Rebus full casting

Sep 6 2018 | By More

Full cast announced for Long Shadows

The full cast has been announced for Rebus: Long Shadows, which tours to the Edinburgh King’s in October after opening at Birmingham Rep, while Robin Lefevre will now direct.

Lefevre takes over from the previously announced Roxana Silbert who has withdrawn from the project due to unforeseen circumstances. Lefevre’s work was recently seen at the King’s in the Birmingham Rep’s touring production of Duet for One.

Neil McKinven, Eleanor House and Dani House.

Neil McKinven, Eleanor House and Dani Heron.

The new cast announced are Dani Heron, seen at the Lyceum in Jumpy and The Venetian Twins as well as the impeccable A Perfect Stroke at the Traverse, who plays Angela; Eleanor House who recently played Mirren at Dundee Rep’s revival of Passing Places as Heather/Maggie; and past Lyceum regular Neil McKinven, most recently seen in Of Mice and Men, who will play Mordaunt.

They join the already announced casting of Charles Lawson taking on the role of the retired DI John Rebus, Cathy Tyson as DI Siobhan Clarke and John Stahl as villain Big Ger Cafferty.



The script is written by Rona Munro, working with Rebus author Ian Rankin. It finds the shadows of Rebus’s former life still following him in retirement. Whisky helped but now he’s denying himself that pleasure. But when the daughter of a murder victim appears outside his flat, he’s back on the case and off the wagon.

Speaking of the play at this year’s Edinburgh Book Festival, Rankin said: “Rona is one of my favourite playwrights; she wrote the James Plays, that amazing three play series for the National Theatre of Scotland, and she’s also done Doctor Who. She’s just brilliant.

brand new Rebus story

“She said: ‘Let’s do an original story, that can only be done on the stage, that couldn’t work properly on the page.’

“We story-boarded a brand new Rebus story set now-ish, so Rebus is retired in it. We did away with the dog, because it’s difficult to do dogs on stage, and so simplified it a wee bit, but there’s Rebus, Siobhan Clarke, and Morris Cafferty. It’s great; it reads well.”

Rebus landscape Rebus finds he needs help from his ex-colleagues but Siobhan, who was Rebus’ greatest ally on the force, is worried that his past actions may stop them finally convicting a dangerous killer. Soon Rebus is caught between two cases and can only turn to one person to help him – the man he spent his career trying to arrest.

Rankin admitted that, because rehearsals are taking place in Birmingham, he hadn’t seen the cast at work yet.

“Charles Lawson, who plays Jim McDonald in Coronation Street, is playing Rebus,” he said. “He’s from Northern Ireland, but assures me he can do a really good Scottish accent!”

Design is by Ti Green with lighting design by Chahine Yavroyan and Simon Bond. This marks the last production to be lit by Yavroyan who sadly died this week of cancer, but who completed the conceptual work for the production before he got too ill to physically see it through to completion.

Listings

Rebus: Long Shadows
King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
Monday 8 – Saturday 13 October 2018.
Evenings: 7.30pm, matinees Wed, Sat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: www.capitaltheatres.com/whats-on/rebus

The script of Rebus: Long Shadows is due to be published on September 20 by Orion and is available for pre-order from Amazon in both hardback and kindle formats. Click on the image for details:

Rebus: Long Shadows on tour 2018:
20 Sept – 6 Oct Birmingham
Repertory Theatre
0121 236 4455 Book online
8 – 13 Oct Edinburgh
Kings Theatre
0131 529 6000 Book online
15 – 20 Oct Malvern
Festival Theatre
01684 892277 Book online
22 – 27 Oct Nottingham
Theatre Royal
0115 989 5555 Book online
29 Oct – 3 Nov Manchester
Opera House
0844 871 3018 Book online
5 – 10 Nov Northampton
Royal & Derngate
01604 624 811 Book online
12 – 17 Nov Aberdeen
His Majesty’s Theatre
01224 641122 Book online
19 – 24 Nov Guildford
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
01483 440000 Book online

ENDS

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