Wicker Husband returns to Newbury's Watermill after forced closure on press night 2020
As the Wicker Husband prepares to return to The Watermill after enforced closure in 2020, the Bagnor theatre has just announced the full cast list.
Following the show’s premature closure on its original press night on March 16 2020, artistic director Paul Hart, executive director Claire Murray and the Watermill team welcome the creative team and cast for a new run of the show opening on March 11.
Paul said: “It’s been a long road since The Wicker Husband, a piece that is so perfect for The Watermill's stage, opened and was forced to almost immediately close, in March 2020. With its beautiful score, and incredible puppets, I can't wait to welcome back the whole team for this remarkable show.”
Darren Clark (writer, music and lyrics) said: “The Wicker Husband was one of many shows that closed in 2020 due to the pandemic and sadly many of those will never get the chance to be performed again.
"We feel so incredibly fortunate that the Watermill theatre continues to put its faith in our story and for its continued perseverance and commitment to supporting quality work by new British writers in remounting the show this coming March. When we go into rehearsal, it will be nearly 10 years since we originally began working on this beautiful, ambitious show and we simply cannot wait to share it with you at the stunning Watermill with this extraordinary cast.”
Directed by Charlotte Westenra, with book by Rhys Jennings, music and lyrics by Darren Clark and based on an original short story by Ursula Wills, this folk-inspired new musical tells the timeless tale of the outsider and was the winner of the inaugural MTI Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award in 2016, celebrating new British musical theatre writers. It was also included in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 30th Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York.
The show will feature handcrafted wicker puppets created by Puppetry designer and director Finn Caldwell whose credits include War Horse (West End & International), Life of Pi (Sheffield Crucible) and The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic & West End), with highly skilled puppeteers from Handspring, War Horse and Good Chance, bringing The Wicker Husband to life.
The Wicker Husband will play from Friday, March 11 – Saturday 26.
The Watermill are taking part in the National Lottery’s Love Your Local Theatre scheme this March. When purchasing a ticket for The Wicker Husband during the month of March, patrons get another ticket free, courtesy of the National Lottery. The National Lottery is subsidising more than 150,000 tickets at 100 theatres across the UK as a thank you to National Lottery players for the £30m they raise each week for good causes - including the arts and theatre. The initiative also helps to encourage people to support their local theatre as venues across the UK look to recover from the impact of Covid-19. This promotion is available to anyone who is a National Lottery player and possesses a ticket or other proof of purchase for a National Lottery game.
This campaign and promotion is run by UK Theatre.
The money for this initiative comes from a National Lottery promotional fund. It is not being funded by money allocated for National Lottery Good Causes or by Camelot.
Cast list:
Joseph Alessi (Moonlight and Magnolias – Nottingham Playhouse and The Lorax – Old Vic and Toronto) will play ‘Cobbler’, Gemma Sutton (Sweet Charity – The Watermill, The Girl from the North Country – Gielgud and Toronto) will play ‘Ugly Girl’, Olivier Award winner George Maguire (Sunny Afternoon – West End, 20th Century Boy - touring) as ‘Wicker Husband’, Angela Caesar (Caroline or Change - Playhouse Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and National Theatre, Rags – Park Theatre) as ‘Cobbler's Wife’, Jonathan Charles (The Butterfly Lion - Barn Theatre Cirencester, War Horse - national tour) as ‘Innkeep’, Claire-Marie Hall (Operation Mincemeat - Southwark Playhouse, The Colours - Soho Theatre) as ‘Innkeep's Wife’, Jack Quarton (Amélie – Criterion, Assassins – Watermill) as ‘Tailor’ and Davina Moon (The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson – Park, Privates on Parade – Noel Coward) as ‘Tailor's Wife’, Julian Forsyth (Local Hero - Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Sunset Boulevard - ENO) as ‘Old Basket Maker’ with Jon Whitten as onstage band playing the hammered dulcimer, Rachel Barnes also as on-stage band and Pat Moran as onstage musical director.
Nisha Anil (Rhia and The Tree of Lights - Quirk Theatre and Dr Dolittle - Illyria Theatre) and Sebastian Charles (puppeteer for ‘Amal’ in The Walk - Good Chance and Handspring Puppet Company) and puppeteer and cover ‘Aslan’ in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – The Bridge) will be the puppeteers of The Wicker Husband, with Tom Norman (War Horse, UK and international and Circus 1903 – Southbank) as Swing.
