Sophie Thompson, Martin Freeman & More Sign On for London Production of Clybourne Park

A cast of top British comic actors including Olivier Award winner Sophie Thompson (Into the Woods and the films Four Weddings and a Funeral, Emma and Gosford Park) and Martin Freeman (TV’s original The Office) has signed on for the Royal Court Theatre’s forthcoming production of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park. The play will begin performances at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs on August 26 and open on September 2, directed by Dominic Cooke. The limited engagement will continue through October 2.

In addition to Thompson and Freeman, the cast will include Lorna Brown (Once on This Island. TV’s Catherine Tate), Sarah Goldberg (Six Degrees of Separation), Lucian Msamati (Ruined, Death and the King’s Horseman), Steffan Rhodri (TV’s Gavin and Stacey) and Sam Spruell (feature films The Hurt Locker, Defiance and Elizabeth: The Golden Age).

Clybourne Park is a black comedy that explores the fault line between race and property. The company plays a different role in each act, set in the same suburban house in 1959 (echoing A Raisin in the Sun) and 2009. In Act One, Russ and Bev are selling their home at a knock-down price. This enables the first black family to move into the neighborhood, creating ripples of discontent among the white residents of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by Lindsey and Steve, whose plans to raze the house and start again is met with a similar response. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same 50 years later?

Clybourne Park premiered at Playwrights Horizons on February 21, 2010, in an acclaimed production directed by Pam MacKinnon. London director Cooke collaborated with Norris on the Royal Court’s production of his previous dark comedy The Pain and the Itch in 2007.

The London production of Clybourne Park will be designed by Robert Innes Hopkins, with lighting by Paule Constable and sound by David McSeveney.