The Countess at Criterion from 2 June 2005

The Countess at Criterion from 2 June 2005

The Countess, by Gregory Murphy, opens at the Criterion Theatre 7 June 2005, following previews from 2 June 2005, booking to 17 Sep 2005

The cast includes: Nick Moran (John Ruskin), Alison Pargeter (Effie), Damian O¹Hare (Millais), Gerald Harper (Mr Ruskin), Jean Boht (Mrs Ruskin ), Linda Thorson (Lady Elizabeth Eastlake), Chris Garwood, Edmund Kente, Deidra Morris.

It is directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser, who also produced and directed the New York production.

It is designed by Jason Denvir, lighting by Doug Filomena, costumes by Christopher Lione, music by Dewey Dellay and sound by Dan Last.

In 1853, the celebrated art critic John Ruskin, his wife Effie, and the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais depart in high spirits for the Scottish Highlands. When they return four months later, London is already beginning to whisper of the woman one man calls mad, and the other...The Countess.

Alison Pargeter was named Outstanding Newcomer in the Critics Circle Awards and nominated as Best Newcomer in the Evening Standard Awards for the West End production "Damsels in Distress" in 2002. On TV she recently played Sarah Cairn, Martin Fowler¹s psycho-stalker in "EastEnders".

Nick Moran made his film debut in 1990, alongside Roger Daltrey in "Buddy's Story", but he is probably best remembered as Eddy in Guy Ritchie¹s seminal British gangster film "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".

Damian O¹Hare was in "Juno and the Paycock" at the Donmar Warehouse in 1999 .

Gerald Harper, was a TV heartthrob in the 1960s, starring in the series "Adam Adamant Lives!" as an Edwardian adventurer deep-frozen in suspended animation at the turn of the century, who is thawed out 60 years later in swinging London, and for seven years as a suave Yorkshire stately home owner in "Hadleigh" .

Jean Boht , best known as long-suffering Nellie Boswell in the top-rated BBC TV series "Bread". Her West End credits incluse "Kindertransport" at the Vaudeville in 1996 and "Dangerous Corner" at the Whitehall in 1995;

Linda Thorson , last seen in the West End in "The Constant Wife" at the Apollo THeatre in 2002, is best known for playing Tara King in the cult 1960s TV series "The Avengers"