Back to News & Press Opening night for The Nether Tuesday, 24 February 2015 Directed by Jeremy Herrin, Jennifer Haley’s critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning play The Nether opened last night (23 February 2015) at the Duke of York’s Theatre following a sell out run at the Royal Court. Guest included David Baddiel, Michael Burke, Onna Chaplin, Jenny Eclair, Lynne Faulds Wood, Michael Gambon, Ian Hislop, Mark Little, Emily Maitlis, Ivan Massow, Nick Moran, Sophie Okonedo, Linda Papadopolous, Alan Rickman, Joan Smith, Charlie Stayt, Janet Street-Porter, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Zoe Wanamaker . The cast of The Nether comprises David Calder (Doyle), Amanda Hale (Morris), Ivanno Jeremiah (Woodnut) and Stanley Townsend (Sims) who are joined by Zoe Brough and Isabella Pappas who will alternate the role of Iris. Set designs are by Es Devlin, with costume designs by Christina Cunningham, lighting by Paul Pyant, compositions by Nick Powell, sound by Ian Dickinson and video design by Luke Halls. In a Headlong and Royal Court Theatre co-production, The Nether is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott M Delman in association with Tulchin Bartner Productions, Lee Dean & Charles Diamond, 1001 Nights, JFL Theatricals/GHF Productions, Scott & Brian Zeilinger/James Lefkowitz. The Nether offers complete feedom – a new virtual wonderland providing total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire. An intricate crime drama and a haunting thriller set in the year 2050, The Nether follows an investigation into the complicated, disturbing morality of identity in the digital world, and explores the consequences of making dreams a reality. The Nether is the latest in a number of collaborations between Sonia Friedman Productions and the Royal Court Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll, Clybourne Park, Jerusalem in the West End and The River on Broadway) and Headlong (1984 and Chimerica). Development of The Nether was supported by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center during a residency at the National Playwrights Conference 2011, Preston Whiteway, Executive Director; Wendy Goldberg, Artistic Director. Up Up

Back to News & Press Putting 'The Juice In Jerusalem' - The New York Times Wednesday, 6 April 2011 DURING rehearsals in 2009 for the London production of “Jerusalem,” Jez Butterworth’s play about outcasts in modern England, the actor Mark Rylance drove one Sunday to the rural village of Pewsey to look up Micky Lay, a retired builder who was the inspiration for Rooster Byron, Mr. Rylance’s drug-dealing, authority-defying character. The encounter did not go well. Mr. Rylance walked past the wrecked cars in Mr. Lay’s yard and knocked on his front door, where wood had been nailed over shattered glass. Mr. Lay answered with an “Awww what’a ye want?” said Mr. Rylance, who identified himself and asked for a word. In colorful profanity, Mr. Lay told him to go away. “But I’d learned a lot from Robert Bly about how you approach monster-sized men, and one idea was to take gifts,” Mr. Rylance said, referring to the poet and translator. “Two Sundays later I went again, this time with a bottle of whiskey, and he was very nice.” Inside the house were three teenagers smoking joints and celebrating the birthday of a raven-haired, 17-year-old beauty whom Mr. Lay had given a bedroom because she didn’t get on well with her mother. After three hours Mr. Rylance came away understanding Mr. Lay’s own, unexplained desire to surround himself with young people. “Sometimes your parents can’t see what’s special in you, can’t see the gold within the mud of your life, but another adult can,” Mr. Rylance said during an interview as he prepared for the Broadway run of “Jerusalem,” now in previews. “That’s Rooster’s great gift. He eats the truth about people the way we eat bread. He wants to see the kids around him burn on their full gas, to connect to oil fields inside themselves and be flaring.” Mr. Rylance is too modest to describe himself as on full burn, but New York theatergoers know otherwise. Three months after he concluded the Broadway revival of “La Bête” at the Music Box Theater, best remembered for his antic, 25-minute monologue as the street performer Valere, Mr. Rylance is accomplishing the rare feat of returning in the same season (and at the same theater) in another leading role. As a result many Broadway insiders believe he could end up with two of the five Tony nominations for best actor next month. He won that Tony in 2008 for his first and only other performance on Broadway, in the revival of “Boeing-Boeing,” and his work in “Jerusalem” was praised with virtually every superlative imaginable by theater critics in London, where Mr. Rylance, at 51, is frequently described as the best stage actor of his generation. As well as one of the more eccentric. As a boy he did not speak in full sentences until he was 6 because he had trouble sounding out words; instead he began a lifelong immersion in fantasy and make-believe acting games with other children that helped him learn how to speak. Accepting the Tony in 2008, he baffled many watching the CBS telecast by reciting an obscure poem about conformity by the Midwestern American writer Louis Jenkins. Mr. Rylance has questioned the authorship of Shakespeare’s work and even wrote a play about those doubts, titled “The BIG Secret Live — I Am Shakespeare — Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show.” And during a two-hour interview, he read at length from Paul Kingsnorth’s book “Real England: The Battle Against the Bland,” and seemed almost giddy explaining how brewery corporations had taken over local pub after local pub where people once spent nights enjoying their meals and sharing stories beside roaring hearths. Enter Rooster Byron. He is the tragically Falstaffian heart of Mr. Butterworth’s three-hour elegy to old England, where forests were the dominion of fairies like Shakespeare’s Oberon and Titania, of rascals like Robin Hood and, now, of Mr. Rylance’s antihero. “Jerusalem,” in other words, is about very English things, yet the play may well resonate with American audiences. At least Mr. Rylance and his producers hope so, given that — Broadway’s substantial Anglophilia notwithstanding — a full appreciation of “Jerusalem” depends on understanding the socioeconomic trends that Mr. Kingsnorth laid out in “Real England.” “Every one of us is worried about how ‘Jerusalem’ will fare on Broadway,” Mr. Rylance said as he curled up in an Edwardian armchair in the lounge of the Algonquin Hotel, taking off his shoes and tucking his socked feet beneath his underside. “Will people understand the dialects? Will people understand that it’s not about Palestine and Israel? “I just wish audiences could come without needing to be told what they’re going to experience, without the producers’ worrying about whether we have the right poster and words outside the theater. But the financial risk is so much greater here than in London.” As seen through an American lens “Jerusalem” is on one level a classic libertarian showdown. A retired Evel Knievel-like daredevil, Rooster has been living for 29 years in a mobile home in a Wiltshire wood in southeast England, but the town council is moving to evict him because well-to-do homeowners are sick of his patch. Rooster is a kind of Pied Piper, drawing the young and the old to his clearing — in part for his drugs, but also because he is a romanticized embodiment of the William Blake poem used in the defiantly patriotic song that provides the play’s title: Bring me my bow of burning gold, Bring me my arrows of desire, Bring me my spears o’clouds unfold, Bring me my chariot of fire. I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand ’Til we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant land. Rooster is the sort of meaty role that might normally go to household-name stars who are the insurance policy for commercial Broadway these days. But the producers of “Jerusalem” said there was no way they would have brought over the play without Mr. Rylance, for whom Mr. Butterworth wrote the role. “It wasn’t even a discussion,” said Sonia Friedman, the prolific British producer of plays in the West End and on Broadway, including “Boeing-Boeing” and “La Bête. “I’m of a generation that didn’t see Scofield’s Lear, Peter O’Toole’s Hamlet. I’m of a generation that will say, I saw Mark Rylance’s Rooster.” Mr. Rylance’s late bloom on Broadway was a long time coming. Born in Ashford in southwestern England, he was 2 when his family moved to Connecticut, where his father took a teaching job; his parents later both taught in Wisconsin, where they flew the Union Jack and gave tea parties on the Fourth of July. There Mr. Rylance performed in his first major Shakespearean production, as a 16-year-old Hamlet, with his father playing the First Gravedigger. At 18 he left the United States for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London, where he arrived, he said, with “a Midwest accent, a Midwest hairstyle and a Midwest sense of humor.” (In conversation the soft-spoken Mr. Rylance can betray the flat accent and overstressed vowels of the region.) By 1982 he had joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his long career in Elizabethan drama took off. During his company debut in one such play, “Arden of Faversham,” a hallmark of Mr. Rylance’s aesthetic also took hold. He is known as a born improviser, relishing every chance to play with tone, pauses and body language in the pursuit of bringing a performance to fresh life. But this landed him in trouble one night when, playing a manservant in “Faversham,” he stood up during a scene and confronted his character’s master — taking the other actor by surprise, since usually Mr. Rylance would lie cowering on the floor in that moment. “As we were walking around to the next scene backstage, the actor — who I shall not name, but who was a big man — threw me up against a wall and said, ‘We’re not all [expletive] improvisers,’ ” Mr. Rylance said. “‘This notion that a performance is ‘frozen,’ it’s a horrible phrase, like a frozen dinner or something,” he added, referring to a theatrical term used by directors and producers. “I’m comfortable acting in a particular key, but I benefit by mixing up the notes within that key.” Blending carefully constructed verse with a freeing sense of “play,” a word dear to Mr. Rylance, has paid off in a slew of critically acclaimed performances, including his gleeful turn, at 33, as Benedick in Matthew Warchus’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” which won Mr. Rylance an Olivier Award (London’s answer to the Tonys). Two years later he became the first artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, where he was known for bringing Shakespeare back to his roots with all-male productions, including his own memorable turn as Olivia in “Twelfth Night.” For “Jerusalem” Mr. Rylance found a soulmate in the director Ian Rickson. Late one night in a rehearsal room of the Royal Court Theater, Mr. Rylance said, the “Jerusalem” cast took part in 90 minutes of “research” by acting out a scene that is only referenced in the play: a barroom celebration after the teenage character Phaedra is crowned queen of the town fair. That party takes place a year before the events in the play, but, in hindsight, sets them in motion. “Amazing stuff was gained,” Mr. Rylance said. “Actors who have less to say in the play than I do learned a lot about their characters. Mackenzie Crook, who plays my best mate, Ginger, was playing at some dance moves that you see now. And I was able to discover things about Rooster’s friendship with Phaedra, about Rooster’s feelings for her stepfather, Troy. Now one word or one gesture during the play can set off a memory of that improvisation, and it feels like new life running through you.” No question that, for all its length, “Jerusalem” has Mr. Rylance energized. He has not performed Shakespeare since leaving the Globe in 2005, but he is planning to act in a double bill of “Richard III” and “Much Ado About Nothing” in 2012 there and then in New York, as well as new projects on Shakespeare with his wife, the composer Claire van Kampen. (He has two stepdaughters, one of whom is the admired Shakespearean Juliet Rylance.) For the last six years he has also been writing a play about the industrialists Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, which he wants to finish; he hopes to play Frick. Yet what makes Mr. Rylance’s wide, expressive eyes truly leap is the idea that “Jerusalem” might find an audience on Broadway, which “Boeing-Boeing” enjoyed but “La Bête” did not. “In this play I’ve got to smoke four joints, drink half a bottle of whiskey, take a lot of speed, put my head upside down in water, but the hardest thing for me is thinking about whether audiences will be as excited about ‘Jerusalem’ as we are,” Mr. Rylance said. “But really, I have to put it out of my mind. It’s the same reason why I don’t read reviews. If I start focusing on the feedback, it’ll lock me in a cage.” Up Up

Back to News & Press The Ferryman announces US National Tour following 9 Tony Awards nominations Tuesday, 30 April 2019 Winner of the Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award for Best New Play and Best Direction in London, the Broadway production has just been nominated for nine Tony Awards including Best Play. The show’s producers Sonia Friedman and Caro Newling have confirmed that discussions are underway for engagements in Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Hartford, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco, Schenectady, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Washington and other markets. They have also confirmed that advanced discussions are underway for an Australian production. The Ferryman is playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th Street) on Broadway through July 7, 2019. It has received the following nominations: 9 Tony Award Nominations: Best Play Best Direction of a Play – Sam Mendes Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play – Paddy Considine Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play – Laura Donnelly Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play – Fionnula Flanagan Best Scenic Design of a Play – Rob Howell Best Costume Design of a Play – Rob Howell Best Lighting Design of a Play – Peter Mumford Best Sound Design of a Play – Nick Powell 4 Drama Desk Award Nominations: Outstanding Play Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play – Tom Glynn-Carney Outstanding Director of a Play – Sam Mendes Outstanding Sound Design in a Play – Nick Powell 5 Outer Critics Award Nominations: Outstanding New Broadway Play Outstanding Director of a Play – Sam Mendes Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) – Rob Howell Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) – Rob Howell Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Fionnula Flanagan 2 Drama League Award Nominations: Outstanding Production of a Play Paddy Considine – Distinguished Performance Award A New York Times’ Critics Pick, Ben Brantley called the show “The Broadway production of the year” and said, ‘This astonishing, glorious, magnificent drama takes your breath away. The Ferryman is an endlessly vibrant work, directed with sweeping passion and meticulous care by Sam Mendes . This is theater as charged and expansive as life itself.’ The New Yorker’s Cynthia Zarin said, ‘This play is that rare thing: as you sit in the audience, you know you are watching theatre history happen.’ The Daily Beast’s Tim Teeman wrote, ‘The Ferryman sets a gold standard for Broadway plays. A rollicking, moving masterpiece, and an emphatic herald of the strength and power of original playwriting on Broadway. Rarely is theater so beautifully written, brilliantly acted and brilliantly directed. Do whatever you can to see it.’ Peter Marks of The Washington Post called it ‘A riveting work of art. The evening is a meticulous unfolding of plot and character that builds to one of the most ferociously rewarding climaxes of my playgoing experience. This explosive, exhilarating drama is what a theater lover lives for.’ The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones said ‘Epic and extraordinary, with a howling roar of cacophonous humanity. You feel like you’re watching human destiny play out before your eyes.’ David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter wrote, ‘A gloriously entertaining new work that positively thrums with life and love and leaves you shocked and breathless. The Ferryman is a crackling thriller that will shake up the Broadway season with tornado-like force.’ The Ferryman is set in rural Northern Ireland in 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor. The Ferryman is produced on Broadway by Sonia Friedman Productions & Neal Street Productions with Ronald Frankel, Gavin Kalin Productions, Roy Furman/Benjamin Lowy, Scott M. Delman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Ron Kastner, Starry Night Entertainment, Kallish Weinstein Creative, Scott Landis, Steve Traxler, Richard Winkler, Rona Delves Broughton/Bill Damaschke, 1001 Nights, Burnt Umber Productions, Rupert Gavin, Scott Rudin, Jamie deRoy/Catherine Adler, Sam Levy/Lauren Stevens, and Ramin Sabi/Christopher Ketner. Up Up

Back to News & Press King Charles III full UK Tour announced Tuesday, 21 July 2015 Following critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, King Charles III embarks on a UK tour this autumn. Robert Powell will take on the role of King Charles. The production opens at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and then visits Richmond Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre, Malvern Festival Theatre, Guildford Yvonne Arnaud, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and Plymouth Theatre Royal. The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? Mike Bartlett's play explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain's most famous family. Directed by the Almeida Theatre’s artistic director Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti. The King Charles III tour is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and by arrangement with Lee Dean. King Charles III 2015 UK Tour 4 – 19 September 2015 Birmingham Repertory Theatre 21 – 26 September 2015 Richmond Theatre 28 September – 3 October 2015 Newcastle Theatre Royal 5 – 10 October 2015 Nottingham Theatre Royal 12 – 17 October 2015 Milton Keynes Theatre 19 – 24 October 2015 Cambridge Arts Theatre 27 – 31 October 2015 Canterbury Marlowe Theatre 2 – 7 November 2015 Malvern Festival Theatre 9 – 14 November 2015 Guildford Yvonne Arnaud 16 – 21 November 2015 Edinburgh Festival Theatre 23 – 28 November 2015 Bath Theatre Royal 30 November – 5 December 2015 Chichester Festival Theatre 7 – 12 December 2015 Plymouth Theatre Royal Up Up

Back to News & Press Nice Fish, starring Mark Rylance, to transfer to the West End from New York Thursday, 7 July 2016 Sonia Friedman Productions is delighted to announce the West End transfer of Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins ’ critically-acclaimed new comic play Nice Fish . Direct from sold out seasons at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in Cambridge and St Ann’s Warehouse in New York, Academy and Bafta Award-winner Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies , The BFG , Jerusalem , Farinelli and the King ) will return to the West End to perform in the production, directed by Claire van Kampen (Farinelli and the King ). The West End production will open in November 2016 for a strictly limited season at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with a press night on Friday 25 November. Tickets go on sale to priority bookers today and the Box Office opens for general on-sale on Sunday 10 July at 10am. In a unique collaboration with critically-acclaimed Minnesotan contemporary prose poet Louis Jenkins , Mark Rylance draws on his teenage years in the frozen winters and culture of the American Midwest. This beguiling new play follows an ice fishing expedition where the ordinary and extraordinary collide in a sublimely playful and profound way. On a frozen Minnesota lake, the ice is beginning to creak and groan. It’s the end of the fishing season and on the frostbitten, unforgiving landscape, two old friends are out on the ice and they are angling for something big, something down there that is pure need, something that, had it the wherewithal, would swallow them whole. Keen to hook a ticket? Then come dressed as a fish or fisherman (with your fishing rod), and get yourself a complimentary ticket in a private box. Available on a first come first served basis from 6pm on the night of the performance (1.30pm for matinees). One ticket available per person. Don’t be shellfish, bring a friend!The full New York cast will transfer to London for the limited season. Ron (Mark Rylance ) and Erik (Jim Lichtscheidl ) play old friends whose ordinary lives are comically exposed during the trip. They are joined by Kayli Carter , Bob Davis and Raye Birk . Mark Rylance last appeared in the West End in Claire van Kampen ’s Olivier Award-winning Farinelli and the King (Shakespeare’s Globe, West End). Prior to that he appeared in Tim Carroll's hugely lauded sell-out productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe, West End, Broadway). All three productions were produced by Sonia Friedman Productions. Mark’s other recent theatre credits include Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem , (Royal Court, West End, Broadway). In 2015 he starred as Thomas Cromwell in the BAFTA-winning BBC2 adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize-winning novel Wolf Hall and gave an Academy Award-winning performance in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies . Later this year Mark will play the title role in Steven Spielberg’s new feature film of Roald Dahl’s The BFG . Louis Jenkins has 17 collections of poetry and has been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. His work has won him multiple awards, including two Bush Foundation Fellowships for poetry, a Loft-McKnight fellowship, and the George Morrison Award. In 2008 Louis started working with Mark Rylance on the stage production of Nice Fish , based on Louis’ poetry. Later this year he will be publishing a new collection of poems. Claire van Kampen ’s critically-acclaimed Farinelli and the King was a sell-out success in the West End in 2015 after transferring from Shakespeare’s Globe. Claire began her theatre career with the RSC and the National Theatre, becoming the first female musical director with either company. She was Associate Artistic Director at Shakespeare's Globe as well as the founding Director of Theatre Music, and created music for more than 45 of the Globe's productions. Other theatre work incudes Twelfth Night and Richard III (Shakespeare's Globe, West End Broadway) and original scores for Matthew Warchus’ productions of Boeing-Boeing (West End and Broadway) and La Bête (Broadway and West End). Claire’s television and film credits include Peter Kosminsky’s Wolf Hall , Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous and Christian Camargo's Days and Nights . Jim Lichtscheidl ’s recent UK theatre credits include Tiny Kushner (Tricycle Theatre). His recent US theatre credits include Mr. Burns , A Post Electric Play (American Conservatory Theater), The Miser (Berkeley Rep, Alley Theater, LaJolla Playhouse and Theatre De La Jeune Lune) and Santaland Diaries , (Portland Center Stage). He has also appeared in over 30 productions with the Guthrie Theater. His film work includes A Serious Man , Best Man Down and Factotum . The production has set by Todd Rosenthal , costumes by Ilona Somogyi , lighting by Japhy Weideman , sound by Scott W. Edwards and music by Claire van Kampen . Up Up

Back to News & Press (Almost) Full Company Announced for the World Premiere of PADDINGTON THE MUSICAL Opening in the West End this Autumn Tuesday, 9 September 2025 With rehearsals underway for the world premiere of PADDINGTON The Musical, producers Sonia Friedman Productions , STUDIOCANAL and Eliza Lumley Productions on behalf of Universal Music UK today announce the full company (well, full, ish…). Joining the previously announced Timi Akinyosade (Tony), Amy Booth-Steel (Lady Sloane), Tarinn Callender (Grant), Delilah Bennett-Cardy (Judy Brown), Adrian Der Gregorian (Mr. Brown), Tom Edden (Mr Curry), Brenda Edwards (Tanya), Amy Ellen Richardson (Mrs. Brown), Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Millicent Clyde), Teddy Kempner (Mr Gruber), Bonnie Langford (Mrs Bird), and in the role of Jonathan Brown Joseph Bramley , Leo Collon , Stevie Hare and Jasper Rowse , are new cast members Esme Bacalla-Hayes , Tiago Dhondt Bamberger , David Birch , Aimée Fisher , Jacqueline Hughes , Kellianna Jay , Sam Lathwood , Natasha Leaver , Katie Lee , Sunny Lee , Vicki Lee Taylor , Jáiden Lodge , Andilé Mabhena , Rose Mary O’Reilly , Ben Redfern , Hugo Rolland and Simon Shorten . Adapted from the much-loved books written by Michael Bond , and the award-winning films by STUDIOCANAL, with music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, book by Jessica Swale and direction by Luke Sheppard , PADDINGTON The Musical opens at the Savoy Theatre on Sunday, 30 November, with previews from Saturday, 1 November, and is currently booking until 25 May 2026. Casting for Paddington, together with the Bear Designer and Bear Creative team, will be revealed on the first preview, alongside the wider team responsible for bringing this very special bear to life on stage. Sonia Friedman Productions , STUDIOCANAL and Eliza Lumley Productions on behalf of Universal Music UK present PADDINGTON THE MUSICAL MUSIC AND LYRICS BY TOM FLETCHER BOOK BY JESSICA SWALE DIRECTED BY LUKE SHEPPARD Based on A Bear Called Paddington written by Michael Bond and the film ‘PADDINGTON’, by special arrangement with STUDIOCANAL Matt Brind (Musical Supervisor, Orchestrations and Arrangements), Ellen Kane (Choreographer), Tom Pye (Scenic Designer), Gabriella Slade (Costume Designer), Paddington Bear Designer: To be revealed , Neil Austin (Lighting Designer), Gareth Owen (Sound Designer), Ash J Woodward (Video Designer and Animation), Campbell Young Associates (Hair, Wig & Make-Up Designer), Majid Adin (Illustration and additional Animation), Laura Bangay (Musical Director), Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting (Casting Director), and Nick Hockaday (Young Persons’ Casting Director), Javier Marzan (Physical Comedy Consultant, Tobago and D-Lime (Additional Music Consultants). Up Up

Back to News & Press Meet the Principal Cast Bringing the World Premiere of PADDINGTON The Musical to the West End this Autumn Wednesday, 20 August 2025 As rehearsals begin for the world premiere of PADDINGTON The Musical, producers Sonia Friedman Productions , STUDIOCANAL and Eliza Lumley Productions on behalf of Universal Music UK today announce the principal cast (well, maybe not quite all of them just yet…) and further members of the creative team. Adapted from the much-loved books written by Michael Bond , and the award-winning films by STUDIOCANAL, with music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, book by Jessica Swale and direction by Luke Sheppard the production opens at the Savoy Theatre on Sunday, 30 November, with previews from Saturday, 1 November, and is currently booking until 25 May 2026. The principal cast is Timi Akinyosade (Tony), Amy Booth-Steel (Lady Sloane), Tarinn Callender (Grant), Delilah Bennett-Cardy (Judy Brown), Adrian Der Gregorian (Mr. Brown), Tom Edden (Mr Curry), Brenda Edwards (Tanya), Amy Ellen Richardson (Mrs. Brown), Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Millicent Clyde), Teddy Kempner (Mr Gruber), Bonnie Langford (Mrs Bird), and the role of Jonathan Brown is played by Joseph Bramley , Leo Collon , Stevie Hare and Jasper Rowse . It may also be apparent that someone rather important is missing from this announcement. Dramatic paws... We can’t wait for you to meet Paddington, but please bear with us a little longer. Also announced today is the additional creative team working alongside Sheppard – Matt Brind (Musical Supervisor, Orchestrations and Arrangements), Ellen Kane (Choreographer), Tom Pye (Scenic Designer), Gabriella Slade (Costume Designer), Paddington Bear Designer: To be revealed , Neil Austin (Lighting Designer), Gareth Owen (Sound Designer), Ash J Woodward (Video Designer and Animation), Campbell Young Associates (Hair, Wig & Make-Up Designer), Majid Adin (Illustration and additional Animation), Laura Bangay (Musical Director), Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting (Casting Director), and Nick Hockaday (Young Persons’ Casting Director), Javier Marzan (Physical Comedy Consultant, Tobago and D-Lime (Additional Music Consultants). Full cast, including Paddington Casting, Bear Designer and Bear Creative team to be announced shortly. Producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley said today, “Having had the immense privilege to work with Tom, Jessica and Luke to create and develop this brand-new musical over several years, it’s incredibly exciting to be starting rehearsals with this extraordinary company. We can’t wait until the first preview, when we will reveal who will be playing Paddington, and the brilliant creative team who are responsible for bringing this very special bear to life on stage.” Anna Marsh , CEO of STUDIOCANAL, Chief Content Officer of CANAL+ and Deputy CEO of CANAL+ comments, “We are so proud to announce our brilliantly talented company today as we look forward to Paddington’s highly anticipated stage debut in London’s West End. As with our films and series, we have put such genuine care into PADDINGTON the Musical to ensure that audiences will truly delight in Paddington’s next adventure. It’s a true privilege for everyone at STUDIOCANAL to be part of Paddington’s legacy.” Up Up

Back to News & Press Harry Potter and the Cursed Child celebrates 8 years at the Palace Theatre Tuesday, 30 July 2024 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child celebrates its 8th anniversary at London’s Palace Theatre today, 30 July 2024, where it is currently booking until 6 April 2025. Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions , Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has now been seen by over 1.7 million people in the West End and over 11 million worldwide. There have been 2740 performances of Part One and Part Two combined, totaling 6432 hours of performance from the 46 strong London cast. Over the last eight years 256 cast members have performed in the original London two-part multi award- winning production at the Palace Theatre along with 215 people who have worked backstage to continue to bring Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to life each performance. Writer Jack Thorne said “Making Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a beautiful experience, working with John and our talented creative team and cast has been a wonderful journey. It really has been a team effort from every person involved in the show, and we are all proud to still be here 8 years on” Director John Tiffany added “We have been on an incredible journey over the last 8 years, from opening the original production at the Palace Theatre in 2016 to taking the show to audiences worldwide. We have collaborated with many wonderful artists over the years, both on and off stage, all of whom have worked tirelessly to bring Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to our fantastic audiences each and every performance” 19 years after Harry, Ron, and Hermione saved the wizarding world, they’re back on a most extraordinary new adventure – this time, joined by a brave new generation that has only just arrived at the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Prepare for spectacular spells, a mind-blowing race through time, and an epic battle to stop mysterious forces, all while the future hangs in the balance. The cast comprises David Ricardo-Pearce as Harry Potter, Polly Frame playing Ginny Potter and Ellis Rae as their son Albus Potter. Thomas Aldridge plays Ron Weasley with Jade Ogugua playing Hermione Granger along with Taneetrah Porter as their daughter Rose Granger-Weasley. Steve John Shepherd plays Draco Malfoy, with Harry Acklowe as his son Scorpius Malfoy. They are joined by Ishmail Aaron, David Annen, Nairn Archer, Darrell Brockis, Robert Curtis, Toby De Salis, Odelia Dizel-Cubuca, Rory Fraser, Jemma Geanaus, Harry Goodson-Bevan, Jemma Gould, Kelton Hoyland, David Ijiti, Chris Jarman, Sally Jayne Hind, Emma Louise Jones, Kathryn Meisle, Ian Redford, Abigail Rosser, Clancy Ryan, Tonny Shim, Adam Slynn, Sara Stewart, Benjamin Stratton, Maia Tamrakar, Alex Tomkins, Jake Tuesley, Sam Varley, Jess Vickers, Wreh-asha Walton, Katie Wimpenny. Abigail Austin, Oliver Dawson, Layla Duke, Honor Hastings, Aubrey Hayes, Aljosa Radosavljevic and Ethan Webster alternate two children’s roles. Tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child remain priced from £15 per part. The regular performance schedule is Monday, Tuesday and Thursday – no performance; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 2pm Part One & 7pm Part Two; Sunday - 1pm Part One & 6pm Part Two. The access performances currently on sale are as follows - British Sign Language on Saturday 21 September 2024, Audio Described on Saturday 9 November 2024 and a Captioned Performance on Saturday 16 November 2024. We are excited to announce that this year’s Back To Hogwarts celebrations will include the opportunity to win a place at a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child workshop where people will learn the iconic Wand Dance from the show. The workshop will be run by the production’s Resident Movement Director, Tash Holway, on the morning of 1 September at a Central London venue. To be in with a chance to win a place, enter at harrypottertheplay.com/backtohogwarts / Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany , Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne , directed by John Tiffany with movement by Steven Hoggett , set by Christine Jones , costumes by Katrina Lindsay , music & arrangements by Imogen Heap , lighting by Neil Austin , sound by Gareth Fry , illusions & magic by Jamie Harrison , music supervision & arrangements by Martin Lowe , and casting by Julia Horan CDG and Lotte Hines CDG . Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions , Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions . Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the first Harry Potter story to be presented on stage and the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, holds a record 60 major honors, with nine Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Play and six Tony Awards including Best New Play. There are four productions running worldwide in London, New York, Hamburg, and Tokyo, with a North American tour starting in September 2024 at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Book of Mormon 2014 casting update Thursday, 9 January 2014 The cast of The Book of Mormon, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, continues to be led by Gavin Creel as Elder Price, Jared Gertner as Elder Cunningham and Alexia Khadime as Nabulungi. From 3 February 2014, the full cast will include Stephen Ashfield, Hugo Harold-Harrison , Kevin Harvey , and Chris Jarman, with Mark Anderson, Benjamin Brook, Daniel Clift, Christopher Copeland , Ashley Day, Keisha T Fraser , Patrick George, Nadine Higgin, Evan James, Aisha Jawando, Michael Kent, Sia Kiwa , Joshua Liburd , Daniel Mackinlay, David McMullan , Felix Mosse , Tanya Nicole-Edwards ,Terel Nugent, David O’Reilly, Lucy St. Louis, Ashley Samuels , Rhys Taylor , Kayi Ushe, Michael Vinsen and Tosh Wanogho-Maud. *Name in bold denotes new member of the cast for 2014. From South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical and the Grammy for Best Musical Theatre album, follows a pair of Mormon boys sent on a mission to a place that’s a long way from Salt Lake City. Book, Music and Lyrics are by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Directed by Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon has choreography by Casey Nicholaw, set design by Scott Pask, costume design by Ann Roth, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt, sound design by Brian Ronan, orchestrations by Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus and music supervision and vocal arrangements by Stephen Oremus. Up Up

Back to Productions NOISES OFF – BROADWAY This production opened on 1st November 2001 and closed on 1st September 2002. Ambassador Theatre Group and Act Productions , Waxman Williams Entertainment , D. Harris/ M. Swinsky , USA Ostar Theatricals and Nederlander Presentations , present The Royal National Theatre Production of “NOISES OFF ” by Michael Frayn . CAST RICHARD EASTON – Selsdon Mowbray PETER GALLAGHER – Lloyd Dallas PATTI LUPONE – Dotty Otley EDWARD HIBBERT – Frederick Fellowes FAITH PRINCE – Belinda Blair KATIE FINNERAN – Brooke Ashton T. R. KNIGHT – Tim Allgood THOMAS MCCARTHY – Gary Lejeune ROBIN WEIGERT – Poppy Norton-Taylor CREATIVES MICHAEL FRAYN – Playwright JEREMY SAMS – Director ROBERT JONES – Designer TIM MITCHELL – Lighting FERGUS O'HARE – Sound

Back to News & Press The Government's insurance scheme is not fit for purpose – certainly not for live theatre Thursday, 5 August 2021 Neither West End shows nor live performances all around Britain will take much heart from this threadbare official scheme Read Sonia Friedman’s full Telegraph article. Up Up

Back to News & Press The River Recoups on Broadway Tuesday, 6 January 2015 “Hugh Jackman ascends to a new level as a stage actor. His performance opens the shutters just enough to keep us guessing, to keep us hooked.” Ben Brantley, The New York Times “★★★★! An exceptional piece of stage writing by Jez Butterworth.” –David Cote, Time Out New York “Passionately staged by Ian Rickson, The River is destined to keep theatergoers arguing about its meaning all the way home, if not all season.” –Linda Winer, Newsday “Enigmatic, mysterious, profound, and intensely intimate.” –Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune The River was first produced from October 18-November 17, 2012 in the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, in a production directed by Mr. Rickson, also featuring Ms. Donnelly, who makes her Broadway debut alongside Ms. Jumbo. The Broadway production of The River, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, opened on Sunday, November 16, 2014. Previews began October 31, 2014. The production marks the sixth collaboration between Mr. Butterworth and Mr. Rickson. Mr. Rickson has previously directed the world premiere productions of Mr. Butterworth’s Mojo, The Night Heron, The Winterling, Parlour Song and the multi-award-winning London and Broadway production of Jerusalem. Hugh Jackman, Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo are appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance of this production. On a moonless evening, a man brings his new girlfriend to a remote cabin for a night of trout-fishing. But before the night is over, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems… and as memory collides with desire, the truth becomes the most elusive catch of all. The River is designed by Ultz, with lighting by Charles Balfour, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph, music by Stephen Warbeck, and casting by Jim Carnahan. Up Up