Angela Cast Announced

Feb 12 2021 | By More

Pam Ferris and Toby Jones for Sound Stage opener

Pam Ferris and Toby Jones are to star in Mark Ravenhill’s first autobiographical play, Angela, which opens the Lyceum and PFT’s groundbreaking online immersive audio season Sound Stage.

The play centres on Ravenhill’s mother Angela at the age of 84 and suffering with dementia as she looks back across her life. It is the first of a season of eight new productions by leading playwrights with tickets going on sale this Sunday, 14 February 2021.

Pam Ferris (Angela), Toby Jones (Ted) and Matti Houghton (young Angela).

The play intercuts between Angela in her old age portrayed by Pam Ferris, her memories and mind failing her, and her younger self (Matti Houghton): growing up, moving away from her roots as the world of drama welcomed her.

It depicts Angela’s struggle with depression and the challenges of her own aspirations, and becoming a mother, poignantly set against Mark’s experience of beginning to learn ballet, his lifelong passion, in his fifties.

Toby Jones will be playing Ravenhill’s father, Ted, while Ravenhill will also be portrayed by two actors – Jackson Laing will play him as a youngster, with Joseph Millson as the older figure.

Ravenhill says that he was drawn to write an autobiographical play for the first time by the death of his mother in 2019.

a series of encounters

He said: “I was particularly interested to explore the way culture high and low had impacted on Mum’s life and our lives as a family. The play is constructed around a series of encounters with children’s literature, classical ballet, amateur theatre and popular song – encounters that shaped my mum’s sense of self and her relationship with me.

“Both my parents are from working class backgrounds which gives a specific turn to their relationship to culture and to me.

“As I thought about a form that could move swiftly in time and location and between inner thought and outer action, I realised that this was best written as a radio play. I feel it’s the most ‘radio’ of the radio plays that I’ve written…”

Jackson Laing (left) and Joseph Millson (right) will both play Mark Ravenhill (Centre, pictured with his cine camera in 1971. Pic: Mark Ravenhill).

Sound Stage is a collaboration between the Lyceum and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, in association with radio producer Naked Productions. Audiences will “arrive” in the theatre and be able to meet with their friends virtually before and after the show.

Naked Productions’ Polly Thomas is directing Angela and the cast is completed by Nadia Albina, Dermot Daly, Raj Ghatak, Olivier Huband, Alexandra Mathie and Kirsty Stuart. Angela is produced in association with BBC Radio 3.

On sale: Feb 14

Tickets for all eight Sound Stage productions go on sale this Sunday, 14 February 2021, from both the Lyceum and PFT websites, priced £10 per play. The productions are being recorded now and each will have a three day run, with times as yet to be confirmed.

For further details on Sound Stage, see our news story: Lyceum’s home theatre experience

Listings

Angela by Mark Ravenhill – 26 March to 28 March 2021
Tennis Elbow by John Byrne – 30 April to 2 May 2021
Hindu Times by Jamini Jethwa – 28 May to 30 May 2021
The Mother Load by Lynda Radley – 25 June to 27 June 2021
Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil by Gary McNair – 23 July to 25 July 2021
Sophia by Francis Poet – 27 August to 29 August 2021
TBC by Timberlake Wertenbaker – 24 September to 26 September 2021
TBC by Roy Williams – 29 October to 31 October 2021

All tickets will be bookable through the Lyceum and PFT websites from Sunday 14 February 2021:
Lyceum: lyceum.org.uk
PFT: pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com

ENDS

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