An Exeter Northcott, Nuffield Southampton Theatres and Rose Theatre Kingston co-production in association with Ara
Don Carlos
Written by Friedrich Schiller
Translated by Robert David MacDonald
Directed by Gadi Roll; Set and Costume Design by Rosanna Vize
Lighting Design by Jonathan Samuels
Artistic and Executive Director of Exeter Northcott Theatre Daniel Buckroyd today announces the full cast for a major new revival of Schiller’s Don Carlos presented in a co-production with Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST) and Rose Theatre Kingston. Gadi Roll directs Tom Burke (Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa), Alexandra Dowling (Eboli), Darrell D’Silva (Philip), Kelly Gough (Elizabeth), Jason Morell (Domingo), Vinta Morgan (Alba), Samuel Valentine (Don Carlos), Stephen Ventura (Lerma) Flip Webster (Duchess), with Alexander Allin, Dan Ball, Guy Dennys and Euan Shanahan completing the company’s ensemble.
Produced by former Northcott Executive and Artistic Director Paul Jepson with NST and Rose Theatre, it is the centrepiece of the Exeter Northcott’s 50th anniversary celebrations and opens on 16 October, with previews from 11 October, and runs until 20 October 2018 ahead of performances in Southampton and Kingston. The production reunites Burke and Roll following their previous collaboration on Don Juan Comes Back From the War at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
Artistic and Executive Director Daniel Buckroyd said: “It is very exciting that the next outing in the Northcott’s role as a producer of high-quality theatre comes in the form of this fantastic co-production with Nuffield Southampton Theatres and Rose Theatre Kingston.
We are also delighted that it will be playing to audiences around the UK, flying the flag for the theatre and the city.’’
Don Carlos is a magnificent tale of passion and power set against the chilling backdrop of the bloody and ruthless Spanish Inquisition.
Don Carlos is torn apart when his tyrannical father King Philip II seals a peace deal by marrying French noble Elizabeth de Valois, the love of Carlos’ life. The heartbroken heir turns for help to his closest friend, Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa, a champion of the oppressed, who questions the monarch’s iron rule and becomes an unlikely power broker in the duplicitous court.
Written just two years before the French Revolution, Schiller’s Don Carlos is a man caught at the intersection of passion and politics: smitten by his stepmother and seduced by Posa’s dangerous vision of freedom. The chilling work is full of Shakespearean echoes and its themes of justice and equality; freedom of expression and conscience; religious bigotry and state persecution are as relevant today as ever.
Director Gadi Roll brings his trademark dynamic imagery and haunting soundscapes to Schiller’s masterpiece.
Gadi Roll said, “This is a play for our times. It mercilessly and sensationally depicts an extreme world of state power and corruption, but at its heart are some of the greatest heroes ever written.”
Friedrich Schiller’s (1759 – 1805) principal works for the stage include The Robbers, Intrigue and Love, The Wallenstein Trilogy, Mary Stuart and William Tell.
Robert David MacDonald (1929-2004) was a playwright, translator and director. He was co-director of the Citizens’ Theatre Company, Glasgow and wrote fifteen plays for the company including Dracula, Camille, De Sade Show, Chinchilla, No Orchids For Miss Blandish, Summit Conference, A Waste Of Time, Don Juan, Webster, Anna Karenina, and Conundrum. As a translator he translated/adapted over seventy operas and plays from ten different languages, including such operas as, The Threepenny Opera (Glasgow/ENO North), Tamerlano, Flight From The Harem, The Barber Of Seville, Aida (WNOC), Marschner’s Vampire!, Cosi Fan Tutti (Hintlesham); and plays, Figaro, Orpheus, The Human Voice, Conversation At Night, Achterloo, Shadow Of Angels, The Balcony, The Blacks, The Screens, The Government Inspector, Tasso, Faust I & II, Brand, Hedda Gabler, Maskerade, The House Of Bernada Alba, School For Wives, Don Juan, Enrico Four, Phedra, Mary Stuart, The Seagull, Around The World In Eighty Days, Lulu and Clavigo.
Alexander Allin is a member of the Ensemble. His theatre credit includes The Records (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Dinosaur Dreams (Etcetera Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Tristan Bates Theatre), Fanny and Stella: The Shocking True Story (Above the Stag Theatre) and The Libertine (Leicester Square Theatre).
Dan Ball is a member of the Ensemble. His theatre credits include Macbeth (Beer Caves), Frankenstein, Twelfth Night (Exeter Barnfield Theatre), Margurite (Tabard Theatre), Powerplay and Click (White Bear Theatre); and for film, The Wedding Video and Throw of a Dice.
Tom Burke plays Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa. His theatre work includes The Deep Blue Sea, The Doctor’s Dilemma (National Theatre), Reasons to be Happy (Hampstead Theatre), Reasons to be Pretty, Macbeth (Almeida Theatre), Design for Living (The Old Vic), for the Donmar Warehouse, Creditors (also New York, winner of the Ian Charleson Award) and The Cut, and Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe). His television work includes Strike, The Musketeers, War and Peace, Utopia, The Hour and Great Expectations; and for film, The Libertine, The Enlightenment, The Collectors, Donkey Punch, Telstar, Chéri, An Enemy to Die For, Cleanskin, Only God Forgives, The Invisible Woman and The Hooligan Factory.
Guy Dennys is a member of the Ensemble. His theatre credits include Medea (Four of Swords Theatre) and Macbeth (Bussey Building).
Alexandra Dowling plays Eboli. Her theatre credits include A Lie of the Mind (Southwark Playhouse), While the Sun Shines (Theatre Royal Bath), I Have Been Here Before and The Last of the De Mullins (Jermyn Street Theatre). Her television credits include series regular Queen Anne in The Musketeers. Other television credits include Poirot and Game of Thrones; and for film Hammer of the Gods.
Darrell D’Silva plays Philip. His theatre credits include X, The Lying Kind (Royal Court Theatre), Dunsinane (RSC/National Theatre of Scotland/international tour), Making Stalin Laugh (JW3), Public Enemy, Six Characters Looking for an Author (Young Vic), Children’s Children (Almeida Theatre), Hedda Gabler (The Old Vic), Antony Cleopatra, King Lear, Little Eagles, Julius Caesar, The Drunks, The Winter’s Tale, Hecuba (RSC), The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Rose Tattoo, Royal Hunt of the Sun, Tales From the Vienna Woods, Further than the Furthest Thing (National Theatre), Absolutely (Perhaps) (Wyndham’s Theatre), Antartica (Savoy Theatre), Closer (UK tour), and Romeo and Juliet and The Three Musketeers (Sheffield Theatres). His television credits include Strike Back, Woyzeck, Asylum, Criminal Justice and Out of the Blue; and for film, Montana, Northmen – A Viking Saga, Closer to the Moon, To Be First, Lawless and Dirty Pretty Things.
Kelly Gough plays Elizabeth. Her theatre credits include A Street Car Named Desire (Nuffield Southampton Theatres and UK tour), All in the Timing (Inis Theatre), Big Love (Abbey Theatre), Falling Out Of Love (Yew Tree Theatre), The Playboy Of The Western World (Druid Theatre) and Phaedra, Vinegar Tom, Terrorism, Three Sisters, Twelfth Night and Yeats Trilogy (Samuel Beckett Theatre). For television her credits include Call the Midwife, The Fall, Strike Back, Broadchurch, Vera, Law & Order, Class, Country Woman, Raw, Scup, Belonging to Laura, This is Night Live and The Clinic; and for film, Taking Stock, Cry Rosa, Out Of Innocence, Kill Command and Jump.
Jason Morell plays Domingo. His theatre credits include The Biograph Girl (Finborough Theatre), Present Laughter (Theatre Royal Bath), The Prince and the Pauper (Unicorn Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew (RSC), Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Faustus (Royal & Derngate Northampton/Hampstead Theatre), Lysistrata (Arcola Theatre), The Duchess of Malfi, The Rehearsal (Salisbury Playhouse), Ritual in Blood (Nottingham Playhouse), The Critic (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Silver Lake (Wilton’s Music Hall), Romeo & Juliet (UK tour), The Reckless are Dying Out (Lyric Hammersmith), Rainsnakes (Young Vic) and Swanwhite (Gate Theatre). His television credits include Hear the Silence and Second Sight: Parasomnia; and for film, Affinity, Artifacts, The Gathering, The Lake, Wilde, Mrs Brown and Damage.
Vinta Morgan plays Alba. His theatre work includes Death and the Maiden (Fio Theatre Company), Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog (Belgrade Theatre and Citizens’ Theatre), Dreamland (Arcola Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (Almeida Theatre), Richard III (Trafalgar Studios) and Romeo and Juliet (RSC). For television, his work includes Butterfly, I Want My Wife Back, 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover and Silent Witness; and for film, Official Secrets, What Happened to Monday, If It Be Love and Nine Lives.
Euan Shanahan is a member of the Ensemble. His theatre credits include A Queer Anthology of Dating (Southwark Playhouse), The Front Room, Sex with a Stranger (The Wardrobe Theatre) and 13 (Tobacco Factory).
Samuel Valentine plays Don Carlos. His theatre credits include The Stepmother (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Romeo & Juliet (Garrick Theatre/Shakespeare’s Globe). His television credits include King Lear; and for film, Thicker Than Water.
Stephen Ventura plays Lerma. His theatre credits include Great Apes (Arcola Theatre), Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Fifth Column (Southwark Playhouse), The One That Got Away (Theatre Royal Bath), The Orphan of Zhao (RSC). For television, his work includes Doc Martin, Downton Abbey, 32 Brinkburn Street and M.I. High; and for film, Emma.
Flip Webster plays Duchess. Her theatre credits include The Hound of the Baskervilles, The 39 Steps… I Counted Them (Guildford Fringe), Women of an Uncertain Age, Flipside – One Woman Show (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Stepping Out (The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre). Her television credits include Witless, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and Night and Day; and for film, The Heiress, Made in Romania, Irina Palm and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Gadi Roll has directed over sixty productions for the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Teatr Polski, Wroclaw, American Repertory Theatre Boston, Stari Teatr Krakow, Habima National Theatre, Cameri and Beit-Lessin Theatres Tel Aviv, Jerusalem Khan Theatre, Haifa Theatre and Beer-Sheva Theatre, Israel. Credits include Iphigenia at Aulis, The House of Bernarda Alba, Les Parents Terrible, Don Juan Comes Back From the War, Pains of Youth, Romeo and Juliet, The Duchess of Malfi, Measure for Measure, ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, The Robbers, Don Carlos, Spring Awakening, Waiting For Godot, 1913, The Park, Quei Oust, A View from the Bridge, The Lady from the Sea, No End of Blame, Amadeus and Saved.
Cast headshots can be downloaded here
Exeter Northcott Theatre
11 – 20 October 2018
Press night: 16 October
Box Office: 01392 726363
Nuffield Southampton Theatres
23 October – 3 November
Box Office: 023 8067 1771
Rose Theatre Kingston
6 – 17 November
Box Office: 020 8174 0090
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Exeter Northcott Theatre is located at the heart of the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus. With more than 84,000 visitors a year, it creates, curates and collaborates on a vibrant programme of exceptional performance. Artistic and Executive Director Daniel Buckroyd took over in August 2018 to consolidate and develop the Northcott’s return as a producing house in 2015. Recent productions include: The Railway Children (Exeter Northcott and Nick Brooke Ltd co-production; The Comedy of Errors (outdoor Shakespeare South West Tour Summer 2017); Dracula: The Bloody Truth (Le Navet Bete in association with Exeter Northcott); J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan; French Without Tears (Exeter Northcott, English Touring Theatre and Orange Tree Theatre co-production); This Is My Body (Exeter Northcott and Ten Ten Productions – Anti Slavery Day Media Award Winner 2015); Harold Pinter’s Betrayal; A Christmas Carol (Exeter Northcott and Creative Cow co-production). The Northcott has developed a radical interdisciplinary commissioning programme – IMPACT – to champion the University of Exeter’s world class research. In January 2018, it launched a studio tour of Beyond My Control, an interactive performance about epilepsy, and now plans a bigger national and international tour. The theatre also runs an Associates Programme, which supports the next generation of theatre companies to successfully transition to the midscale. Current members comprise PaddleBoat Theatre Company, Metta Theatre and Le Navet Bete. Tom Burke’s new company Ara is also now an associate.
Nuffield Southampton Theatres is one of the UK’s leading professional theatre companies. The company is led by Samuel Hodges, supported by a team of associates: directors Blanche McIntyre, Natalie Abrahami and Michael Longhurst, designer Tom Scutt, playwright Adam Brace, choreographer Drew McOnie and poet Inua Ellams. NST develops and produces work with some of the UK’s most exciting and dynamic regional theatres. In 2016/17 290,000 people saw an NST production across all 9 regions of the UK. NST won Best Director at UK Theatre Awards 2014 (The Seagull), Regional Theatre of the Year at The Stage Awards 2015, Best Design at UK Theatre Awards 2015 (The Hudsucker Proxy) and the 2017 Renee Stepham UK Theatre Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre (Fantastic Mr Fox).
NST City is Nuffield Southampton Theatres brand new venue just opened in Southampton’s city centre. The new theatre opened earlier this year, and runs alongside NST Campus situated on the Highfield Campus at the University of Southampton.
Nuffield Southampton Theatres is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and a registered charity, receiving additional core funding from the University of Southampton and Southampton City Council.
@NSTheatres
Rose Theatre Kingston
Founded by Sir Peter Hall, and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London’s Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in South West London.
Since opening in 2008, the Rose has collaborated with a range of directors, playwrights and producing partners to create vibrant, engaging and inspiring productions. Recent works include the first stage adaptation and world premiere of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend adapted by April De Angelis and directed by Melly Still, Zach Helm’s Good Canary directed by John Malkovich, David Hare’s The Absence of War directed by Jeremy Herrin, and Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather (West End transfer and Olivier Award nominee) directed by Sally Cookson.
With over 150,000 visitors a year, the Rose enjoys artistic and critical acclaim from its own productions and co-productions as well as from hosting the work of renowned theatre companies including Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Propeller and Northern Broadsides. With an auditorium that lends itself to both intimate and epic scale productions, the Rose has established itself as one of the most exciting theatres in the UK.
Ara
The production marks the first venture of Ara, a new company set up by Burke and Israeli theatre director, Gadi Roll, to offer non-naturalistic stagings of classic plays. Ara is an Associate Company of Exeter Northcott Theatre.
Twitter: @ExeterNorthcott Facebook: @ExeterNorthcottTheatre
