Lyric life

• Marking the 25^th anniversary of the Olivier-Award winning play, this radical new production of Closer brings together an outstanding quartet of actors, including Jack Farthing, Ella Hunt, Nina Toussaint-White, and Sam Troughton.

• The company also features a chorus of Lyric Springboard trainees (in their inaugural year of the innovative training programme), including Kane Feagan, Georgia-Rose Oliver, Sam Purkis, and Wilf Walsworth.
• Written by Patrick Marber, directed by Clare Lizzimore, the 25^th anniversary revival of cult-classic, Closer runs at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from 14 July to 13 August, with opening night on 20 July. Tickets at https://lyric.co.uk/

Full casting is announced today for Closer, the Olivier-Award winning cult play of the Hollywood hit film of the same name, written by Patrick Marber and directed by award-winning director Clare Lizzimore. In a radical new staging by Lizzimore, this uncompromising modern classic explores passion with surgical precision and the cost of risking it all for intimacy. Twenty-five years after its debut, in a city out of lockdown, the play is as searing today as it ever was in its exploration of love, sex, and the fragility of the human heart. This 25^th anniversary revival of Closer runs at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from 14 July to 13 August, with opening night for press on 20 July.

Closer brings together a captivating cast with Jack Farthing, most recently seen as Prince Charles in Pablo Larraín’s critically-acclaimed film Spencer (Shoebox Films), playing Dan; Scottish BAFTA nominee and Dickinson’s (Apple TV+) rising star Ella Hunt in her stage debut, playing Alice; Nina Toussaint-White, best known for her role in the Emmy-nominated BBC series The Bodyguard, playing Anna; and Sam Troughton, who has performed extensively on stage and the screen including David Fincher’s recent biographical drama Mank (Netflix) and the hit HBO/Sky Atlantic miniseries Chernobyl, playing Larry.

The production also features a chorus, including Kane Feagan, Georgia-Rose Oliver , Sam Purkis and Wilf Walsworth who are part of SPRINGBOARD, a ground-breaking, free two year-training programme, launched in 2022 by the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre with the aim to nurture the next generation of performers with unrivalled theatre-based training for those currently underrepresented in theatre.

Patrick Marber, Writer, said: “For this 25^th anniversary production of Closer, I’m most looking forward to Clare Lizzimore, a great director taking the play by the scruff of the neck and making it resonate for her generation. I’m also really looking forward to seeing these four brilliant actors make this play their own. The story has amassed a cult following for the play and the film and I believe it struck a chord amongst so many audiences because Closer is at heart, a love story.”

Clare Lizzimore, Director, said: “Closer is a play that is both ferocious and tender – because so is love; and love is what it so bravely investigates. So what a feat, to be offered the chance to work on something so exquisitely premiered by its author (who was also its director) that is both heart-breaking, and breathtakingly funny.

I’m also very lucky to be joined by some of Britain’s most creative artists, and truly phenomenal actors – one couldn’t attempt to do this play justice without such a stellar team. I’m thrilled beyond words that together we are going to try and bring this amazing play to life for a modern audience.”

Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, said:
“I am delighted to be sharing Clare Lizzimore’s bold reimagining of Patrick Marber’s Closer with our audiences. The play captures the sensibilities of the 1990s, and allows us to ask how far we have come and what might we learn? I am thrilled that this production includes SPRINGBOARD trainees. SPRINGBOARD is the Lyric’s unique, immersive training for actors for whom the traditional drama school route to employment is less available or accessible. We are so proud of these young people who have the opportunity to work with an exceptional director and take their place on the professional stage. We are proud to be changing the game and elevating young talent.”

 

‘What do you want?’
‘To be loved.’
‘That simple?’
‘It’s a big want.’

In the chaos of London; four strangers meet, fall in love and fall apart. To mark the 25^th Anniversary of the play’s premiere, award-winning director, Clare Lizzimore, stages a radical new production of Patrick Marber’s cult-classic about longing, lust, sex, and desire. Would you risk it all for a moment of passion?

Closer is written by Patrick Marber, directed by Clare Lizzimore, set and costume design by Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Richard Howell, composition, musical direction and live performance by Arun Ghosh, sound design by Christopher Shutt, movement direction by Malik Nashad Sharpe, and casting by Lotte Hines.

 

Biographies

Cast

Jack Farthing – Dan
Jack Farthing most recently starred as Prince Charles in Pablo Larraín’s critically-acclaimed film Spencer (Shoebox Films) and also appeared in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feature directorial debut The Lost Daughter (Endeavour Content). Other film includes: Love Wedding Repeat (Notorious Pictures/Tempo Productions Limited); Official Secrets (Raindog Films/ Mark Gordon Company/ eOne); Burn Burn Burn (Rather Good Films Ltd); The Riot Club (Blueprint Pictures). His notable recent stage roles include: Wild (Hampstead Theatre); Carmen Disruption (Almeida); Bang, Bang, Bang (Royal Court/Out of Joint); Mary Broome (Orange Tree Theatre); Charley’s Aunt, Comedy of Errors (Royal Exchange); Love’s Labours Lost (Shakespeare Globe/US Tour); Helen, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Globe); The Odyssey (National Theatre). On television, he is best known for playing villain George Warleggan in the BBC One drama series Poldark. Other television includes: Chloe (BBC/Amazon); The ABC Murders (Mammoth Screen); Blandings (Mammoth Screen/BBC); Cilla (ITV); Poirot: The Big Four (Mammoth Screen/ITV); Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz/BBC Worldwide); Shakespeare Uncovered: Hamlet (Blakeway Productions/BBC).

Ella Hunt – Alice
Ella Hunt is a Scottish BAFTA nominee for her performance in Anna and the Apocalypse (Blazing Griffin/ MGM’s Orion Pictures). On television, she is known for her role as Sue Gilbert in the Peabody Award winning Apple TV+ series Dickinson. She will be making her stage debut this summer in Patrick Marber’s Olivier Award-winning play Closer at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Previously, Ella has starred in the features: Master (Amazon Studios); Kat and the Band (101 Films); The More You Ignore Me (Genesius Pictures); Robot Overlords (Pinewood Studios/Embankment Film); Intruders; Les Misérables (Universal Pictures). She will next appear in the upcoming Netflix drama Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Alongside her acting career, Ella released her first single “Magpie” back in April 2020, followed by the EP Triptych in November 2021.

Nina Toussaint-White – Anna
Nina Toussaint-White recently wrapped filming the lead role in Channel 5’s Witness Number Three as well as the Amazon series Mammals, starring alongside Sally Hawkins, both set to air later this year. Nina is best known for her roles in the Emmy-nominated BBC series The Bodyguard, Amazon Studios’ futuristic thriller series The Feed as well as ITV’s psychological thriller The Sister. Other television includes: Doctor Who, Doctors, Holby City, Eastenders (BBC); Gameface (E4/Objective Productions); Midsommer Murders (ITV/Bently Productions); Emmerdale, Switch, Primeval, The Bill (ITV). At the 2016 UK Theatre Awards, Toussaint-White was nominated for ‘Best Performance in a Musical’ for playing Tree in The Etienne Sisters (Theatre Royal Stratford East). Other theatre includes: The View From Nowhere (Park Theatre); The Libertine (Theatre Royal, Bath and Haymarket); Race (Hampstead Theatre); Cloud Nine (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe). Nina recently finished filming the feature action film Kandahar (Thunder Road Films and Capstone), playing the role of Luna alongside Gerard Butler’s Tom Harris.

Sam Troughton – Larry        
Sam Troughton has worked extensively across theatre, film, and television, including David Fincher’s drama Mank (Netflix), the AMC/Alibi series Ragdoll, as well as the HBO/Sky Atlantic miniseries Chernobyl. He will also star in the upcoming ITV series Litvinenko and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Some of Sam’s notable recent stage roles include Danny in Beginning (National Theatre & West End), Thomas in Bull (Young Vic/E59E Theatre New York) and Edmund in King Lear, directed by Sam Mendes at the National Theatre. Other theatre includes: Rutherford & Son, Stories, The Coast of Utopia, Buried Child (National Theatre); La Musica, Three Sisters (Young Vic); Mint, Death Tax, Love, Love, Love (Royal Court); Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Henry VI (RSC); A Streetcar Named Desire (Liverpool Playhouse). Other film includes: Peterloo, Vera Drake (Thin Man Films); The Ritual (Imaginarium/eOne); Alien vs Predator (20^th Century Fox). Television includes: Stephen (ITV); The Outlaws, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses, Dancing on the Edge, Robin Hood (BBC).

Kane Feagan – Chorus
Kane Feagan is a SPRINGBOARD trainee. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Bill Cashmore Award for her original play Wasted, which will headline the Lyric’s seventh annual Evolution Festival in Spring 2023. Other theatre credits include: Aladdin; The MOB Reformers; Eclipse; Passin’ Thru and The Intervention (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre). Kane recently performed The Maladies as part of the Almeida Young Company at the Yard and is currently working on a show with the Bush Young Company.

Georgia-Rose Oliver – Chorus
Georgia-Rose Oliver is a SPRINGBOARD trainee. Previously, Georgia-Rose trained on the Playing Up Course with the National Youth Theatre, where she also performed in Summer Fest. Most recently, she worked on the radio play Eulogies, a response project to Sian Carter’s family drama Running With Lions (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre) and also participated in the Lyric’s annual Evolution Festival, a platform highlighting innovative stage and screen work from young artists.

Sam Purkis – Chorus
Sam Purkis is a SPRINGBOARD trainee. Sam performed on the Lyric stage as part of the annual Evolution Festival, a platform highlighting innovative stage and screen work from young artists. Sam’s previous training includes National Youth Theatre and Hackney Showroom Young Actors. Theatre includes: King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre/Duke of York’s Theatre); Sweet Bird of Youth (Chichester Festival Theatre); Coming Out as a Gay Basher (Bush Theatre/Hackney Showroom/Old Diorama); F OFF (Criterion); On Bower Hill (Arts Theatre); Crime and Punishment (Periplum Theatre Tour); Summer Fest (The Bunker Theatre); Richard II (RADA GBS Theatre). Film includes: Journeyman (Jonny Massahi); Acronymity (Team Angelica); Negative (Lyric and Roundhouse Film). Writing includes: Shortflix Sky Arts Development Finalist and seven published works in the FIERCE and COMMON books by Team Angelica Publishing.

Wilf Walsworth – Chorus
Wilf Walsworth is a SPRINGBOARD trainee. Wilf performed on the Lyric stage in Heart of Hammersmith last year and has previously trained with the Actors Class and National Youth Theatre. He recently played the roles of Caliban and Ferdinand in Shakespeare in the Squares’ production of The Tempest. Other stage credits include: Buried (New York Musical Theatre Festival); My Mate Dave Died (Edinburgh Fringe). While studying at Sheffield University, he took on numerous roles including Benjamin in The Graduate, Hannay in The 39 Steps, and Melchior in Spring Awakening.

 

Creative Team

Patrick Marber – Writer
Patrick Marber was born in London in 1964. He is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and director. His work has won Evening Standard, Olivier, Time Out, New York and London Critics’ Circle and Writers’ Guild Awards and received BAFTA, British Comedy and Royal Television Society Awards. His screenplays have been nominated for Golden Globe, BAFTA and Academy Awards. He received the British Independent Film Award for Notes on a Scandal. His second play, Closer, has been an international success and has been performed in more than 200 cities across the world. Most recently, he directed Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt (Wyndhams Theatre), which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2020 and is due to open on Broadway in 2022. His other plays include: Dealer’s Choice, Howard Katz, The Red Lion, Three Days in the Country, The Musicians, The School Film (National Theatre); After Miss Julie, Don Juan in Soho (Donmar). Stage adaptations include versions of Hedda Gabler, Exit The King and The Beaux’ Stratagem (National Theatre); and Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ (Donmar). Screenplays include: Closer (Columbia Pictures); Notes on a Scandal (Fox Searchlight Pictures); Old Street (Film4/Box Films); Love You More (Film4). Patrick is the co-creator (with Peter Curran) of Bunk Bed (BBC Radio 4).

Clare Lizzimore – Director   

Directing work includes: Mrs Delgado; An Intervention (both Old Fire Station, Oxford); Snowflake (Old Fire Station, Oxford and Kiln Theatre); Bull (Young Vic/Sheffield Theatres/59E59 New York – Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in An Affiliate Theatre); One Day When We Were Young (Paines Plough/Sheffield/Shoreditch Town Hall); Lay Down Your Cross, On The Rocks (Hampstead); Pieces of Vincent (Arcola); Faces In The Crowd, The Mother (Royal Court); Fear and Misery, War and Peace (Royal Court/Latitude); The Most Humane Way To Kill a Lobster (Theatre503); Tom Fool (Glasgow Citizens/Bush).

Clare has also won a Channel 4 Theatre Directors Award (Formally the RTYDS Award) and Arts Foundation Theatre Directing Fellowship for innovation. She was previously resident director at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and staff director at the National Theatre. Clare has also directed numerous international plays and travelled extensively for the Royal Court’s International Programme, developing new plays with artists in Africa and The Middle East.

As a playwright Clare has also written plays for the Royal Court and The Studio Theatre Washington DC.

Soutra Gilmour – Set and Costume Designer

For the Lyric: Running With Lions; Out West.

Theatre includes: Macbeth (Almeida), Romeo and Juliet (Lyttelton Films for the NT); & Juliet (Shaftesbury Theatre); Pinter at the Pinter (Harold Pinter Theatre); Evita (Regent’s Park); Timon of Athens (RSC/ TFANA Brooklyn); Guys and Dolls (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Knives in Hens, Inadmissible Evidence, Piaf (Donmar); Apologia, Richard III, The Maids, The Homecoming (Trafalgar Studios); The Guards at the Taj (Bush Theatre); My Brilliant Friend (Rose Kingston); Pitchfork Disney, Killer (Shoreditch Town Hall); Twelfth Night, Les Blancs, Antigone (National Theatre); I See You, The Pride (Royal Court); Assassins, Merrily We Roll Along (Menier); Bull (Young Vic); Reasons to be Happy (Hampstead); Urinetown (St James, West End); The Crucible, The who’s a (Old Vic); Reasons to be Pretty (Almeida); The Caretaker (Sheffield Crucible/Tricycle); The Commitments, From Here to Eternity, The Lover and The Collection (West End).

Richard Howell – Lighting Designer 
Theatre includes: All’s Well That Ends Well, Tartuffe, Coriolanus (RSC); The House of Shades, The Writer (Almeida); Aristocrats, Privacy (Donmar); I See You (Royal Court); All My Sons, Jekyll and Hyde (Old Vic, London); Pinter 5&6, Glengarry Glen Ross, Bad Jews, Killer Joe, The Homecoming, East is East (West End); Rock (Crucible Theatre); NW Trilogy (Kiln); Habeas Corpus, The Watsons (Menier); Breaking the Code, A Doll’s House, Little Shop of Horrors, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Manchester Royal Exchange); Labyrinth (Hampstead Theatre); The Country Wife (Chichester, Minerva); The Wild Party (The Other Palace); Faustus, The Glass Menagerie (Headlong, UK Tour);  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Wizard of Oz, Playing for Time (Sheffield Crucible); Semmelweis, The Grinning Man, The Crucible, The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (Bristol Old Vic); The Madness of George III (Nottingham Playhouse); Project Polunin (Sadlers Wells); Cabaret (Gothenburg Opera); Breaking The Waves, Flight (Scottish Opera).
Opera includes: Il Trittico, Madame Butterfly, La Fanciulla (Opera Holland Park); Madame Buttterfly (Danish National Opera).

Arun Ghosh – Composer, Musical Direction and Live Performer    

Arun Ghosh is a British-Asian clarinettist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. Twice awarded Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, he is a renowned innovator of modern IndoJazz. A leading light on UK and international jazz scenes, Arun has released five albums on camoci records; his latest, Seclused in Light was released in March 2022 to critical acclaim, accompanied by a national tour. Another current work, currently touring sacred spaces, is Arun’s setting of St Francis of Assisi’s The Canticle of the Sun, for voices and Spiritual Jazz ensemble. Arun Ghosh is a Creative Associate at Watford Palace Theatre, and an Associate Artist of Z-arts, Manchester.
For the Lyric: A Doll’s House. Recent theatre compositions include: Nothello (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); The Bone Sparrow (Pilot/York Theatre Royal); The Secret Garden (Wizard); Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Noughts & Crosses (Pilot/Derby Theatre); Approaching Empty (Tamasha/Kiln); Lions and Tigers (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Christopher Shutt – Sound Designer
Theatre includes: Corn Is Green, Paradise, Hansard, Peter Gynt, Top Girls, Antony and Cleopatra, Julie, John, War Horse (Tony Award); Twelfth Night, Man and Superman, The James Plays (I & II), From Morning to Midnight, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Coram Boy, Machinal (National Theatre); Four Quartets, Frozen, The Entertainer, Winter’s Tale, The Father, The Twilight Zone (West End); Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp, ear for eye, Escaped Alone, Love and Information, Serious Money, Road (Royal Court Theatre); Timon of Athens, Macbeth, Hamlet, Oppenheimer, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Wendy and Peter Pan, The Tempest, King Lear (RSC); Far Away, St Nicholas, Aristocrats, Knives in Hens, Faith Healer, Privacy, Philadelphia Here I Come! (Donmar); A Disappearing Number, Elephant Vanishes, Mnemonic, Noise of Time, Street of Crocodiles, Caucasian Chalk Circle (Complicité); Timon of Athens, War Horse, A Human Being Died That Night, Macbeth, All My Sons, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Happy Days, Not About Nightingales, Mnemonic (Broadway/NY); Hamlet, Julius Caesar (Barbican).

Malik Nashad Sharpe – Movement Director

For the Lyric: Scandaltown.

Malik Nashad Sharpe is an artist working with choreography, creating primarily underneath the alias Marikiscrycrycry.  As a movement director and dramaturg, credits include: Fairview (Young Vic); The Glow (Royal Court); Two-Character Play (Hampstead Theatre); Effigies of Wickedness (Gate Theatre/English National Opera). He has recently shown work at Institute of Contemporary Art, and Battersea Arts Centre, and has been awarded artistic residencies at Sadler’s Wells and Barbican. Working in fashion, he has performed and modelled at London Fashion Week and at Paris Fashion Week 21-22. He was named a Rising Star in Dance by Attitude Magazine, and was listed on the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Art and Culture in Europe. He is currently an Associate Artist at The Place. He lives and works from London, U.K.

Lotte Hines – Casting Director
Lotte Hines previously worked in the Royal Court Casting Department from 2008 to 2014.
Theatre credits include: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Sonia Friedman Productions); Bull, Pride & Prejudice (Sheffield Crucible); The Forest (Hampstead Theatre); A Doll’s House, The Mountaintop, Glee & Me (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Ivan and the Dogs, Things of Dry Hours, La Musica, Dirty Butterfly, The Island (Young Vic); Meek, Junkyard, Boys Will Be Boys, The Glass Menagerie, The Absence of War, Medea (Headlong); Hole (Royal Court); Pests (Clean Break/Royal Court); As You Like It, To Kill A Mockingbird (Regent’s Park Open Air); The Dark (UK Tour, Oval House); The Barbership Chronicles (US Tour, National Theatre/Fuel/West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Film includes: Data (Sonia Friedman Productions/Financial Times); CLA’AM (Winner of Best UK Short at Raindance Film Festival); Above (Ameenah Ayub Allen, Winner of Best Short Film at National Film Awards).