Full casting has today been announced for the landmark revival of the award-winning British musical The Hired Man, co-produced by the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Hull Truck Theatre in association with Oldham Coliseum Theatre. This epic heroic tale of love, betrayal and loyalty opens in Hornchurch (27 April – 18 May), transfers to Hull (23 May – 15 June) and concludes in Oldham (20 June – 6 July).
The cast includes Jon Bonner (The Commitments, UK tour); Lloyd Gorman (Sunny Afternoon, Harold Pinter Theatre); Oliver Hembrough (Insignificance, Arcola Theatre); TJ Holmes (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare’s Globe & Liverpool Everyman); Lucy Keirl (The Crucible, UK tour); Lara Lewis (Daisy Pulls It Off, Charing Cross Theatre); Sufia Manya (Miss Littlewood, Royal Shakespeare Company); Samuel Martin (The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s Globe);Lauryn Redding (Oliver Twist, Hull Truck); Tom Self (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) and James William-Pattison (Once, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch / New Wolsey Theatre).
The Hired Man is directed by the Queen’s Theatre’s Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul (In Basildon, Made in Dagenham, The Crucible), with design by Jean Chan, musical director Ben Goddard, movement by Jane Gibson, lighting design by Prema Mehta and sound design by Chris Murray.
Based on the stirring novel by Melvyn Bragg first published in 1969, The Hired Man was turned into a musical in 1984. The production features a superb score of rousing foot stomping rhythms and soaring choruses by the award-winning composer Howard Goodall (Bend It Like Beckham, Love Story).
Howard Goodall says, ‘I am absolutely thrilled about this revival: three brilliant regional theatres, a wonderful creative team and a chance for a new generation of theatre-goers to see this piece that Melvyn Bragg and I first put in front of an audience 35 years ago.’
