DONMAR WAREHOUSE ANNOUNCES
THE FULL CAST FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
BACKSTROKE
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ANNA MACKMIN
Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch today announce the full company for the world premiere of Anna Mackmin’s new play, Backstroke – joining the previously announced Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie are Lucy Briers, Anita Reynolds and Georgina Rich. Chloe Hart and Rhashan Stone also feature in filmed scenes within the production.
Backstroke opens on 20 February, with previews from 14 February, and runs until 12 April.
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
BACKSTROKE
Written and directed by Anna Mackmin
Cast: Lucy Briers, Tamsin Greig, Celia Imrie, Anita Reynolds, Georgina Rich
Cast in film: Chloe Hart, Rhashan Stone
Design by Lez Brotherston
Lighting design by Paule Constable
Sound Design by Christopher Shutt
Video Design by Gino Ricardo Green
Choreographer Scarlett Mackmin
Casting Director Anna Cooper CDG
Associate Director Fiona Dunn
14 February 2025 – 12 April 2025
“Just let go. Let your body float. You’ll still be here but it’ll feel like flying in a dream.”
Bo is busy – balancing the pressures of work and the needs of her struggling daughter. When her mother, the irrepressible force-of-nature Beth, is admitted to hospital following a stroke, the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past.
Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig play mother and daughter in this kaleidoscopic and compassionate new play, written and directed by Anna Mackmin.
Anna Mackmin returns to the Donmar – she previously directed The Dark. Her first novel Devoured was published by Propolis 2018. It was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, won the New Angles book of the year and the East Anglian book award for best novel. Her other work as a director includes The Divine Mrs S (Hampstead Theatre), Woman in Mind (Chichester Festival Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Hampstead Theatre/Vaudeville Theatre), Hedda Gabler, The Real Thing, Dancing at Lughnasa (The Old Vic), Really Old, Like Forty Five; Chatroom, Burn & Citizenship (National Theatre), Hedda Gabler, Ghosts (Gate Theatre Dublin), In Celebration, Under the Blue Sky (Duke of York’s), Dying for It, The Lightning Play (Almeida Theatre), Mammals (Bush Theatre/tour), Breathing Corpses, Food Chain (Royal Court Theatre), Auntie and Me (Wyndham’s Theatre/Gaiety Theatre Dublin), In Flame (Bush Theatre/Ambassadors Theatre), Airswimming (Battersea Arts Centre), Me and My Girl, The Crucible, Iphigenia, Teeth ‘n’ Smiles, and The Arbor (Sheffield Theatres).
Lucy Briers plays Carol. Her previous work for the Donmar includes Ivanov (Wyndham’s Theatre). Her other theatre credits include Orlando (Garrick Theatre), All of Us, The Voysey Inheritance (National Theatre), Rosmersholm – winner of the Clarence Derwent Award (Duke of York’s Theatre), Forty Years On; The Seagull, Ivanov (Chichester Festival Theatre), Show Boat (Chichester Festival Theatre/Gillian Lynne Theatre), Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (RSC/Aldwych Theatre/Broadway), Top Girls (Chichester/Trafalgar Theatre), Behud (Belgrade Coventry/Soho Theatre), Bedroom Farce, Miss Julie (Rose Theatre Kingston), Private Fears in Public Places, Just Between Ourselves (Theatre Royal Northampton), Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Norwich Theatre Royal), Some Kind of Bliss (Trafalgar Studios/Brits Off Broadway), Ship of Fools (Theatre503), Catch (Royal Court Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (Southwark Playhouse), Musik; Rose Bernd (Arcola Theatre), The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick Theatre), Cloud Nine – nominated for TMA Best Supporting Actress, Teeth ‘n’ Smiles, Don Juan (Sheffield Theatres), Electra (Gate Theatre), Spike (Nuffield, Southampton), Keepers (Hampstead Theatre), As You Like It (Sheffield Theatres/Lyric Hammersmith), All That Trouble That We Had (Birmingham Rep), The Rivals (Nottingham Playhouse), Henry IV (The Old Vic/English Touring Theatre), Othello (New Victoria Theatre), Emma (Edinburgh Fringe), The Entertainer (Leeds Playhouse/Birmingham Rep), The Tempest (Salisbury Rep), and Syme (Birmingham Rep/National Theatre). For television, her work includes House of the Dragon, Lockwood & Co, Home, Endeavour, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Gentleman Jack, Victoria, Mrs Wilson, Press, Father Brown, Count Arthur Strong, Our Girl, DCI Banks, The Thick of It, Parade’s End, The Night Watch, Twenty Twelve, Ashes to Ashes, Einstein and Eddington, The Green Green Grass, Genie in the House, Rough Crossings, Bonkers, Broken News, Bodies, Poirot: The Hollow, Fathers and Sons, Beast, Wives and Daughters, Dangerfield, Imogen’s Face, Game On, Unfinished Business, Only You, Pride and Prejudice, Unnatural Causes, Screaming, The Ten Percenters, The Brittas Empire, Red Dwarf, A Masculine Ending, and Blackheath Poisonings; and for film, Flavia de Luce, Downton Abbey 3, We Live in Time, My Policeman, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Emma, The Show, Genius, Alan Partridge, Alpha Papa, Children of Men, and Perks.
Tamsin Greig plays Bo. Her theatre credits includes The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath), Peggy for You, iHo (Hampstead Theatre), Talking Heads Live: Nights in The Garden of Spain (Bridge Theatre), A Kind of Alaska/Landscape (Harold Pinter Theatre), Labour of Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Theatre), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Jumpy (Royal Court Theatre), God of Carnage (Gielgud Theatre), The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC and Novello – Olivier & Critics Award for Best Actress), and Gethsemane (National Theatre). Her television work includes The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Suspect, Sexy Beast, The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, Belgravia, Elementary, Diana and I, Inside No 9, The Guilty, White Heat, Episodes (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Friday Night Dinner (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Emma, Green Wing (Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), and Black Books (British Comedy Award nomination for Best Actress); and for film, Land of Legend, My Happy Ending, Official Secrets, Romeo and Juliet, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Tamara Drewe (Nominated BIFA Best Supporting Actress), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Breaking the Bank, and Stop the World.
Celia Imrie returns to the Donmar to play Beth – she previously appeared in Polar Bears and Habeas Corpus. Her other theatre work includes Party Time / Celebration, The Hothouse (Harold Pinter Theatre), Noises Off (The Old Vic), Hay Fever (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Rivals (Southwark Playhouse), Mixed Up North (Wilton’s Music Hall), Plague Over England (Duchess Theatre), Unsuspecting Susan (King’s Head/59th Street Theatre, New York), Acorn Antiques: The Musical (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical), The School for Scandal (RSC), Dona Rosita the Spinster (Almeida Theatre), and The Sea (National Theatre, Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress). Her television work includes The Diplomat, Better Things, Short Adam, Keeping Faith, Hang Ups, Patrick Melrose, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Vicious, Our Zoo, Blandings, Coming Up, Love & Marriage, Doctor Who, Titanic, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, Cranford, After You’ve Gone, Kingdom, Still Game; Doctor Zhivago, Daniel Deronda, Sparkhouse, Absolutely Fabulous, Love in a Cold Climate, Gormenghast, dinnerladies, Microsoap, Duck Patrol, The History of Tom Jones and Wokenwell; and for film, Good Grief, Love Again, Love Sarah, Nativity Rocks!, Malevolent, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Finding Your Feet, A Cure for Wellness, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Year by the Sea, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!, What We Did on Our Holiday, The Love Punch, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fool’s Gold, St Trinian’s, Nanny McPhee, Imagine Me & You, Wah-Wah, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon, Out of Bounds, Calendar Girls, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Hillary and Jackie, The Borrowers, In The Bleak Midwinter, Frankenstein, Highlander, and the forthcoming The Thursday Murder Club and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. She was awarded the Women in Film and Television Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Anita Reynolds plays Jill. Her work in theatre includes The Comedy of Errors, Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare’s Globe), Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Romeo and Julie (National Theatre/Sherman Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (ETT/ Leeds Playhouse/ Rose Theatre), A Monster Calls – Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Performance (The Old Vic/Bristol Old Vic/US tour), Ear For Eye (Royal Court Theatre), Absolute Hell (National Theatre), Hang (Run Amok/The Other Room), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Arabian Nights, Romeo And Juliet, Measure For Measure, Horrible Histories (Sherman Theatre), Speechless (Shared Experience/Sherman Cymru), The Move (Made in Wales), Carers (Turning Point Theatre Co), Cinderella (Unicorn Theatre), Forbidden Fruit (Nottingham Roundabout Theatre), Wishful Thinking (Hijinx Theatre), Dealing With Feelings (London Bubble Theatre), and How High Is Up/Mirror Mirror (Theatre Centre). For television, his work includes The Light in the Hall; Somewhere Boy, The Pembrokeshire Murders, In My Skin, Rellik, Keeping Faith, Stella, Gwaith Cartref, Talking to the Dead, Being Human, Caerdydd; Belonging; Dau Dy a Ni, Nice Day for a Welsh Wedding, Doctors; The Story of Tracy Beaker, Dose, Bay College, Nuts and Bolts, The Bench, and The Hull Project; and for film, I Used to Be Famous, Mother’s Day, G Flat, Wild Geese, Telling Tales, Sweet 16, Rain, and Paradise Grove.
Georgina Rich plays Paulina. Her theatre credits include Richard III, Between Us (Arcola Theatre), Rabbit Hole (Hampstead Theatre), As You Like It (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Dirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre), Honour (Wyndham’s Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Lear (Sheffield Theatres), and Twelfth Night (English Touring Theatre). Her television work includes Industry, The Jetty, Grace, Heartstopper, Criminal Record, Malpractice, War of the Worlds, Sister Boniface, Queens of Mystery, Call the Midwife, Wallis: The Queen That Never Was, Rellik, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation, Cuffs, River, Ripper Street, In and Out of the Kitchen, The Game, Sherlock, New Tricks, Public Enemies, Spooks, Waking the Dead, Law and Order: UK, The Catherine Tate Show, Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore, and Peter Warlock: Some Little Joy; and for film, September 5, Blithe Spirit, Radioactive, and Dimensions.
DONMAR WAREHOUSE
LISTINGS
41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Box Office: www.donmarwarehouse.com / 020 3282 3808
Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook: @donmarwarehouse
Bluesky: @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thursday & Saturday matinees 2.30pm
TICKET PRICES
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
£70 (£60) / £50 (£45) / £30 (£25)
Backstroke, Intimate Apparel
£60 (£55) / £45 (£40) / £25 (£20)
Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only
Standing £15 to be released at a later date
35 AND UNDER TICKETS AT £20
Aged 16-35? Sign up to our exclusive email list to book tickets for £20, located throughout the theatre including the front row. Plus receive insights to shows, invites to socials, and exclusive offers at the bar and more. Book early to secure these prices. www.donmarwarehouse.com/35under
Maximum two tickets per person – both need to be aged 35 or under at time of the performance. Subject to availability. ID will need to be shown at Box Office to collect tickets.
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.
SEASON AT A GLANCE
NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812
Until 8 February 2025
Captioned: Monday 27 January 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 1 February 2.30pm
BACKSTROKE
14 February 2025 – 12 April 2025
Captioned: Monday 31 March at 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 5 April at 2.30pm
INTIMATE APPAREL
20 June 2025 – 9 August 2025
Captioned: Monday 28 July at 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 2 August at 2.30pm
MACBETH – IN CINEMAS
5 February
Since 2019 the Donmar has doubled the reach of its schools and community work, including twice touring full scale productions to schools in its local boroughs in response to declining arts provision in schools.
The company has also significantly expanded its talent development work, launching CATALYST, its training programme that creates paid training opportunities for those historically underrepresented in the sector. Since 2019 the programme has helped launch the careers of 31 early career artists and administrators, 90% of whom continue to work in the sector.
Thousands of young people each year get to see the Donmar’s world-class productions through audience development programmes providing heavily discounted or free tickets.
DONMAR WAREHOUSE
The Donmar offers a uniquely intimate theatre experience where no audience member is ever more than four rows from the action. In our converted warehouse in the heart of the West End, we bring together exceptional artists to tell powerful, popular and inclusive stories. For over 30 years we’ve been making celebrated productions of classic plays, new work and intimate musicals that illuminate the human experience and thrill theatre-goers at our home base and further afield through transfers and on screen. We enable talented emerging artists to find new routes into the industry, and create opportunities for local young people to experience the artform as both audience members and makers. Through our productions and participation programmes we inspire audiences and artists of all backgrounds to embrace the experience of live theatre as a catalyst for inquiry, compassion, connection and joy.