‘The Dumb Waiter’ casting announced for 60th anniversary Hampstead Theatre production
The Harold Pinter play will also run for a further two weeks at the London venue.
UPDATE: All remaining performances of The Dumb Waiter at Hampstead Theatre are cancelled.
Following the news that The Dumb Waiter will be the first play to reopen the Hampstead Theatre, casting has been announced. The two actors will star in the Hampstead Theatre's 60th anniversary production, with performances running into the new year.
Alec Newman will play Ben, previously appearing in Hampstead Theatre productions of Uncle Vanya and Alligators. On television, he's starred in Call the Midwife and Eullenia, both seen on screen this year. He's joined on stage by Shane Zaza as Gus, recently appearing in Europe at the Donmar Warehouse.
The performance schedule for The Dumb Waiter has also been extended. Audiences can now see The Dumb Waiter from 18 to 30 Jan. 2021.
The Dumb Waiter is directed by Alice Hamilton. Ahead of the first performance, she said: "It is wonderful to be in the rehearsal room again getting back to the business of making live theatre. The past few months have brought a strange new resonance to this classic Pinter play and I'm excited to be exploring it now with these two brilliant actors."
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Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter follows two hitmen as they await instructions. While they're waiting, they begin to receive messages from a dumb waiter, which confuses them. The well-known Pinter play received its world premiere in 1960, and was last seen in London in 2019 starring Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer.
The Dumb Waiter is at Hampstead Theatre from 18 to 30 Jan. 2021.
Photo credit: Cast and Director of The Dumb Waiter (Photo by Helen Maybanks)
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