Ian Holm ill, withdraws from Mappa Mundi

Ian Holm ill, withdraws from Mappa Mundi

Ian Holm is ill and has withdrawn from Mappa Mundi, at the National Theatre. He is replaced by Alun Armstrong. Also, the opening of the show has also been put back with previews now commencing 2 Nov 02 with press night on 7 Nov 02. (The production was originally scheduled to preview from 18 Oct, with a press night on 24 Oct.

Ian Holm sadly had to withdraw from the production following an acute re-occurrence of a blood protein disorder at the weekend.

Alun Armstrong's previous roles for the National include Willie Loman in "Death of a Salesman", the title role in "Sweeney Todd", for which he won an Olivier Award, and "The Father". His extensive theatre work also includes many roles for the RSC, and Hamm in "Endgame" and Einstein in "Insignificance", and "The Front Page at the Donmar Warehouse. His numerous TV and film appearances include "Braveheart", "An Awfully Big Adventure", "Patriot Games", "Our Friends in the North" and "Aristocrats".

Mappa Mundi by Shelagh Stephenson, is directed by Bill Alexander , designed by Ruari Murchison with lighting by Paul Pyant

The full cast is now Alun Armstrong, Lia Williams , James Hayes, Alibe Parsons, Patrick Robinson, Tim McInnerny

Jack (Alun Armstrong) has a dark secret and only a few months to live. When his family gather for his daughter Anna's wedding, Jack, a passionate map collector, is forced to confront the map of his own life and finds its horizons to be limited. Research into his ancestry proves him to be related to an eighteenth-century cartographer and plantation owner, but Anna (Lia Williams), engaged to a black lawyer, is more interested to discover that they may also be descended from a slave...
This intimate play explores the notion of Englishness, and follows the moving journey of a man coming to terms with the parameters of his life.


Originally published on

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