Stella Gonet, June Watson, Katherine Parkinson & More to Star in London’s Before the Party

Casting has been announced for the new London production of Rodney Ackland’s Before the Party. Ackland’s 1949 play about an upper middle class family adjusting to life after the war will be directed by Matthew Dunster and star Stella Gonet as Blanche Skinner, June Watson as Nanny and Katherine Parkinson as Laura Whittingham. The revival will run at London’s Almeida Theatre March 21 through May 11, with an official opening night planned for March 28.

The war is over and the Skinner family is trying to return to normal. If only the blasted government weren’t such a nuisance about the rations and cook could get some more of those delicious delicacies. With daughter Laura returned from Africa, widowed but not alone, they prepare for the latest social gathering. Only Laura reveals a shocking secret that threatens to ruin more than one party on the climb to social success.

In addition to Watson, Gonet and Parkinson, Before the Party will feature Michael Thomas as Aubrey Skinner, Alex Price as David Marshall, Emily Lane as Susan Skinner, Anna Devlin as Susan Skinner, Polly Dartford as Susan Skinner and Michelle Terry as Kathleen Skinner.

Before the Party will include set and costume design by Anna Fleischle, lighting design by Phillip Gladwell, sound design by Ian Dickinson and video design by Mark Thomas.