Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Ruined Makes London Debut as Part of Almeida 2010 Season

Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Ruined will take the London stage as part of the spring season at the Almeida Theatre, beginning performances April 15, 2010 and playing through June 5. The production, directed by Indhu Rubashingham, will star Jenny Jules as Mama Nadi and Lucian Msamati.

In Ruined, bar owner Mama Nadi's establishment has simple rules: no arguments, no politics, no guns. When two new girls tainted with the stigma of their recent past arrive, Mama is forced to reassess her business priorities and personal loyalties. As tales of local atrocities spread and tensions between rebels and government militia rise, the realities of life in civil war provide the ultimate test of the human spirit.

Originally comissioned by the Goodman Theatre, the play had its world premiere in Chicago in late 2008. A co-production with the Manhattan Theatre Club, Ruined moved to off-Broadway in January 2009, extending eight times during its award-winning run.

Jules returns to the Almeida having previously performed in Michael Attenborough’s productions of The Homecoming and Big White Fog. She has also worked extensively for the Tricycle Theatre in productions including Fabulation, Gem of the Ocean, Walk Hard, The Colour of Justice and The Great White Hope. Her film work includes A Short Stay in Switzerland, Octane, Up ‘N’ Under and Spiders and Flies. On television she has been seen in Vexed, Casualty, Judge John Deed, Golden Hour and A Respectable Trade.

Msamati’s theater credits include Death and The King's Horseman, The Overwhelming, President of An Empty Room and Mourning Becomes Electra for the National Theatre, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui for the Lyric Hammersmith, Pericles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Walk Hard, Fabulation and Gem Of The Ocean for the Tricycle. He played Sipho in the Almeida’s production of Anthony Sher’s I.D., directed Nancy Meckler. His television credits include No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Spooks, Just Like Ronaldinho and Heads and Tales. Film work includes The International, Coffin, Legend of the Sky and Lummumba.

Also on the schedule for the Almedia is Patrick Hamilton's classic thriller Rope, running December 10, 2009, through February 6, 2010. Directed by Roger Michell, the show stars Philip Arditti (Sabot), Bertie Carvel (Rupert Cadell), Emma Dewhurst (Mrs Debenham), Michael Elwyn (Sir Johnstone Kentley), Henry Lloyd Hughes (Kenneth Raglan), Blake Ritson (Wyndham Brandon), Alex Waldmann (Charles Granillo) and Pheobe Waller-Bridge (Leila Arden).

The Michael Attenborough helmed Measure for Measure follows, beginning performances February 12 and running through April 10. Joining the previously announced Rory Kinnear as Angelo, Anna Maxwell Martin as Isabella and Ben Miles as Vincentio the Duke are David Annen as Provost, Daisy Boulton as Juliet, Flaminia Cinque as Mistress Overdone, Trevor Cooper as Pompey, Emun Elliot as Claudio, David Killick as Escalus, Victoria Lloyd as Marianna, Jessica Tomchak as Francisca and Tony Turner as Elbow.

The spring Almeida season finishes with Andrew Upton's new stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly. Also directed by Michael Attenborough, the play begins June 10 and plays through July 31. Casting for the piece, about young wife Karin's internal struggle while on a recouperative holiday with her family, will be announced next year.