FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR UK PREMIÈRE OF
RED SPEEDO AT ORANGE TREE THEATRE
Orange Tree Theatre today announces the full cast for the UK première of Lucas Hnath’s Red Speedo directed by Matthew Dunster.
The previously announced Finn Cole – best known for his roles as Michael Gray in Peaky Blinders and Joshua ‘J’ Cody in Animal Kingdom – is joined by Fraser James playing Coach, Parker Lapaine playing Lydia, and Ciarán Owens (Peaky Blinders, The Last Kingdom)playing Peter.
Red Speedo opens on 18 July, with preview from 13 July, and runs until 10 August.
Lucas Hnath’s
RED SPEEDO
Directed by Matthew Dunster
A co-production with David Adkin
13 July – 10 August 2024
Set Designer: Anna Fleischle; Associate Set Designer: Cat Fuller; Costume Designer: Cat Fuller; Lighting Designer: Sally Ferguson; Sound Designer: Holly Khan; Casting Director: Matilda James CDG; Fight Director: Claire Llewellyn for RC Annie; Accent Coach: Aundrea Fudge
Ray lives to swim. He is within touching distance of international glory and a life-changing sponsorship deal. But everything changes when performance-enhancing drugs are discovered in the club’s refrigerator. As tensions run high, Ray’s brother wants them destroyed, his coach wants to call the authorities, his ex-girlfriend doesn’t want to know, and Ray wants the drugs back. A thriller played at the breakneck pace of an Olympic sprint, Red Speedo tackles the unforgiving weight of success in a world where the only crime is getting caught.
Lucas Hnath is one of America’s most exciting contemporary playwrights, whose A Doll’s House, Part 2 was recently seen at the Donmar Warehouse. Matthew Dunster directs this UK première, fresh from his hit West End productions of Shirley Valentine, 2:22 A Ghost Story and Hangmen.
Lucas Hnath is an award-winning playwright whose other plays include A Doll’s House, Part 2 (South Coast Repertory and Broadway), The Christians (Humana Festival), A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep), nightnight (Humana Festival), Isaac’s Eye (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and Death Tax (Humana Festival, Royal Court Theatre). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2015 Whiting Award, a Whitfield Cook Award, two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citations and a Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.
Finn Cole makes his professional stage debut as Ray. His television credits include Peaky Blinders (as series regular Michael Gray), An Inspector Calls and Animal Kingdom. For film his credits include Slaughterhouse Rulez, Dreamland, Here Are The Young Men, F9 and Locked In, and the forthcoming Last Breath.
Fraser James plays Coach. His theatre credits include The Seagull (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Liberian Girl, King Lear (Royal Court Theatre), Wildefire, Chimps (Hampstead Theatre), Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Love the Sinner, President of an Empty Room (National Theatre), Troilus and Cressida, The Frontline and King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe). His television credits include Endeavour, Double Busy, Origin Wolfblood, Loch Ness, Strikeback, Outnumbered, Robin Hood, Frankenstein, Love Lies Bleeding, Babyfather, Judge John Deed, Second Sight, In Exile, Life After Birth, The Affair, Guardians, The Healer and Prime Suspect; and for film, Terminator: Dark Fate, Yardie, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Hero, Birds of Heaven, Sometimes in April, The Purifiers, Wing Commander and Shopping.
Parker Lapaine makes her professional stage debut as Lydia. For television, her credits include the forthcoming second series of House of the Dragon.
Ciarán Owens plays Peter. He returns to the Orange Tree having previously appeared in The Brink. His other theatre credits include The Interview (Park Theatre), Farewell Mister Haffmann (Theatre Royal Bath), Cabaret (Lido de Paris), The Windsors: Endgame (Prince of Wales Theatre), The Duchess of Malfi (Almeida Theatre), Tumulus (Soho Theatre), Rutherford and Son, Love and Information (Sheffield Theatres), Disco Pigs (UK and Ireland tour), King John (Shakespeare’s Globe), So Here We Are (Royal Exchange Theatre), A Handful of Stars (Trafalgar Studios, Theatre503), Oh What a Lovely War (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Candide, A Mad World My Masters and Titus Andronicus (RSC). His television credits include Curfew, Ancient Empires, Father Brown, Peaky Blinders, Temple, Small Axe: Red White and Blue, Washington, Krypton, The Last Kingdom, Strike Back, Arthur and George, Crazyhead and Spotless; and for film, Red Joan, Where Hands Touch, Immaculate Heart, Mugs’ Arrows, New Gods and Widdershins.
Matthew Dunster’s directing credits include Shirley Valentine (Duke of York’s Theatre), 2:22 A Ghost Story (Apollo Theatre), True West (Vaudeville Theatre), Oedipus (Bunkamura Theatre), Hangmen, (Royal Court Theatre, Golden Theatre), Liberian Girl (Royal Court Theatre), The Seagull, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Love’s Sacrifice (RSC), The Lightning Child, Doctor Faustus (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Love Girl and The Innocent, You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse), Mametz (National Theatre Wales), Before the Party (Almeida Theatre), A Sacred Flame (ETT), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Royal Exchange Theatre), Mogadishu (Royal Exchange Manchester and Lyric Hammersmith), The Most Incredible Thing (Sadler’s Wells), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Royal & Derngate, Northampton). His writing credits include Children’s Children (Almeida Theatre), You Can See the Hills and Two Clouds Over Eden (Royal Exchange Manchester).
ORANGE TREE THEATRE
LISTINGS
1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA
Box Office: 020 8940 3633 (Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm)
SUITE IN THREE KEYS
Until 6 Jul 2024
Double bill – Shadows of the Evening and Come into the Garden, Maud
Wednesday 5 June 2024 at 7.00pm: A Song at Twilight
Primary Shakespeare: HAMLET
3 June – 5 July 2024 (workshops and performances)
Mon, Tue & Fri
RED SPEEDO
13 Jul – 10 Aug 2024
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 £500,000 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]
Twitter @OrangeTreeThtr | Facebook/Instagram OrangeTreeTheatre
ABOUT DAVID ADKIN LIMITED
David Adkin Limited is a London-based theatrical production and general management company. Credits include: Hir (Park Theatre); The King and I (UK tour/Dominion); A Little Life (Harold Pinter/Savoy); The Crown Jewels (Garrick); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (UK tour); Blindness (Donmar Warehouse/UK tour/International); Clybourne Park, Disruption, Rothschild & Sons (Park); Blindness Live (Theatre Royal Carré, Amsterdam); After The End (Theatre Royal, Stratford East); The Realistic Joneses, Wild Goose Dreams, The Omission of the Family Coleman (Theatre Royal Bath); The Grinning Man (Trafalgar Studios); Operation Epsilon, Windfall, Straight White Men, Afterglow, The Life, Stalking the Bogeyman, Dessert, Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse); Our Friends the Enemy (UK tour/New York); Sweeney Todd (Twickenham Theatre); and Our House the Musical (Savoy).
Website: https://www.davidadkin.com/