A Bush Theatre Production
The debut play from Olivier award-winning actor Rory Kinnear, directed by National Theatre Associate Director Howard Davies
It’s Andy Griffith’s 21st Birthday. Not that he’s counting.
But his mother Carol is. Counting the minutes until he arrives, counting the unexpected guests, counting the times that this has happened before.
A witty and heartfelt look at family life when it doesn’t turn out quite the way you imagined.
British actor Rory Kinnear’s best-known credits include feature films Skyfall and Broken, and for stage Hamlet, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Man of Mode (National Theatre). He is currently playing Iago in the National Theatre’s production of Othello.
The Herd re-unites Rory with multi-award winning theatre director Howard Davies following The Last of the Haussmans and Burnt By The Sun (National Theatre).
Theatre credits include: One Man, Two Guvnors (directed by Nicholas Hytner/Adam Penford), The Humans (directed by Alexandre Singh), King Lear (directed by Tim Crouch), Our Country’s Good (directed by Max Stafford-Clark), Henry IV, parts 1 & 2, Where There’s a Will, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Portrait of a Lady, A Doll’s House, The Vortex, Uncle Vanya, Pygmalion, Little Nell, Amy’s View, Habeas Corpus, Measure for Measure, You Never Can Tell, Waiting for Godot, Much Ado About Nothing, The Dresser, As You Like It, Man & Superman (directed by Peter Hall), The Herd, 55 Days, Blood and Gifts (directed by Howard Davies), Canary (directed by Hettie Macdonald), Rutherford and Son (directed by Richard Beecham), Ring Round the Moon, Waiting for Godot, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (directed by Sean Mathias), In the Club, Honour, What the Butler Saw, Abigail’s Party (directed by David Grindley), Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Don Juan, Tejas Verdes, Emperor Jones, The Chairs (directed by Thea Sharrock), The Deep Blue Sea (directed by Edward Hall), The Odyssey (directed by David Farr), Miss Julie, Everything is Illuminated (directed by Rachel O’Riordan), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (directed by Wilson Milam), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Beasts and Beauties, Watership Down (directed by Melly Still), Ghosts (directed by Anna Mackmin).
Helen graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and was a winner of the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design in 2007. Productions include PROOF (Menier Chocolate Factory); WERTHER (Scottish Opera); THE COUNTRY WIFE (Royal Exchange); STEEL MAGNOLIAS (David Ian Productions, UK Tour); ROMEO AND JULIET (Headlong); DUBLIN CAROL (Donmar Trafalgar Season); THE VILLAGE BIKE (Royal Court); DREAM STORY and LULU (The Gate); LAKE BOAT (Arcola); THE YEARS BETWEEN (Northampton Theatre Royal); COMEDIANS, LOOKING FOR BUDDY (Bolton Octagon); AND A NIGHTINGALE SANG (New Vic/ Touring); JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (Watermill Theatre); THE ONES THAT FLUTTER, THE LIFESAVERS and GBS (Theatre 503); KNIVES IN HENS (Ustinov Studio Bath); LET THERE BE LOVE (Tricycle Theatre); LOVELY AND MISFIT (Trafalgar Studios) and THE ROARING GIRL (Bristol Old Vic Studio).
Howard Davies is the Associate Director of the National Theatre, and was previously he was Associate Director for the Almeida Theatre and RSC. Davies established and ran the Warehouse Theatre for the RSC where he directed and produced 26 new plays in 4 years. He is an Associate Director at the National Theatre; he received Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director for his production of The White Guard. His other recent National Theatre productions also include The Last of the Haussmans, The Cherry Orchard, Blood and Gifts, Burnt by the Sun, Gethsemane, Her Naked Skin, Never So Good, Philistines and The Life of Galileo. As well as theatre both in London and New York, Davies has directed opera, television and film.
Mike first worked at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton before training at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
For the National Theatre: Home, Hymn (Untold Stories), St Matthew Passion, Caroline or Change, Major Barbara, Jerry Springer – The Opera (for which he won the first Olivier Award for Best Sound Design), Carousel.
For the Bush Theatre: Disgraced, Mammals, How Love is Spelt.
West End & London: Dear World, Hay Fever, Crazy for You, Lord of the Flies, The Glass Menagerie, Into The Woods, The Fantasticks!, Eurobeat, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Hello Dolly!, Gigi, Bat Boy – The Musical, Jus’ Like That , The Full Monty, The Graduate, Oliver!
UK: Certified (Leicester), Arturo Ui (Chichester), The Three Musketeers (Kingston), Stop Dreamin’ (Windsor), Peter Pan (Leeds), Aspects of Love (Tour), Amadeus (Sheffield), Time’s Up! (Guildford).
Singapore: Othello, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Avenue Q, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Forbidden City, Honk!, Chang and Eng, They’re Playing Our Song, M Butterfly, Art, A Twist of Fate, Hamlet, Sing To The Dawn, Little Shop Of Horrors, Noye’s Fludde, Kampong Amber, Death of A Salesman, Into The Woods.
Mike, with his company Loh Humm Audio, provides sound design, engineering and installation services for theatres.
As an actor, Rory Kinnear has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre. In 2010 Kinnear played Angelo in Measure For Measure at the Almeida Theatre, and later the title role in Hamlet at the National Theatre. The two roles won him the Best Actor award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. He also achieved recognition as Sir Fopling Flutter in The Man of Mode at the National Theatre, winning an Olivier Award and Ian Charleson Award. Other notable theatre work includes The Revenger’s Tragedy, Gorky’s Philistines, and the role of Mitia in a stage adaptation of the Nikita Mikhalkov film Burnt by the Sun, all for the National Theatre. This year he will play Iago in the National’s production of Othello, directed by Nicholas Hytner. His television work includes Loving Miss Hatto, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Black Mirror: National Anthem, Richard II and Cranford; and for film Skyfall and Broken for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards.
Louise Brealey plays Claire. For theatre her work includes The Trojan Women (Gate Theatre), Birthday, The Stone and Sliding with Suzanne (Royal Court), Sixty-Six Books (Bush Theatre), The Government Inspector (Young Vic), and Uncle Vanya and Little Nell for the Peter Hall Company. Work on television includes Sherlock, The Damnation of Darwin, Father Brown, Hotel Babylon, Mayo and Bleak House; and on film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Reuniting The Rubins.
Anna Calder Marshall's theatre credits include In the Republic of Happiness, Objections to Sex & Violence, Uncle Vanya (Royal Court), Salt, Root & Roe (Donmar Trafalgar), A Kind of Alaska and Tejas Verdes (Gate), Comfort Me with Apples, Formation Dancers, Dear Janet Rosenberg and While the Sun Shines (Hampstead), Humble Boy (Gielgud), A Lie of the Mind (Donmar), Antigone (Old Vic),The Secret Rapture and The Devil is An Ass (National Theatre), and The Philistines and Too Good to be True (RSC). Her extensive television work includes Stage Door Johnnies, 13 Steps Down, New Tricks, Poirot, Dalziel & Pascoe, Midsomer Murders, The Prince in Love, Lovejoy, Heartbeat, Sherlock Holmes, Witness Against Hitler, Strife, Inspector Morse, Strangers & Brothers, Days, Bloomers, Matilda’s England, Under Western Eyes, Two Days in the Life of Michael Reagan, Colombe, Male of the Species for which she won an Emmy Award; and for film, her work includes Anna Karenina, Zulu Dawn and Madame Curie.
Kenneth Cranham plays Brian. Cranham's career spans over thirty years working in film, television and theatre. Theatre credits for the National Theatre include The Novice, School for Scandal, The Cherry Orchard, The UN Inspector, and An Inspector Calls, which transferred to the West End and Broadway, and many credits for the RSC and at the Royal Court. Kenneth has worked extensively in television and is probably best known for Harvey Moon. Other television credits include The Genius of Mozart, Lady Audley's Secret, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, Upstairs Downstairs, Midsomer Murders, Forgotten Fallen, Merlin, Mess of the D’Urbervilles, and Rome. For film, his work includes Oliver, Chocolat, Gangster No 1, Born Romantic, The Boxer, Suspension Of Disbelief, Made in Dagenham, Valkyrie, Hot Fuzz and Layer Cake.
Adrian Rawlin's theatre credits include The Miser, Her Naked Skin, Tons of Money, A Small Family Business and A View From The Bridge (National Theatre), The Glass Menagerie and Good (Manchester Royal Exchange), Easter (RSC), Hamlet and The Lunatic Queen (Riverside Studios) and Clever Dick (Hampstead Theatre). Extensive television credits include Father Brown, Silent Witness, Prisoners’ Wives, Mrs Biggs, Law and Order, The Old Curiosity Shop, Lewis, Whistleblowers, Inspector Lynley, Dalziel and Pascoe, She’s Out, Tears Before Bedtime and Insiders; for film, credits include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Miss Potter.
Amanda Root's theatre work includes Jumpy (Royal Court and the West End), The Norman Conquests (The Old Vic and Broadway) for which she received a Tony Award nomination, Conversations After A Burial (Almeida), The Plough and the Stars (West Yorkshire Playhouse), and extensive work with the RSC including Love’s Labour’s Lost, Troilus and Cressida, The Seagull, The Man of Mode, The Constant Couple and Macbeth. Television credits include The Forsyte Saga, Mortimer’s Law, Anna Karenina, Law and Order, A Touch of Frost, Foyle’s War, Rose and Maloney, All About Me, Empire, The Robinsons, Fiona’s Story, Love Again and Daniel Deronda. Her work on film includes The Iron Lady, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith, Persuasion and Jane Eyre.
Actor
