A new adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities will be the first production by Northampton Royal and Derngate’s recently appointed artistic director James Dacre.
Dickens considered A Tale Of Two Cities “the best story I have ever written.”
Interweaving a family’s personal drama with the terror and chaos of the French revolution, it is a story of love, sacrifice and redemption amid horrific violence and world-changing events.
Mike Poulton, whose adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are currently running in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, is also behind A Tale of Two Cities.
It will feature one of the largest acting companies ever to appear on the Royal stage.
The cast includes Olivier Award-winning actress Abigail McKern who appeared in the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey alongside her father Leo McKern.
Oliver Dimsdale, artistic director of theatre company Filter, who was recently seen as the Prince of Wales in the Christmas special of Downton Abbey, will play Sydney Carton.
Ignatius Anthony, Christopher Good, Christopher Hunter, Yolanda Kettle, Mairead McKinley, Michael Mears, Sean Murray and Joshua Silver will perform alongside a large chorus drawn from the local community.
Designer is Mike Britton who designed To Sir, With Love at Royal and Derngate in 2013 and Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe. Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman provides original music. Movement direction is by Struan Leslie, previously head of movement for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
A Tale Of Two Cities runs at Royal and Derngate from Friday (21 February) until Saturday 15 March.