The full casts have been announced for the opening productions of Chichester’s Festival 2024, The Other Boleyn Girl and The House Party.
The Other Boleyn Girl by Mike Poulton, based on Philippa Gregory’s internationally best-selling novel, has its world premiere in the Festival Theatre, running from 19 April – 11 May (press night: 26 April). This racy and riveting drama of events at the Tudor court, seen though the eyes of women at the heart of changing history, is directed by Lucy Bailey.
The full company is: James Atherton (Sanditon, Hollyoaks) as Henry VIII, Osa Audu (recent RADA graduate) as Harry Percy, Oscar Batterham (Noises Off, Richard III) as William Stafford, James Corrigan (Jack Absolute Flies Again NT, This England) as George Boleyn, Jacob Ifan (Cuffs, A Discovery of Witches) as William Carey, Kemi-Bo Jacobs (The Ocean at the End of the Lane NT/West End, The Winter’s Tale RSC) as Queen Katherine, Ben Jones (Doctors, Murder in Provence) as Thomas Boleyn, Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, The Tempest RSC) as Lady Elizabeth, Rosalind Lailey (Twelfth Night, The Railway Children) as Jane Seymour, Nitai Levi (Rent, The Band’s Visit) as Mark Smeaton, Peter Losasso (Mrs Warren’s Profession, Twelfth Night) as Francis Weston, Freya Mavor (Industry, Skins) as Anne Boleyn, Lily Nichol (Imperium RSC, Maternal) as Jane Parker, Lucy Phelps (Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare’s Globe, Measure for Measure RSC) as Mary Boleyn, Roger Ringrose (Witness for the Prosecution, Stan & Ollie) as Wolsey/Cromwell and Andrew Woodall (South Downs/The Browning Version, Fracked! CFT) as the Duke of Norfolk; with Chris Green (musician and musical director) and Sarah Harrison (musician).
In Laura Lomas’s The House Party, which spins Strindberg’s Miss Julie into intense, fizzing life for today’s generation, Josh Finan will play Jon. BAFTA nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the BBC’s The Responder, he previously appeared in The Southbury Child at CFT and The Bridge and is currently appearing in Netflix’s The Gentlemen.
He joins the previously announced Rachelle Diedericks, whose work includes Our Generation at the National Theatre and Chichester, The Crucible at the NT and A View from the Bridge (Headlong/CFT) as Christine; and Nadia Parkes whose many TV appearances include the forthcoming Kidnapped, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself and The Spanish Princess as Julie. Running in the Minerva Theatre from 3 May – 1 June (press night: 10 May), this co-production with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly is directed by Holly Race Roughan.
The company also includes an ensemble of young actors: Amaia Naima Aguinaga, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Lyla Garner-Gibbons, Jaheem Pinder, Jamie Randall, Charlotte Stubbs, Priya Uddin, Grace Watkins; and two child actors, Nicole Arthur and Layla Owens.
