AN INSPECTOR CALLS AT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY

Washington, D.C.—Winner of 19 major accolades, including multiple Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk Awards, Stephen Daldry’s (Billy Elliot, The Crown) multi award-winning production of J.B. Priestley’s classic thriller An Inspector Calls will kick off a four-city U.S. tour at Shakespeare Theatre Company from November 20 through December 23, 2018.

Following its initial success at the National Theatre in 1992, where it received three Olivier Awards, An Inspector Calls transferred to the West End where it enjoyed a two-year season. The production has toured Australia, Japan, Austria and Luxembourg, as well as completing ten major U.K. tours, and it returned to London’s West End a further five times playing for over six years, with almost 5,000 performances of the production watched by over four million theatre-goers.

Considered a timeless masterpiece that is as entertaining as it is meaningful, the landmark production at STC will feature Liam Brennan, Jeff Harmer, Lianne Harvey, Christine Kavanagh, Andrew Macklin, Diana Paynes-Myers and Hamish Riddle, who will all make their STC debut.

Set simultaneously in 1912, post-war society and modern day at the home of the Birlings, a well-heeled British family, the story follows a festive celebration that is suddenly punctured by a mysterious visitor: a grim inspector investigating the death of a young woman. As questions multiply and guilt mounts, the Birlings’ entanglement in the affair shatters the foundations of their comfortable lives. It’s a detective thriller, but also a story of social conscience—both a plea for a more just society and a warning of what’s to come if we fail to attain it. Daldry’s spectacular production has time and again proven to have an eerie prescience even after 26 years of performance, called “as thrillingly fresh and disconcerting as when it was first minted almost a quarter of a century ago,” by The Independent.

“I’m thrilled to welcome one of the defining productions of modern British theatre to Shakespeare Theatre Company,” says STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn. “With edge-of-your-seat suspense, astonishing design and themes that seem ever more relevant, the play has excited audiences for over 25 years.  It is truly a classic of 20^th-century theatre and I’m so glad to finally be able to share it with Washington audiences.”

ABOUT STEPHEN DALDRY

Stephen Daldry started his career at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre and directed extensively in Britain’s regional theatres. In London he was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre where he headed the £26 million redevelopment. He has also directed at the National Theatre, the Public Theater in New York and transferred many productions both to Broadway and the West End including on several occasions his 1992 production of An Inspector Calls. He has directed for BBC Radio and Television. His production of Billy Elliot the Musical is currently playing in London and Holland having previously played on Broadway, in Seoul, Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago, Toronto and across the US. In 2009, the production won ten Tony awards including Best Musical, more than any other British show in Broadway history. The first U.K. and Ireland tour of Billy Elliot the Musical starts in February 2016. His first four films Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close together received 19 Academy Award nominations and two wins. His most recent film, Trash, set in the favellas of Rio de Janeiro was nominated for the 2015 BAFTAs.  His highly acclaimed, award-winning London productions of The Audience and Skylight have recently finished Tony-winning, sell-out runs on Broadway. Stephen is directing the new Netflix series The Crown written by Peter Morgan.  He is Director of the Pier 55 Performance Park in New York and was Creative Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

THE CAST

Chris Barritt (Ensemble) THEATRE: Blue/Orange (Wimbledon), Otherwise Engaged (Criterion), The Birthday Party (Duchess), See You Next Tuesday (Albery), She Stoops To Conquer/A Laughing Matter (National Theatre), Feelgood (Garrick), The Lady in the Van (Queen’s), Dead Funny (Vaudeville), Arcadia (Haymarket), Run For Your Wife and Move Over Mrs. Markham (Olympia Theatre, Dublin), Candida (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Othello and Love’s Labors’ Lost (Regents Park Theatre), The Miser, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Zoo Story (Belfast), The Misanthrope (Comedy) The History Boys (National Tour), Ben Hur (Hexagon, Reading). The Caretaker (Old Vic), The Dishwashers (National Tour), Maurice’s Jubilee (National Tour). Training: LAMDA.  TELEVISION/RADIO: Paranormal Live (for later this year), Dream Team (Sky), Emmerdale (Yorkshire), Remington Steele (MTV), The Scar (Channel 4), Brien Friel Profile (BBC), Pravda, Night Falls On The City (Radio4) and Zoo Story (Radio Ulster).

Liam Brennan (Inspector Goole) THEATRE: Richard III, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe/The Apollo Theatre/Belasco Theatre, New York); Measure for Measure, Edward II, Richard II, Twelfth Night, Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); Union, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, A View From The Bridge, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, The Merchant Of Venice, Othello, Anna Karenina, Montrose, The Gowk Storm, The Taming Of The Shrew, Hobson’s Choice, Mary Rose, Mr. Bolfry, Trivial Pursuits, Loot (all Royal Lyceum Edinburgh); Macbeth (Royal Lyceum/Nottingham Playhouse); Tom Fool (Glasgow Citizens Theatre/Bush Theatre); Stranger Babies, The Found Man, Men in White Suits, Things We Do for Love, The Speculator, Family, King Lear, Knives in Hens, Wormwood (Traverse Theatre); Babycakes (Clyde Unity/Drill Hall); The Merchant of Venice (Sheffield Crucible); Rumplestiltskin (Cumbernauld Theatre), Twelfth Night (Salisbury Playhouse/China Tour). TELEVISION: Shetland, Swine Fever, High Road, Machair, Bad Boys, Taggart and Strathblair II. Film includes: No Man’s Land, Feet Steps and Gas Attack. Radio Includes: Cloud Howe, Take Me to Necropolis, Red and Blue, The True Story of Bonnie Parker, Sullom Voe, Down and Out in Auchnakinnan, Piper Alpha, Much Ado About Nothing, La Princesse De Cleves, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth, Rob Roy and Master Of Ballantrae. Liam won the 2006 CATS Award for Best Actor for his performance in Tales From Hollywood (Perth Theatre).

Adam Collier (Ensemble) THEATRE: Translations (National Theatre), Henry V (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Railway Children (King’s Cross Theatre), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Les Enfants Terribles), The Last Days Of Mankind (Bristol Old Vic), We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Australia/Asia/UK Tour) and Twelfth Night (Redgrave Theatre). TELEVISION: Ghost Writer (BBC), Your Move (ITV West) and The Daughter (BFI).RADIO: BBC Carleton Hobbs Nominee, An Elixir of Love and The Incident (Christchurch Studios).

Jeff Harmer (Mr. Birling) THEATRE:  Berrard in the National tour of Bird Song Fox on The Fairway, Out Of Order, Donkey’s Years, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Funny Money (Vienna’s English Theatre), Made in Dagenham (Hornchurch), Sweet Charity (New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich), I Dreamed A Dream (National Tour), The Witches of Eastwick, (Watermill Theatre) Aladdin (Alhambra Theatre), Buddy (Channel Islands), Othello, Richard III (Ludlow Festival), Privates on Parade (West Yorkshire Playhouse & Birmingham Rep) Mamma Mia! (International Tour), The Hot Mikado (Watermill Theatre Newbury and National Tour), Dick Whittington, The Comedy of Errors (Northcott Theatre, Exeter), The Rivals, The Blue, A Christmas Carol (Swan Theatre Worcester) The Roy Orbison Story (Bill Kenwright National Tour), Return to the Forbidden Planet, Chicago (Frankfurt), Vanity Fair (Sherman Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (National Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dracula, The Wind in the Willows (Liverpool Playhouse) Stagestruck (Grand Swansea), Du lac Eurydice (Whitehall Theatre) The Forsyte Saga (National Tour).TELEVISION AND FILM: Diana Her True Story (NBC), A Life (CH4) Poirot, The Bill, Family Affairs (CH5) Westbeach (BBC), Kidnap & Ransom (ITV), The Runaway (SKYTV), The Italian Consul (Film Italia), Saplings (BBC Radio 4), Gilbert Without Sullivan (BBC Radio 4) TRAINING: The Webber Douglas Academy

Lianne Harvey (Sheila Birling) THEATRE: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (U.K. and International tour), Relatively Speaking (Oldham Coliseum, Harrogate Theatre), The Railway Children and Trials of Mary (Eastern Angles), Heartbreak House (Union Theatre), Enveloped in Velvet (Arts Theatre), The Daughter in Law, Mercury Fur, The Witch of Edmonton (Whilst at RADA).TELEVISION: Not Safe for Work (Channel 4).  FILM: The female lead in 2017 feature film Bikini Blue (for multi Academy Award-nominated Studio Filmowe Zebra, Warsaw). TRAINING: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Christine Kavanagh (Mrs. Birling) THEATRE: Hedda Gabler (National Theatre U.K. tour), Man and Superman (National Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Harold Pinter Theatre), Albert Speer (National Theatre), The Liar (Old Vic), The Rehearsal (Almeida and Garrick), Basket Case (Northampton Royal Derngate), A Doll’s House (Lyric, Belfast), Macbeth (RSC), Hamlet (Nottingham Playhouse), All My Sons (Redgrave Theatre), The Revengers Comedies (Scarborough), Last Easter (Birmingham Rep), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), She Stoops to Conquer (Oxford Playhouse), Travesties (Oxford Playhouse), The Rivals (York Theatre Royal).TELEVISION: Vera (ITV), Titanic (ITV), Room with a View (ITV), A Very British Coup (Skreba Films), The Blackheath Poisonings (Central Films), Catherine Cookson/The Glass Virgin (Festival film and ITV), Chimera (Zenith Films), Drop the Dead Donkey (Hat Trick/Channel 4), Frank Stubbs (Noel Gay TV), In His Life the John Lennon Story (NBC), Inspector Lynley (BBC), Inspector Morse (Channel 4), Island Gardens (BBC), Doctors (BBC), Jonathan Creek (BBC), Manchild (BBC), Minder (Thames TV), Ruth Rendell Mysteries – May and June, Ruth Rendell Mysteries – No crying he makes (TVS), Seaforth (BBC),  Sleeper (BBC), The Bretts (Central TV), Return of Sherlock Holmes (Tiger Aspect), Agony Too (BBC), Material Girl (Carnival Films), The Saint (D L Taffner), Doctor Who (BBC), The Sleeper, Underbelly (BBC Initial films). FILM: Man and Superman NT Live (National Theatre). RADIO: includes Home Front, I Claudius, and Charles Paris for BBC radio four, member of the BBC radio drama company, and she narrates audio books.

Andrew Macklin (Gerald Croft) THEATRE: The Baleful Lie (Tristan Bates Theatre), Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern (Out of Joint/Watford Palace/Arcola Theatre/Tour), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Curve Theatre), Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Chipping Norton Theatre), The Mercy Seat (York Theatre Royal), King Lear, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Three Sisters (Abbey Theatre), The Only True History of Lizzie Finn (Southwark Playhouse), Brighton (Garter Lane Arts Centre), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Watford Palace), I’ll be the Devil (RSC/Tricycle), All Over Town, The Irish Curse (Project Theatre, Dublin), 24 Hour Plays: Lucy’s Brief Guide to Being Human (Old Vic), Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk (Salisbury Playhouse), The Cure at Troy (Floodtide Theatre Company), Much Ado About Nothing (Bath Theatre Royal), Don’t Look Back (dreamthinkspeak), Markings (Attic Theatre Company), A Passionate Woman (Mill at Sonning). TV: Jubilee Nurse, Mr. Selfridge, Fair City.

Chloe Orrock (Ensemble) THEATRE: Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing (Don’t Hate The Players Theatre Company), Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (Tomahawk Theatre Company), Condemned to Live, Henry VI (Old Fire Station), Too Much Punch for Judy (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), The Picture of Dorian Gray (international tour with European Arts Company), Of Sirens and Other Monsters (Pleasance Theatre)

Diana Payne-Myers (Edna) was a dancer at Ballet Rambert at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, 1948. She has most recently worked in Scotland with Barrowland Ballet (Natasha Gilmore’s Glasgow based company) in  A Conversation with Carmel  2013 (co-produced by Scottish Arts & Stratford East) at the Tramway Theatre, Glasgow; Stratford East, London & 2 Scotland tours concluding the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011.Other recent credits include: Further work with Matthew Hawkins at Edinburgh Festival (2007), Red Ladies (2014) at the Southbank Centre, Malvern & Margate, God’s Garden with Arthur Pita – created and presented in Ipswich followed by performances in Birmingham & later with a company at the Royal Opera House, London. Diana has also performed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Arts Festival with DV8 Physical Theatre company piece Can we afford this? The cost of living, (Everest Theatre, Sydney). It later toured to London and Hong Kong. Other work with DV8 includes Strange Fish (European tour) and Bound to Please which toured Europe 1999-2000. Diana returns to the role of Edna having performed in An Inspector Calls at the Garrick Theatre, the Aldwich Theatre, two UK tours & the Australia tour.

Hamish Riddle (Eric Birling). Prior to training he was a member of the National Youth Theatre Rep Company. THEATRE: Manning (The Arches/Encounter Festival/Brno), Tory Boyz, Prince Of Denmark,  Romeo And Juliet, Pope Joan, Black And White, As You Like It (N.Y.T.) and Prince Of Denmark (National Theatre). Theatre whilst training includes: 13, The Country Wife, Merchant of Venice and The Seagull (all for R.C.S.) Hamish also took part in the London 2012 Olympics Welcoming Ceremony as part of the N.Y.T. TRAINING: The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Beth Tuckey (Ensemble) THEATRE: Mrs. Reece in The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Towswomens Guild (Frinton); Ase in Peer Gynt (Royal Festival Hall/Philharmonia Opera); Sheila in Relatively Speaking (Frinton); Miss Prism in The Importance Of Being Earnest (Frinton); Barbs (Lead) in Perfect Days (New Victoria Theatre, Stoke); Mavis in Stepping Out (New Victoria Theatre); Grace Paige in GamePlan (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Tour and West End); Annetter Sefton-Wilcox in Flatspin (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Tour and West End); Dee Jobson in Role Play (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Tour and West End); Mrs Klein in Maddie (Salisbury Playhouse & Lyric Theatre London); Mabel Cotton in Wakey Wakey (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); Bryony in Up on the Roof  (Swan Theatre, Worcester); Sally Pratt in I Have Been Here Before (Swan Theatre, Worcester); Amanda in Private Lives (Swan Theatre, Worcester); Eve in Distinguished Service (Coliseum Oldham); Connie in Habeus Corpus (Coliseum Oldham); Heddy Hopper in Judy (Coliseum Oldham); Janet Rutherford in Rutherford and Son (Coliseum Oldham); Emilia in The Winter’s Tale (Regents Park); Hippolta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regents Park); Betty in Babes in Arms (Regents Park); Various in When I Was A Girl I Used (Westcliff); Marta in Company (Westcliff); Florinda in Into The Woods (Regional Theatre Award). RADIO: The Antiquary, BBC Radio4, The Bride Of Lammermoor. BBC Radio4 Saplings, BBC Radio4. TRAINING: the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

 

THE DESIGNERS

The legendary and award-winning design of An Inspector Calls was created by:

Tony-Award winning set and costume designer Ian MacNeil’s work includes Billy Elliot The Musical in the West End, Australia on Broadway and U.S. tours, and earned him a Tony Award for Best Designer; Albert Speer, Machinal (Critic’s Circle Award-winner) and An Inspector Calls (also West End and International; Olivier and Critic’s Circle Awards-winner) at the National; Far Away, Via Dolorosa (also on Broadway and the West End), This is a Chair, Death and the Maiden (also West End), Plasticine (Evening Standard Award-winner Best Designer) and A Number for the Royal Court; Afore Night Come (the Young Vic) The Ingolstadt Plays, Figaro Gets Divorced and Jerker at the Gate; Enter Achilles and Bound to Please for DV8; and Festen (The Almeida – also West End and Broadway; Evening Standard Award- winner, Best Designer). Recent designs include Vernon God Little and A Doll’s House at the Young Vic and Brooklyn Academy of Music; In Basildon at the Royal Court; Desire Under the Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith; The Amen Corner at the National Theatre; Betrayal on Broadway; Birdland at the Royal Court, and Everyman at the National.

Lighting Designer Rick Fisher is the winner of two Olivier Awards for Best Lighting Design and two Tony and Drama Desk Awards for An Inspector Calls and Billy Elliot (Broadway). He first lit this production of An Inspector Calls in York in 1990 and then again at the National Theatre in 1992. THEATRE: Peter Pan (Regent’s Park); The Audience (with Helen Mirren in London and Broadway, and subsequently with Kristin Scott Thomas in London; The Merchant of Venice (Almeida Theatre / RSC); Sunny Afternoon (Hampstead / West End); Porgy and Bess (Regent’s Park);  Billy Elliot (West End / Australia / Broadway / US Tour / Holland); Brigit & Bailegangaire (Druid Theatre, Galway);  The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Twelfth Night (Singapore); Judas Kiss (Duke of York’s); Chariots of Fire (Gielgud), Richard III (RSC); Tribes (Royal Court); An Inspector Calls (West End/Broadway); Betrayal, Old Times (Donmar); Jerry Springer the Opera,  Blue/Orange (National Theatre/West End). MUSICAL AND OPERA: Daughter of the Regiment, Rigoletto, Salome (Santa Fe Opera); Sweeney Todd (Houston Grand Opera); Oscar (Philadelphia); Falstaff (Japan & Los Angeles); The King and I, Sweeney Todd (Chatelet, Paris); The Sound of Music (Buenos Aires); The Tsarina’s Slippers (Royal Opera House); Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail , Maometto II (Garsington); La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Santa Fe). DANCE:  Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (London / Los Angeles / Broadway / World Tour).

Academy Award-winning musical composer Stephen Warbeck began studying piano and composing at the age of four. After eight years of working as a composer and performer for the stage Stephen began writing music for film and television and has since built up a considerable filmography. He has written music for more than 40 television projects and has received five BAFTA nominations and in 2013 a BAFTA Award for his work on Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2.  Other recent television projects include Indian Summers and first two series of A Young Doctor’s Notebook.  Stephen has scored many feature films including: Mon Roi, Seve, Polisse, Proof, Mrs. Brown, Mystery Men, Quills, Billy Elliott, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Birthday Girl and Shakespeare in Love, for which he won an Academy Award. His other notable stage productions include: the Globe’s Richard II, the Donmar’s Temple, the RSC’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies; the Royal Court’s The River and Jerusalem (both West End and Broadway transfers) and The Seagull; The National Theatre’s The Red Lion, The Silver Tassie, This House, The Veil; John Madden’s Proof, Sam Mendes’ To The Green Fields Beyond; Old Times and Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre and many productions for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Almeida and West End theatres. In addition to composing for film and television, Stephen has written music for numerous radio plays and written several concert pieces. Peter Pan is his first ballet score.

Associate Director Julian Webber adapted and directed The Three Musketeers at the Young Vic Theatre, which was nominated for a Barclay’s Theatre Award in 2002; more recently, the West End revival of The Shape of Things by Neil Labute, and The Barber of Seville at the Bristol Old Vic in a new adaptation by Lee Hall. For eight years Julian was Artistic Director of Soho Rep, New York and is currently Associate Director for Billy Elliot the Musical, for which he won a Helpmann Award for the production in Sydney, Australia, and last year, mounted in Holland.

 An Inspector Calls is supported by the Harman Family Foundation in honor of the unforgettable Sidney Harman‘s 100th birthday.

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