Dmitry Marylebone Theatre
35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT
Thursday 29th September – Saturday 5th November 2022
Marylebone Theatre has announced the cast for their realisation of an unfinished, visionary work by Friedrich Schiller. Dmitry (based on the peerless dramatist’s incomplete play Demetrius), will launch the bold new venue’s inaugural season and will star The Crown’s Tom Byrne (The Crown, Netflix; Twelfth Night, RSC; Black Mirror, Netflix) in the title role.
Alongside him, Poppy Miller (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Palace Theatre) will also lead as Dmitry’s mother, Tsarina Maria; Globe Associate Artist James Garnon (As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe; The American Clock, Old Vic; Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Globe) will take on the role of Cardinal Odowalsky with rising star Aurora Dawson-Hunte (The Mirror and the Light, RSC; Queens, Almeida Theatre) as Marina.
Joining this dynamic cast will be Piotr Baumann (Coronation Street, ITV; Eastenders, BBC) as Korela and Mark Hadfield (Pinocchio, National Theatre; Richard III, Almeida Theatre) as Prince Mnishek.
Schiller’s prescient play, unfinished at the time of his death, offers a revelatory perspective on the current crisis on Europe’s eastern borders making Peter Oswald’s (resident playwright at Shakespeare’s Globe under Mark Rylance) endeavour to pick up the baton timelier than ever.
This world premiere will be directed by the world-renowned former Artistic Director of the Young Vic Tim Supple, (National Theatre; Royal Shakespeare Company; Donmar Warehouse), who returns to the London theatre scene after 15 years of international work to bring this urgently relevant piece to life.
The cast is completed by: Ammar Haj Ahmad (The Jungle, Young Vic; Love, National Theatre), Daniel Hawksford (Troilus and Cressida, RSC; Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Globe), Oleg Mirochnikov (The Crown, Netflix; The Flash, Warner Brothers), Daniel York Loh (Dr Semmelweis, Bristol Old Vic; Pah-La, Royal Court Theatre), Lev Levermore (Richard III, Almeida Theatre; Boy, Almeida Theatre), Jonathan Oliver (Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Globe; War and Peace, National Theatre), Clifford Samuel (The Windrush Chronicles, BBC; A Guide for the Homesick, Trafalgar Studios) and Phoebe Strickland (Good Day, Silvertongue Theatre Company; Women of Troy, Drama Centre London).
Synopsis In 1605 in Moscow, ruthless tsar Boris Gudonov, former chief of Ivan the Terrible’s secret police, rules through fear and oppression. In Poland, a formidable young opponent – Dmitry – appears claiming to be the missing son of Ivan the Terrible and the rightful tsar of Russia. The Polish army, fuelled by the fear of the Russian threat, takes up Dmitry’s cause to march on the Kremlin to capture the throne. This poetic drama cuts to the heart of 21st century politics through a rich imagining of Eastern Europe and Russia’s shared history.
Marylebone Theatre, originally known as Steiner Hall, has recently been beautifully refurbished. A short walk from Baker Street, the theatre will produce its own work as well as receive incoming companies. The theatre intends to carve out a special place on the London cultural scene as a beautiful and grand but intimate setting. Patrons of Marylebone Theatre include Academy Award-winning actor Sir Mark Rylance, director of the English National Opera Martyn Brabbins, and the esteemed cross-bench peer Baroness Usha Prasher.
Artistic Director of Marylebone Theatre Alexander Gifford comments, “I am delighted that our launch production has attracted such an excellent cast. It includes both rising stars and established names. As a venue, we are daring to open with a big, classical production and it is thrilling that it will be carried by such a brilliant and experienced group. I am particularly pleased that our actors come from a very broad range of cultures and racial backgrounds. Dmitry is an epic play in verse with extraordinary dramatic intensity. I am confident that our cast will imbue it with the power and passion it deserves.”
Dmitry Director Tim Supple says, “Our first rate creative team is now joined by a tremendous cast that draws on the riches of London’s uniquely skilled and diverse acting community. There can be no greater pleasure for a director than opening a new theatre with a play that speaks directly to a major concern of our time and that does so with the combined potency of the German master Schiller and our leading contemporary verse dramatist, Peter Oswald.”
The remainder of the launch season will include a rich programme of music and spoken word events. Mark Shanahan’s A Sherlock Carol will find its perfect home at Marylebone Theatre, just round the corner from the iconic 221B Baker Street site, following a successful off-Broadway run where this Christmas classic meets crime thriller was the New York Times Critic’s Pick in 2021. The theatre’s musical offering will include concerts by Stile Antico, Jess Gillam, while a stirring solo rendition of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land by the acclaimed Ben Okri will mark the 100th anniversary of the canonical modernist poet.
Tim Supple
Former director of London’s Young Vic, Tim has worked regularly at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and in London’s West End as well as internationally across the world. His celebrated multi-lingual Indian production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream toured the globe. Other stand out productions include One Thousand and One Nights at Edinburgh International Festival, Coriolanus with Kenneth Brannagh and Judi Dench, and most recently, The Tempest in Beijing. His filmed version of Twelfth Night for Channel 4 starred Chiwetel Ejiofor and Parminder Nagra. Awards and nominations include: Olivier Awards, BAFTA, Evening Standard, Time Out, TMA, Herald Angel (Edinburgh International Festival), Dora (Toronto) and Yapi Krede Afifi (Istanbul).
Peter Oswald
Widely lauded as one of Britian’s most daring and innovative playwrights, Oswald has written over 25 plays produced at Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre, Apollo Theatre, Lyric Studio, Gate Theatre, Finborough Theatre and numerous other venues. He was writer-in-residence at the Globe from 1998-2005, and his version of Schiller’s Mary Stuart, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, went from the Donmar Warehouse to the West End and Broadway. Oswald specialises in plays written in verse form, welding his deep knowledge of classical literature and dramaturgy to a sharply modern sensibility. His plays and books of poetry have been published by Oxford University Press, Oberon Books and New Generation Publishing.
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