Cast announced for Shopping and F**king at the Lyric Hammersmith

Cast announced for Lyric revival.

The Lyric Hammersmith have today announced full casting details for their upcoming revival of Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and F**king which runs at their west London venue from 7 October to 5 November 2016, with an official opening on 12 October.

Alex Arnold will play Robbie alongside Ashley McGuire as Brian, David Moorst as Gary, Sam Spruell as Mark and Sophie Wu as Lulu.

Directed by Sean Holmes, Mark Ravenhill's provocative first play makes a welcome return to the stage 20 years after originally premiering. "With a raw mixture of black humour and bleak philosophy, the play follows three disconnected young adults whose lives have been reduced to a series of transactions in an emotionally shrink wrapped world."

The Lyric's stage will be transformed for the production with some audience members seated on the stage in what will provide an intimate experience within the traditional auditorium.

Ravenhill's provocative first play was originally staged at the Royal Court Theatre in 1996, located temporarily at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End. The play opened to mixed reviews with some critics shocked at the sexually violent nature of the play and its black humour. The text has become a modern classic, and is a prime example of 'in-yer-face theatre in 90s Britain.

Alex Arnold's theatre credits include 'Crushed Shells & Mud' (Southwark Playhouse); 'Luna Gale' and 'Four Minutes Twelve Seconds' (Hampstead Theatre). Film and television credits include: My Cousin Rachel, David Brent - Life on the Road, Poldark, Vera, A Mother's Son and Skins.

Ashley McGuire's credits include: Our Country's Good, The Suicide, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Home and An Oak Tree all at the National Theatre and Henry IV at the Donmar Warehouse.

David Moorst has starred in First Light (Chichester Festival Theatre); Into The Woods (Royal Exchange Manchester) and Violence & Son, winner of the Critics' Circle Awards 2016 and Most Promising Newcomer (Royal Court). 

Sam Spruell's theatre credits include Clybourne Park (Royal Court); The Caretaker (The Old Vic), Pornography (Traverse/Tricycle), Othello (Royal Exchange Manchester), The Alchemist and Life of Galileo (National Theatre).

Sophie Wu's credits include Punk Rock (Lyric), Table (National Theatre) and The Wood Orchid (Bush Theatre).

Tickets for the revival are now on sale.