Birmingham REP heads off to the riverbank this Christmas for a new production of Alan Bennett’s stage adaptation of The Wind in the Willows.
Bennett exhibits his own brand of nostalgia and comedy as he brings Kenneth Grahame’s riverbank story to life.
Matthew Douglas plays Toad. He is a graduate of the University of Birmingham and recently appeared in the REP’s double bill of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Tom Stoppard’s Travesties.
Robert Pickavance is Badger. He has had a varied television career and his list of theatre for children is just as extensive—The BFG (Lancaster Dukes Theatre), Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Mole in The Wind in the Willows, both for York Theatre Royal.
Nicolas Prasad is Mole; Oliver J Hembrough is Ratty; Andrew Whitehead plays Hedgehog Herbert; and Liv Spencer will be Squirrel Shirley.
West Midlands actors Chris Nayak and Duane Hannibal will also be returning to the REP to play Albert and Weasel Norman respectively.
Completing the cast will be Heather Phoenix, Alan Mcmahon, Michael Hugo, Greg Herst, Sophia Hatfield, David Bowen and Esh Alladi.
Gwenda Hughes, a former associate director at the REP, returns to direct The Wind in the Willows.
Design will be by Michael Holt, lighting design by Paul Pyant, sound design by Gregory Clarke, movement direction by Jenny Arnold and musical direction and arrangements by Conrad Nelson.
The Wind in the Willows runs at the Crescent Theatre, Sheepcote Street, Birmingham from Wednesday (28 November) until Saturday, 19 January. Press night will be on Tuesday, December 4.