Rawlins, Holman, West Cast in Chichester World Premieres, Special Purpose and Enron | Playbill

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News Rawlins, Holman, West Cast in Chichester World Premieres, Special Purpose and Enron Adrian Rawlins and Clare Holman are to star in Heidi Thomas' The House of Special Purpose, and Samuel West will lead the cast of Lucy Prebble's Enron, both to receive their world premieres at Chichester's Minerva Theatre this summer.

The House of Special Purpose, which begins performances June 20 (prior to an official opening June 30) for a run to Aug. 22, follows the plight of the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution. Transported to Ekaterinberg, the deposed Tsar of Russia is imprisoned with his wife, four daughters and invalid teenage son as the communist revolution sweeps through Russia. For one brief and airless summer, the House of Special Purpose holds them all within its walls. Packed into the suffocating rooms, the family and their guards are forced into a frail and dangerous intimacy, tensions rising as boundaries strain and break.

Adrian Rawlins plays Tsar Nicholas II. He has worked extensively at the National Theatre, where his credits include Dinner, The Miser, Tons of Money, A Small Family Business and, most recently, Her Naked Skin. He has also appeared as James Potter in the "Harry Potter" films.

Clare Holman plays Alexandra (Alix). Her theatre credits include Separate Tables at the Royal Exchange, The Master and Margarita at Chichester Festival Theatre directed by Steven Pimlott and she was nominated for the 1997 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the Almeida Theatre's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. On television, she recently appeared in ITV's "Fallen Angel" and is well-known for playing Dr. Laura Hobson in ITV's "Lewis."

The play is directed by Howard Davies, associate director at the National Theatre, where his credits include Burnt by the Sun, Gethsemane, Her Naked Skin, Philistines, The Shaughraun, The Crucible and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Previously an Associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he established and ran the Warehouse Theatre (now the Donmar Warehouse) where he produced and directed 35 new plays. He has also directed West End productions of David Hare's The Breath of Life and Noel Coward's Private Lives (which subsequently transferred to Broadway.

Enron,which begins performances July 11 (prior to an official opening July 22), for a run to Aug. 29, is based on real life and using music, movement and video, to explore one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009. Rupert Goold, who previously directed both Macbeth (that subsequently transferred to the West End and Broadway) and Six Characters in Search of an Author (that transferred to the West End) in the Minerva, returns to direct. Prebble won the George Devine Award and the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright for her debut play The Sugar Syndrome in 2004. Enron, co-produced with Goold's company Headlong and the Royal Court Theatre, will transfer to the latter, with performances beginning Sept. 17 (prior to an official opening Sept. 22) for a run to Oct. 31. Samuel West will appear as Jeffrey Skilling. He has previously appeared at Chichester in Doctor Faustus, Cain and The Master And Margarita, and directed The Lady's Not for Burning. Other recent acting credits include appearing at the Donmar Warehouse in revivals of TS Eliot's The Family Reunion and Harold Pinter's Betrayal; other recent directorial credits include Dealer's Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory then Trafalgar Studios).

To book tickets, contact the box office on 01243 781312, or visit www.cft.org.uk

 
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