris, Say Your Prayers, The Hippopotamus, The Truth Commissioner, Mr Holmes, Girls Night Out, The Book Thief, The Angels Share, The Iron Lady, The Woman in Black, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tamara Drewe, Speedracer, The Queen, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, V for Vendetta, A Cock and Bull Story, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, The Swiss Family Robinson, RKO 281, WILT and The Lady in the Van.
Alan Cox plays Archie Clerk Kerr. His theatre credits include Farm Hall (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Jermyn Street Theatre, UK tour), My Fair Lady, The King’s Speech (Frinton Summer Theatre), Take The Rubbish out, Sasha, Cornelius (Finborough Theatre), Love all (Jermyn Street Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Hampstead Theatre), Opening Skinner Box (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Forty Years On, The Lady’s Not For Burning (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Divided Laing (Arcola Theatre), Impossible, Kingmaker (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Frost/Nixon (US tour), Stranger on a Train (UK tour), Trance (Bush Theatre), The Creeper (Playhouse Theatre), The Earthly Paradise (Almeida Theatre), The Flu Season (Gate Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Seagull, An Enemy of the People, and Absolute Hell (National Theatre). His television credits include New Amsterdam, The Good Wife, Lucan, MI High, The Wild West: Custer’s Last Stand, Housewife 49, Mrs David, Midsomer Murders, Dinosaur Hunters and The Odyssey; and for film Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Dante, Say My Name, Before We Go, The Dictator, Contagion, The Speed of Thought, August, Ladies in Lavender, Not Only But Always, Justice, The Waterfalls of Slunj, Cor Blimey, Weight, The Auteur Theory, Mrs Dalloway, An Awfully Big Adventure, Death of a School Boy and Young Sherlock Holmes.
Julius D’Silva plays Vyacheslav Molotov. His theatre credits include Farm Hall (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Jermyn Street Theatre, UK tour), & Juliet (Shaftesbury Theatre, Regent Theatre Melbourne), What’s New Pussycat? (Birmingham Rep), Alone in Berlin (Royal & Derngate), The Producers (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Bristol Old Vic, Royal Exchange Theatre), Strictly Ballroom – The Musical (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Princess of Wales Theatre Toronto), Made in Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), Eternal Love, Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare’s Globe, ETT UK tour), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Aristo (Chichester Festival Theatre), Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI II, Henry VI III, Richard III, Great Expectations, Dog in the Manger, Tamar’s Revenge, House of Desires, Pedro, The Great Pretender (RSC), Lone Star Mark Three (Salisbury Playhouse) and Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Greenwich Studio). His television credits include Bridgerton, The Crown, The Ten Commandments, How We Used to Live: Spanish Armada and Highlander; and for film, Notes on a Scandal, Full Circle and Endgame.
Elisabeth Snegir plays Olga Dovzhenko. Her theatre credits include In and Out of Chekhov’s Shorts (Southwark Playhouse, UK tour), The Anarchist (Jermyn Street Theatre), Scarlet Letter (The Actors’ Church, Covent Garden) and Father Christmas at the Hall (Royal Albert Hall).
Jo Herbert plays Sally Powell. Her theatre credits include Dear Octopus, 3 Winters (National Theatre), The Southbury Child (Bridge Theatre), The Mirror and the Light (RSC), The Country Wife, For Services Rendered, Cyrano de Bergerac (Chichester Festival Theatre), Wild Honey, Hello/Goodbye (Hampstead Theatre), East of Berlin (Southwark Playhouse), Eternal Love, Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare’s Globe, ETT tour), Candida (Theatre Royal Bath), Wild Oats, Does My Society Look Big in This? (Bristol Old Vic), Room Service Included (The Mill at Sonning), As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Game of Love and Change, Blackbird (Salisbury Playhouse), The Comedy of Errors, The Importance of Being Earnest (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and The Faerie Queen (international tour). Her television credits include grace, Call the Midwife, Unforgotten, Loaded, The Crown, Josh, Home Fires, Holby City (as series regular Fi Collins) and Lewis; and for film, Misbehaviour.
Tamara Greatrex is a recent graduate of ArtsEd and makes her professional theatre debut as Svetlana Stalin. For opera, her credits include La Traviata, Die Zauberflote, Die Frau Ohne Schatten (Royal Opera House) and Don Quixote, Onegin (Bolshoi). For film, her credits include Eva: Stories.
Peter Forbes returns to the Orange Tree to play Joseph Stalin having previously appeared in A Journey to London and Adam Bede. His theatre credits include Coriolanus, Jack Absolute Flies Again, Follies, Our Country’s Good, The Observer, Afterlife, Never So Good, Two Weeks with the Queen (National Theatre), A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (Nottingham Playhouse, Alexandra Palace), La Cage Aux Folles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Contingency Plan (Sheffield Theatres), The Scent of Rose, A Number (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Curve, Leicester; Liverpool Everyman), Yes Prime Minister (Theatr Clywd), Allelujah! (Bridge Theatre), The James Plays (National Theatre of Scotland, National Theatre, UK and international tour), Way Upstream, A Small Family Business (Chichester Festival Theatre), How to Hold Your Breath (Royal Court Theatre), The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse), Singin’ in the Rain (Palace Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Royal Lyceum), Diary of a Nobody, Travels with my Aunt (Royal & Derngate), The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain (ETT), Treasure Island (Rose Theatre Kingston), Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland, international tour), The Winter’s Tale, Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe), My Dad’s A Birdman (Young Vic), Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre), The Duchess of Malfi (Mercury Theatre), Richard III, Aladdin, Juno and the Paycock, Guys and Dolls (Leicester Haymarket Theatre) and A Word from our Sponsor (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre). His television credits include Traces, Stephen, Manhunt, Poldark, King Lear, The Crown, Victoria, Endeavour, The Promise, The First Men in the Moon, Taggart, Little Devil, Bad Girls, A Touch of Frost, The Government Inspector, The English Revolution, Walking on the Moon, The Stalker’s Apprentice and Berkeley Square; and for film, Judy, The Children Act, The Wife, Modern Life is Rubbish, Nativity 3, Wilde and Blue Ice.
Artistic Director of the OT, Tom Littler, directs. At the OT, he has directed Suite in Three Keys (also Theatre Royal Bath), She Stoops to Conquer, The Circle (later revived for a national tour by Theatre Royal Bath) and the forthcoming production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Other theatre includes Saturday Night (Jermyn Street Theatre, Arts Theatre), A Little Night Music (Budapest), Good Grief (Theatre Royal Bath), Dances of Death (Gate Theatre), Martine (Finborough Theatre), Miss Julie and Creditors (Theatre by the Lake, Jermyn Street Theatre), Tonight at 8.30, Cancelling Socrates, The Tempest, The Odyssey, 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre), Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Munich) and Hamlet (Guildford Shakespeare Company). He was Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre from 2017 to 2022, before moving to the OT.
ORANGE TREE THEATRE
LISTINGS
1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA
Box Office: 020 8940 3633 (Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm)
Performance times:
Monday – Saturday 7.30pm
Thursday and Saturday 2.30pm
GUARDS AT THE TAJ
Until 16 November
TWELFTH NIGHT
23 November 2024– 25 January 2025
OT UNDER 30 Night: Friday 13 December
TREASURE ISLAND
18 – 22 December 2024
2025 Season
CHURCHILL IN MOSCOW
3 February – 8 March 2025
OT UNDER 30 NIGHT: Friday 21 February
Audio Described Performance: Wednesday 5 March at 7:30pm
Captioned Performance: Tuesday 4 March at 7:30pm
Relaxed and distanced performance: Tuesday 25 February at 7:30pm
OT on screen: Tuesday 11 – Friday 14 March
PLAYHOUSE CREATURES
15 March – 12 April 2025
OT UNDER 30 NIGHT: Friday 28 March
Audio Described Performance: Wednesday 9 April at 7:30pm
Captioned Performance: Tuesday 8 April at 7:30pm
Relaxed and distanced performance: Wednesday 2 April at 7:30pm
OT on screen: Tuesday 15 – Friday 18 April
Touring to:
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Theatre Royal Bath
BEN AND IMO
19 April – 17 May 2025
OT UNDER 30 NIGHT: Friday 2 May
Audio Described Performance: Wednesday 14 May at 7:30pm
Captioned Performance: Tuesday 13 May at 7:30pm
Relaxed and distanced performance: Wednesday 7 May at 7:30pm
OT on screen: Tuesday 20 – Friday 23 May
IN PRAISE OF LOVE
24 May – 5 July 2025
OT UNDER 30 NIGHT: Friday 20 June
Audio Described Performance: Wednesday 2 July at 7:30pm
Captioned Performance: Tuesday 1 July at 7:30pm
Relaxed and distanced performance: Wednesday 25 June at 7:30pm
OT on screen: Tuesday 8 – Friday 11 July
ABOUT THE ORANGE TREE THEATRE
We are a local theatre with a global reputation.
A show at the Orange Tree is close-up magic: live, entertaining, unmissable. We’re an intimate theatre with the audience wrapped around the stage. We believe in celebrating what it means to be human. We believe in putting people at the centre of the stories we tell. And we believe in the power of a writer’s words, an actor’s voice, and an audience’s imagination to transport us to other worlds and other lives.
We punch above our weight to create world-class productions of new and contemporary drama, revitalise classics and re-discoveries, and introduce children and young people to the magic of theatre.
We are deeply rooted in our local community in South West London. We work with thousands of people aged 0 to 100 in Richmond and beyond through participatory theatre, bringing generations together to build confidence, connection, and joy. Our ground-breaking Primary Shakespeare and Shakespeare Up Close projects pack the theatre with children and ignite a spark to last a lifetime.
We’re a registered charity (266128). With only 180 seats and no support from Arts Council England, we rely on the generosity of our audiences and donors to raise £650,000 a year. These funds support our outstanding work on stage and in the community and invest in the next generation of talent.
Artistic Director Tom Littler
Executive Director Hanna Streeter
Website orangetreetheatre.co.uk | Email [email protected]
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