22 November 2019
Newsdesk
The Donmar Warehouse announces casting for Lyndsey Turner’s new production of Caryl Churchill’s Far Away. BAFTA-winning actress Jessica Hynes will make her Donmar debut in the role of Harper alongside Aisling Loftus as Joan and Simon Manyonda as Todd. Casting for the role of Young Joan is to be announced at a later date.
You’ve found something secret. You know that don’t you?
In a cottage far away, a child wakes to the sound of screaming.
Who will tell her what’s really going on?
And where will the discoveries she makes that night take her in the years to come?
Caryl Churchill’s dazzling play about a world sliding into chaos receives a new production at the Donmar, twenty years on from its explosive premiere.
For this production, the Donmar is partnering with the London College of Fashion, UAL, where graduate students on the College’s MA Costume Design for Performance course will work to create the extravagant hats for Far Away’s renowned hat parade scene. The Donmar will also be running a series of platform events alongside FAR AWAY, chaired by journalist Fiona Mountford.
Continuing its commitment to engaging new audiences, the Donmar has simplified ticket access schemes with DONMAR DAILY RELEASE. This scheme sees a minimum of 40 additional tickets released for sale every morning for performances seven days later. Audiences can sign up to receive information about productions and ticketing on the Donmar’s website, www.donmarwarehouse.com.
The Donmar’s successful free ticket scheme for those aged 16-25, YOUNG+FREE, will continue with Far Away, offering seats for performances across the season with tickets released by ballot at the end of every month. YOUNG+FREE is funded through the generosity of audiences via the Donmar’s PAY IT FORWARD scheme. These donations have enabled the Donmar to allocate more than 18,000 free tickets to those aged under 26.
Before Far Away takes to the Donmar stage, [BLANK], a new play by Alice Birch in a co-production with Clean Break, is in its final week until 30 November. Then, Donmar Artistic Director Michael Longhurst will direct Mike Lew’s darkly comic take on Shakespeare’s Richard III, Teenage Dick, which has its UK premiere from 6 December 2019 until 1 February 2020. Teenage Dick stars Daniel Monks, Susan Wokoma and Ruth Madeley.
Caryl Churchill (Writer) has written for stage, radio and television. She wrote a number of plays for BBC radio including The Ants (1962), Lovesick (1967) and Abortive (1971). The Judge's Wife was televised by the BBC in 1972 and Owners, her first professional stage production, premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in the same year. She was Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court (1974-5) and spent much of the 1970s and 1980s working with the theatre groups 'Joint Stock' and 'Monstrous Regiment'. Her work during this period included Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976), Cloud Nine (1979), Fen (1983) and A Mouthful of Birds (1986), written with David Lan. Three More Sleepless Nights was first produced at the Soho Poly, London, in 1980.
Top Girls (1982) was first staged at the Royal Court in 1982 and transferred to Joseph Papp's Public Theater in New York later that year. Serious Money was first produced at the Royal Court in 1987 and won the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year and the Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play. More recent plays include Mad Forest (1990), written after a visit to Romania, and The Skriker (1994). Her plays for television include The After-Dinner Joke (1978) and Crimes (1982). Far Away premiered at the Royal Court in 2000, directed by Stephen Daldry. She has also published a new translation of Seneca's Thyestes (2001), and A Number (2002), which addresses the subject of human cloning. Her new version of August Strindberg's A Dream Play premiered at the National Theatre in 2005. Her plays since then have included Seven Jewish Children - a play for Gaza (2009), Love and Information (2012), Ding Dong the Wicked (2013), Here We Go (2015) and Escaped Alone (2016). Caryl Churchill lives in London. Her play Escaped Alone (2015) premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in January 2016 and transferred to New York, and her most recent plays Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp premiered at the Royal Court earlier this year.
Lyndsey Turner’s (Director) previous work at the Donmar includes Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Fathers and Sons, Faith Healer and Aristocrats. Her other theatre credits include Top Girls, Saint George and the Dragon, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Edgar and Annabel, There is a War (National Theatre), Girls and Boys (Royal Court), Tipping The Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith), Hamlet (Barbican) and Chimerica (Headlong, Almeida & West End).
Jessica Hynes (Harper) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in Far Away. Her theatre credits include The Norman Conquests, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway transfer (Old Vic and Broadway) and The Night Heron, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award (Royal Court). Her television credits include Years and Years, There She Goes, for which she won a BAFTA Television Award, Hang Ups, W1A, for which she also won a BAFTA Television Award, Up the Women, Twenty Twelve, Blandings, Moone Boy, The Hour, The Royale Family, Hooten and the Lady, Cider with Rosie, Doctor Who, and Spaced. Film credits include The Fight, which she also directed, Alright Now, Paddington 2, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Swallows and Amazons, Nativity 2, Chalet Girl, Faint Heart, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, Son of Rambow, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Shaun of the Dead, and Tomorrow La Scala.
Aisling Loftus (Joan) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after starring in Aristocrats, also directed by Lyndsey Turner. Her theatre credits include Small Island (National Theatre), The Treatment (Almeida), Touched (Nottingham Playhouse), Noises Off (Old Vic), Spur of the Moment (Royal Court) and Hotel Plays (Langham Hotel). Television credits include A Discovery of Witches, Broken, War and Peace, Mr Selfridge, Dive, Public Enemies, Good Cop, The Borrowers, Page Eight and Five Daughters.
Simon Manyonda (Todd) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after appearing in The Way of the World. His theatre credits include Actually (Trafalgar Studios), Alys, Always (Bridge Theatre), Barber Shop Chronicles, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, King Lear, Greenland and Welcome to Thebes (National Theatre), King Lear ( The Old Vic), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar (RSC), Giving and Wildfire (Hampstead), Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Crucible), The Mamba (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lyric Hammersmith), Red Peppers (Old Red Lion) and All Night I Dream of Being Good (The Yard). His television credits include His Dark Materials, The Bay, Shakespeare and Hathaway, King Lear, Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories, Doctor Who, Suspects, Holby City and Whitechapel. Film credits includes Undergods, In Fabric, The Current War, Failure to Thrive, Jawbone, Julius Caesar, How It’s Done and Before a Pack of Wild Dogs Eat My Face (Short film for BBC).
DONMAR WAREHOUSE:
LISTINGS
Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
www.donmarwarehouse.com
Box Office: 020 3282 3808 (No booking fees, £1 postage fee may apply)
Telephone Mon-Sat 10am-6pm
In person Mon-Sat, 10am-curtain up (with some exceptions, see website)
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.30pm
Matinees Thu & Sat: 2.30pm
FREE PLATFORM EVENTS
20 February, 4 March, 24 March
TICKET PRICES
£10 | £20 | £30 | £40
PREVIEW PRICES
£10 | £17.50 | £27.50 | £37.50
PREVIEW DISCOUNTS APPLY ON FOLLOWING DATES
Far Away Thursday 06 February – Monday 10 February 2020
YOUNG+FREE
YOUNG+FREE tickets for under 26s released by ballot every month. Sign up at www.donmarwarehouse.com
DONMAR DAILY
New tickets on sale every day at the Donmar. Allocations of tickets from £10 will be made available every day for performances 7 days later. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.
CONCESSIONS
For over 60s, £40 tickets reduced to £32.50 and £30 tickets reduced to £25 (matinees only). Must be booked in advance.
STANDING TICKETS
£10 standing tickets available online, by phone and in person from seven days before each performance. (Except Press Nights.)
ACCESS
The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is an infrared system in the main auditorium and there is also a hearing loop in the box office.
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free.
For all access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808 or email access@donmarwarehouse.com
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES – 7.30PM (captioned by Stagetext)
Far Away Monday 16 March 2020
AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE - 2.30PM (audio-described by Vocaleyes)
(TOUCH TOUR AT 1PM)
Far Away Saturday 14 March 2020
TRANSPORT & PARKING
Tubes: Covent Garden, Leicester Sq, Charing Cross, Holborn, Tottenham Court Road
Buses: Destination Leicester Sq.14, 19, 24, 29, 38, 176
Parking: Q-Park Chinatown
