Sonia Friedman Productions

Cast

Creative

Michael Gambon (Hirst) has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. He has previously appeared in Pinter's Betrayal, Mountain Language and The Caretaker, and in 2005 played Lambert in a staged reading of Celebration at the Albery as part of the Gate Theatre, Dublin's celebration of Pinter's 75th birthday. Two years later he reprised this role in John Crowley's television film for Channel 4. His extensive award-winning stage career began in 1962 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and a year later he joined Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company. His most recent theatre credits include Cressida for the Almeida at the Albery Theatre, The Caretaker at the Comedy Theatre, A Number for the Royal Court, Endgame at the Albery

Theatre and the Gate Theatre, Dublin's production of Eh Joe at the Duke of York's Theatre. Gambon's extensive film and television credits include The Singing Detective, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Longitude, Mary Reilly, Sleepy Hollow, Gosford Park, Sylvia, Angels in America, Layer Cake, The Life Aquatic, The Good Shepherd and Amazing Grace, as well as four Harry Potter films in which he plays the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore, the most recent of which, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will be released later this year. In 1992 Gambon was awarded a CBE and in1998 he received a Knighthood for his contribution to the arts.

David Bradley (Spooner) has most recently been seen at the Trafalgar Studios in Richard Crane's one man show, The Quiz. His extensive theatre credits include Davies in Pinter's The Caretaker for Sheffield Theatres and the Tricycle Theatre, and Max in The Homecoming for the National Theatre. His other theatre credits include the title role in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, The Night Season, The Mysteries and King Lear all for the National Theatre, Phedre and Britannicus for the Almeida Theatre, the title role in Titus Andronicus for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya for the Donmar Warehouse. On film he has played Hogwart's Caretaker, Argus Filch, in all the Harry Potter films, the most recent of which, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will be released later this year, as well as Hot Fuzz, Nicholas Nickleby and Gabriel and Me. His television credits include True Dare Kiss, Ideal, Blackpool, Vanity Fair, Reckless, Our Mutual Friend and Our Friends in the North.

David Walliams (Foster) is best known for his work on television as half of the comedy duo (with Matt Lucas) that created the hugely popular BBC series Little Britain. He recently played Frankie Howard in Rather You Than Me for the BBC and Greville White in Stephen Poliakoff's Capturing Mary also for the BBC. His other television credits include three series of Little Britain, Waking the Dead, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased and George Eliot: A Scandalous Life. His film work includes the forthcoming Prince Caspian, as well as Run Fat Boy Run, A Cock and Bull Story, Stardust and Plunkett and Maclean. Walliams will be making his West End theatre debut in No Man's Land.

Nick Dunning's (Briggs) theatre credits include Don Carlos for Dublin's Rough Magic Theatre, Betrayal for the Gate Theatre Dublin, The Home Place and The Homecoming at the Gate Theatre Dublin and the Comedy Theatre, Our Country's Good for the Royal Court and The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His television credits include The Tudors, Waking the Dead, Midsomer Murders, Vanity Fair and The Firm. His film credits include 50 Dead Men Walking, Whistleblower, Alexander The Great, The Return, In America and Dark Angel.

Rupert Goold is Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre, where his credits include Rough Crossings, Faustus, Paradise Lost and Restoration. He has most recently directed Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot for the Almeida Theatre and later this year he will direct Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. His other directing credits include The Glass Menagerie for the Apollo Theatre, The Tempest and Speaking Like Magpies for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Hamlet, Insignificance, Betrayal and Othello all for Northampton Theatre Royal where he was Artistic Director. His production of Macbeth, with Patrick Stewart in the title role, transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre to the Gielgud Theatre in the West End and then played seasons at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Lyceum Theatre in New York. Goold won the 2007 Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Show Awards as well as the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director for this production.