Full cast announced for the world première of Theresa Rebeck’s new play MAD HOUSE
by Best of Theatre Staff on Thursday 5 May 2022, 10:17 am
Ambassador Theatre Group Productions today announce the full cast for the world première of Theresa Rebeck’s dark and funny new play Mad House. Joining the previously announced David Harbour and Bill Pullman are Hanako Footman, Akiya Henry, Sinead Matthews, Charlie Oscar and Stephen Wight. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the production opens on 26 June at the Ambassadors Theatre, with previews from 15 June, and runs until 4 September.
The production reunites Rebeck and von Stuelpnagel following their collaborations on Bernhardt/Hamlet and Seared.
A family reunion. Time to pay your last disrespects.
In rural Pennsylvania, Michael (David Harbour) has returned to his childhood home to look after his dying father, Daniel (Bill Pullman). His siblings Nedward (Stephen Wight) and Pam (Sinead Matthews) soon arrive, determined to work out how much money Dad actually has left and how they're getting their hands on it.
David Harbour and Bill Pullman return to the West End in the world première of Theresa Rebeck's dark and funny new play. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Mad House opens at the Ambassadors Theatre this June for a strictly limited season.
Hanako Footman plays Devon. Her theatre credits include Modern Love (Pleasance Theatre/Etcetera Theatre) and Thyestes (Courtyard Theatre). For television, her credits include Toast of Tinseltown, Stella Blómkvist, Defending the Guilty, Absentia, Dead Pixels and The Crown; and for film, her credits include Canyon Del Muerto, Official Secrets, Guns Akimbo, Slaughterhouse Rulez and An American Exorcism.
David Harbour plays Michael. His theatre work includes Cal in Camo (Rattlestick Theater), Glengarry Glen Ross (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte Theatre 50th Anniversary reading), The Merchant of Venice (Broadhurst Theatre), The Coast of Utopia: Part 1 – Voyage, The Coast of Utopia: Part 2 – Shipwreck, The Coast of Utopia: Part 3 – Salvage (Vivian Beaumont Theatre), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Longacre Theater – Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play – also Apollo Theatre in the West End), The Invention of Love (Lyceum Theatre), and The Rainmaker (Brooks Atkinson Theatre). For television his work includes as series regular Jim Hopper in Stranger Things – winner of SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and nominations for Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor; Star Wars: Visions, Q-Force, Big City Greens, The Simpsons, Animals, Drunk History, Crisis in Six Scenes, Banshee, State of Affairs, Manhattan, Rake, Elementary, Blue, The Newsroom, Midnight Sun, Pam Am, Royal Pains, Lie to Me, Law & Order, The Unit and Hack; and for film, Violent Night, Black Widow, No Sudden Move, Extraction, Hellboy, Human Affairs, Sleepless, Suicide Squad, Black Mass, The Equalizer, A Walk Among the Tombstones, X/Y, Parkland, Snitch, Knife Fight, Between Us, End of Watch, The Green Hornet, Every Day, State of Play, Quantum of Solace, Revolutionary Road, Awake, The Wedding Weekend, War of the Worlds, Brokeback Mountain, Confess, and Kinsey.
Akiya Henry plays Lillian. Her theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), The Tragedy of Macbeth (Almeida Theatre – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), Dirty Crusty (The Yard Theatre), The Dark (Fuel Theatre), Medea, An Oak Tree, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swallows and Amazons (Bristol Old Vic), The Little Matchgirl, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, Under the Black Flag (Shakespeare’s Globe), Sense of an Ending, Cake and Congo (Theatre503), Deposit (Hampstead Theatre), The Nutcracker and The Mouse King (The Unicorn Theatre), Perseverance Drive (Bush Theatre), Ten Women (Oval House Theatre), Mottled Lines (Orange Tree Theatre), Swallows and Amazons (Vaudeville Theatre/UK tour), The Colored Museum (Talawa Theatre Company), The Beggar’s Opera, Hello Dolly, The Tempest (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V (RSC New York), Carmen Jones (The Southbank Centre), Safe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Enchanted Pig, Skellig (Young Vic), Coram Boy, Once in a Lifetime, Anything Goes, Love’s Labour’s Lost (National Theatre), Just So, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chichester Festival Theatre) and The Singing Group (Chelsea Theatre). For television, her credits include Obsession: Dark Desires, Silent Witness, Captain Mack and Little Britain; and for film, Macbeth, Rabbit Fever, The Best Man, Calcium Kid and De Lovely.
Sinead Matthews plays Pam. Her theatre work include The Antipodes, Absolute Hell, Hedda Gabler, Evening at the Talk House, Blurred Lines, Our Class, Women of Troy, The Mandate (National Theatre), The Starry Messenger (Wyndham’s Theatre), Loot (Park Theatre/The Watermill Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Albert Hall), Giving, Wasp (Hampstead Theatre), The Hudsucker Proxy (Nuffield Theatre/Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse), Pests (Royal Exchange Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, UK tour), Trout Stanley (Southwark Playhouse), A Time to Reap (Royal Court Theatre), The Changeling, The Glass Menagerie (Young Vic), The Way of the World, The Crucible (Sheffield Theatres), The Master and Margarita (Barbican and tour), Ecstasy (Hampstead Theatre and West End), Lulu (Gate Theatre/Headlong), Eigengrau, The Ghostly Heart/Little Dolls (Bush Theatre), The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse – winner of the Ian Charleson Award), The Birthday Party (West End), and Spoonface Steinberg (GBS). For television, her work includes, Hullraisers, The Power, Sick of It, The Crown, Hang Ups, Chewing Gum, In the Dark, Toast of London, Inside No. 9, The Smoke, Way To Go, Black Mirror, Men are Wonderful, Half Broken Things, Ideal, Trial and Retribution, Who Gets the Dog, London, He Knew He Was Right and Viva Las Blackpool; and for film, Happy New Year Colin Burstead, Self Help: A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life, This Family, Jellyfish, Kaleidoscope, Daphne, Mr Turner, Wreckers, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, The Boat That Rocked, Spring of 41, Happy Go Lucky, Pride and Prejudice and Vera Drake.
Charlie Oscar plays Skylar. Her theatre credits include All’s Well That Ends Well (The Changeling Theatre). For television her credits include Doctor Who;and for film, Mothering Sunday.
Veteran of the stage and screen Bill Pullman returns to the London stage to play Daniel – he previously appeared in All My Sons at The Old Vic. His other theatre work includes The Other Place (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), Oleanna, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (John Golden Theatre), and Off-Broadway, The Jacksonian, Peter and Jerry - Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, and The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve Killing His Wife Killer's Head/Action. For television, his work includes The Sinner (as series regular Harry Ambrose), Halston, Ten X Ten, 1600 Penn, Innocent, Torchwood (as series regular Oswald Danes), Too Big to Fail, Nathan vs. Nurture, Revelations, American Masters, The Virginian, and Fallen Angels; and for film, his extensive work includes The High Note, Dark Waters, The Coldest Game, The Equalizer 2, Trouble, Battles of the Sexes, A Thousand Junkies, The Ballad of Lefty Brown, LBJ, Independence Day: Resurgence, American Ultra, The Equalizer, Peacock, The Killer Inside Me, Your Name Here, Surveillance, Phoebe in Wonderland, Bottle Shock, You Kill Me, Nobel Son, Dear Wendy, Igby Goes Down, Ignition, A Man is Mostly Water, Titan A.E., The Guilty, Brokedown Palace, Zero Effect, Lost Highway, Independence Day, Mr Wrong, Casper, While You Were Sleeping, Wyatt Earp, The Last Seduction, Malice, Sleepless in Seattle, Sommersby, Singles, A League of Their Own, Newsies, The Accidental Tourist, Rocket Gibraltar, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Ruthless People.
Stephen Wight plays Nedward. His theatre work includes Europe, Don Juan in Soho (Donmar Warehouse), McQueen (St James Theatre and West End), The Ladykillers (Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and West End), The Habit of Art (National Theatre), Dealer’s Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory and Trafalgar Studios), The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Royal Exchange Theatre), Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (National Theatre), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC). For television, his work includes Screw, Manhunt, I May Destroy You, Finding Joy, Flack, Informer, Maigret: Night at the Crossroads, Lovesick, Bluestone, The Escape Artist, The Paradise, Sherlock, Threesome, Scaredy Cat, The Great Outdoors, Whites, Coming of Age, FM, Misfits, Apparitions, Ashes to Ashes, Diamond Geezer, and Hex; and for film, Men in Black: International, Peterloo, Ashes, Weekender, Highlander and Wilderness.
Theresa Rebeck is a prolific and widely produced playwright, whose work has been staged across the globe. Her work on Broadway includes Bernhardt/Hamlet, Dead Accounts, Seminar and Mauritius. Other notable New York and regional plays include Seared (MCC), Downstairs (Primary Stages), The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels (Second Stage), Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House (Playwrights Horizons), The Understudy (Roundabout), View of the Dome (NYTW), What We’re Up Against (Women’s Project), Omnium Gatherum (Pulitzer Prize finalist). As a director, her work has been seen at The Alley Theatre (Houston), the REP Company (Delaware), Dorset Theatre Festival, the Orchard Project and the Folger Theatre. Major film and television projects include Trouble - with Anjelica Huston, Bill Pullman and David Morse (writer and director), NYPD Blue, the NBC series Smash (creator), and the female spy thriller 355 (for Jessica Chastain’s production company). As a novelist, Rebeck’s books include Three Girls and Their Brother and I'm Glad About You. Rebeck is the recipient of the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, and a Lilly Award.
Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs. His work on Broadway includes Bernhardt/Hamlet (Roundabout Theatre Company), Present Laughter (St James Theatre), Hand to God (Booth Theater – nomination for Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, and also in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre). Off-Broadway, his credits include Seared (MCC Theatre, also at the Williamstown Theatre Festival); The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); Teenage Dick (The Public Theatre, also at Pasadena Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company and Woolly Mammoth); Important Hats of the 20th Century (Manhattan Theatre Club); Verité (Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3); Bike America (Ma-Yi, also at the Alliance Theatre); Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef, The Bird and the 2-Ton Weight, and Turnabout (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Trevor, and Too Little Too Late (Lesser America); My Base and Scurvy Heart, Spacebar, and Historie of the Barber-Surgeons (Studio 42); Mel & El: Show & Tell (Ars Nova); Two Gentlemen of Verona, and As You Like It (poor tom); as well as extensive work regionally, including Found: A New Musical, Tell Me I’m Not Crazy, Tiger Style!, Romance Novels for Dummies, All Is Calm, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Much Ado About Nothing. He is the former artistic director of Studio 42.
Mad House is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions.
ATG Productions is an international theatrical production company – dedicated to producing critically acclaimed, commercially successful and creatively ambitious work for the West End, Broadway and beyond.
Led by Adam Speers, Richard Darbourne and Zareen Walker, we are the in-house producers and general management arm of the world’s largest live theatre company (Ambassador Theatre Group) – and place partnerships and creative excellence at our core.
Current and upcoming productions include: the seven-time Olivier Award-winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (West End); Pretty Woman the Musical (West End); Fatal Attraction (UK tour); the Olivier Award-winning Cyrano de Bergerac (West End, Glasgow and Brooklyn Academy of Music) and The Seagull (West End) via the Jamie Lloyd Company; The Doctor (West End); Mad House (West End); Hamlet (Park Avenue Armory); Oresteia (Park Avenue Armory); 9 to 5 the Musical (Australia) and Plaza Suite (Broadway).
Previous productions and co-productions include: 9 to 5 the Musical (West End and UK tours); Ian McKellen On Stage (West End, UK tour and Broadway); Betrayal (West End and Broadway); Sea Wall/A Life (Broadway); Sunday in the Park With George (Broadway); Touching The Void (West End); Ghost Stories (West End); Pretty Woman the Musical (Broadway and Hamburg); Pinter at the Pinter Season (West End); King Lear (West End); the Olivier Award-winning Caroline, or Change (West End and Broadway); the Tony Award-winning Oslo (West End); Glengarry Glen Ross (West End and UK tour); Baskerville (Beijing and Nanjing, China); Abigail's Party (UK tour), Strangers on a Train (UK tour), Gaslight (UK tour), Buried Child (West End); Big Fish (West End); Hamlet (West End); The Maids (West End); The Homecoming (West End); Doctor Faustus (West End); Oresteia (West End); and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (West End and UK tour).