Jack Thorne's When Winston Went to War With the Wireless Begins World Premiere Run in London June 2 | Playbill

International News Jack Thorne's When Winston Went to War With the Wireless Begins World Premiere Run in London June 2

Playing the Donmar Warehouse, the work tracks the early days of the BBC.

Jack Thorne Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Donmar Warehouse's world premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child writer Jack Thorne's When Winston Went to War With the Wireless begins its run June 2 with opening night set for June 13. The run will continue through July 29 at the London venue, with Katy Rudd directing.

Inspired by real events, the work takes place in 1926 Britain as a strike shuts down printing presses. A fight for news reporting emerges, between the government's The British Gazette (then edited by Churchill) and John Reith's nascent British Broadcast Company, now known as the BBC.

Leading the cast are Stephen Campbell Moore as John Reith and Adrian Scarborough as Winston Churchill, along with Kitty Archer as Isabel Shields, Ravin J. Ganatra as Archbishop of Canterbury and JCC Davidson, Haydn Gwynne as Stanley Baldwin, Mariam Haque as Muriel Reith, Kevin McMonagle as Ernest Bevin, Luke Newberry as Charlie Bowser and Engineer, Seb Philpott as Musician and Speaker of the House, Elliott Rennie as Arthur Pugh and Musician, Laura Rogers as Clemmie Churchill and Amelia Johnson, and Shubham Saraf as Peter Eckersley.

The production features designs by Laura Hopkins, sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, lighting design by Howard Hudson, movement by Scott Graham, music by Gary Yershon, and video design and animation by Andrzej Goulding. Casting is by Anna Cooper.

Thorne is best known to Broadway fans for writing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, along with a recent adaptation of A Christmas Carol. His extensive screen credits (His Dark Materials, National Treasure, and The Fades to name but a few) have also earned him five BAFTA TV Awards.

When Winston Went to War With the Wireless will be followed at the Donmar by the U.K. premiere of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal, running August 12–October 7 and starring Caissie Levy.

Visit DonmarWarehouse.com.

 
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