Full Casting Announced for The Battle!
Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep are today (Wed 07 Jan) thrilled to announce the full cast who’ll entering the ring for the brand new World Premiere production, The Battle. This new comedy based (mostly) on real events – reliving the heady summer of 1995, when heavyweights of Britpop, Blur in the blue corner and Oasis in the red, went head-to-head in the greatest chart battle of all time. It will open here at The Rep from Wed 11 Feb – Sat 07 Mar 2026 before touring to Manchester Opera House from Tue 17 – Sat 21 Mar.
Back in Jun 2025, we announced that actor and comedian, Mathew Horne (star of the beloved BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey, The Catherine Tate Show and in the West End, productions of The Tempest and Noises Off) will take on the role of influential Britpop music executive, Andy Ross, caught in the crossfire of one of the most notorious rivalries in British music history.
He’ll be joined by an exciting cast of emergent and established talent including, Brandon Bendell (The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, Amazon Prime) as Alex, Iona Champain (Falling, Falling Falling Falling and Earthquakes, Richard Burton Theatre Company ) as Jo and Miranda, Harriet Cains (Philippa Featherington in Netflix’s Bridgerton) as Justine and Maggie, Billy Dunmore (Surface, Apple TV) is Guigsy, Tommy Garside (Sexy Beast, Paramount+ and Bodies, Netflix) is Bonehead, George Greenland (Generation Z, Channel 4 and Empire of Light, Neal Street) is Alan White, Oscar Lloyd (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, West End ) as Damon, Louisa Lytton (Ruby Allen in BBC’s Eastenders and The Girl on the Train, UK Tour) as Meg and Karen, James Oates (Waterloo Road, The Other One BBC) is Alan McGee, Paddy Stafford (Mojo, Redbrick) as Noel, Will Taylor (The Play That Goes Wrong, UK Tour) as Graham and George Usher (a recent Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduate who makes his professional debut in The Battle) as Liam.
Introducing The Cast
Brandon Bendell
Brandon trained at Mountview (3 year BA Acting). The Battle marks his professional stage debut.
Film credits include: Silver Haze (dir Sacha Polak)
TV credits include: The Rings of Power (Amazon), My Lady Jane (Amazon), The Devil’s Hour (Amazon)
Iona Champain
Iona trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre credits include: Showcase of Women’s Writing (Bomb Factory Theatre), Falling Falling Falling Falling, Earthquakes in London and Julius Caesar (Richard Burton Theatre Company), Dream School (Mrs C’s Collective), Drag and Cabaret Showcase (SOHO Theatre) and Flushed (Theatre Unlocked).
Television credits include: Casualty (BBC) and The Third Day: Autumn (HBO, Sky, Punchdrunk).
Film credits include: Gobbl (Somesuch), Love Me, Hold Me, Always (Black Lab Films), Misper (Fresh Orange Productions), Sitter (Brother Film Ltd), Goldfish (Padula Productions), Ian After Beer (Rax Films), Gates (Pickup Films) and To the Sea (Rax Films).
Harriet Cains
Harriet trained with the Nottingham Television Workshop and is most notable for playing the regular role of ‘Philipa Featherington’ in the Shondaland epic Bridgerton for Netflix. You can also check her out in Half Bad (also for Netflix), the latest series of Marcella for ITV, No Offence for AbbottVision/C4 and hit Jed Mercurio series The Line of Duty. Lead regular roles include ‘Louisa Blackwell’ in ITV crime thriller Safe House alongside Christopher Eccleston and ‘Jem Walker’ in hit BBC series In The Flesh.
Harriet plays Theresa Keane in independent film SAIPAN alongside Eanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan which premieres at this year’s London Film Festival. Next up on her slate are leading roles in feature films Video Killed The Radio Star and Vows.
Billy Dunmore
Theatre credits include: Apocalypse Laow (Artshole Productions); London With A Perfect Skyline, Romeo and Juliet (Exploding Whale).
Film and Television include: Surface (Series 2), Waterloo Road, Star Wars: Andor, Hustler (Short).
Tommy Garside
Tommy trained at The Manchester School of Theatre.
Television credits include: Falling (Channel 4), Sexy Beat (Paramount+), Bodies (Netflix/Moonage Pictures), Casualty (BBC), Father Brown (BBC), The Rising (Sky Studios).
Stage credits include: A Quiet Room (Tales of Other Mind), The Monster (New National Theatre Tokyo), The Duchess of Malfi (The Manchester School of Theatre), The Beau Defeated (The Manchester School of Theatre).
George Greenland
George trained at Mountview and has since gone on to work across TV, Film, Theatre and Audio.
Theatre credits include: Tell Me Straight (King’s Head Theatre & Chiswick Playhouse)
Television and film credits include: Generation Z (Channel 4), Everything Now (Netflix), Empire of Light (Neal Street), The Strays (Netflix), Eastenders (BBC), Callum The Midwife (BBC), .
Andy Ross
Mathew Horne
Mathew Horne
Damon
Oscar Lloyd
Oscar Lloyd
Louisa Lytton
Louisa is perhaps best known for playing the role of Ruby Allen for over two decades in BBC’s EastEnders.
Stage credits include: 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Girl on the Train, UK Tours.
Television credits include: Murdoch Mysteries, Amazon Prime and Edge of Heaven, ITV.
James Oates
Theatre credits include: Classic! (Hope Mill Theatre); Aladdin (New Theatre Royal); The Elf in the Room (Oldham Coliseum); North of Providence (Hope Mill Theatre); Finding Alice (The Lowry); Orphans (Hope Mill Theatre); Before Juliet (Manchester Shakespeare Company); Of Mice and Men (Blackburn Empire); Borstal Boy (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).
Television credits include: Suspect (ITV, Disney+); Odd Squad (BBC); Waterloo Road (Channel 4); The Other One (BBC); Ten Percent (Amazon Prime); Emmerdale (ITV); Lagging (BBC); Coronation Street (ITV); Paranoid (ITV); Doctors (BBC).
Film credits include: The Roots Manoeuvre (Amazon).
Paddy Stafford
Training: Manchester School of Theatre
Theatre credits include: Mojo (Redbrick); Too Much World All At Once (Box of Tricks), A Christmas Fair (Not Too Tame).
Television credit include: Unforgivable, Doctor Who.
Film credits include: Ultra, Kiddo, Fairview Park, Anon.
Will Taylor
Theatre: The Play That Goes Wrong (UK Tour); Seal Boy (Riverside Studios); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stafford Gatehouse); Two Tribes (Leeds Playhouse); Poor Shirley Must Make Her Escape (The Nest – Chichester Festival Theatre); The New Musketeers (Trinity Theatre); Private Peaceful (Frinton Summer Theatre); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Torch Theatre); The 56 (Battersea Arts Centre); E15 (UK Tour); The Iconoclasts (New Diorama); You and I (York Theatre Royal); Wonder Girl (Ovalhouse); Alphabet (Camden People’s Theatre); Departures: A Song Cycle (Pleasance Theatre).
Feature Film: Digger (Tom Cruise Productions/Warner Bros./Legendary Entertainment); The Running Man (Paramount Pictures); Deadbeat (Inside 75 Films).
Television: Mrs Davis (Warner Bros.); Holby City (BBC).
Radio: White Nights; Grief is the Thing with Feathers; Renaissance Man; Escape Kit; Body Tourists (all for BBC Radio 4).
George Usher
George is a recent graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. The Battle is his professional theatre debut.
Television credits include: Casualty (BBC One)
Theatre credits whilst training include: This is Living, The Watsons, Treasure Island, Twelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School)
Set in London, 1995. Two of the country’s biggest bands release singles on the same day, commencing the battle of Britpop. On one side, clean-cut, art-school intellectuals from the South. On the other: raw and unapologetic lads from the North. Rivalries flare, friendships fracture and at the centre of it all a mania that would define an era – were you Blur or Oasis?
Co-Producer and Rep Artistic Director Joe Murphy, adds:
Bringing the World Premiere of The Battle to The Rep is genuinely so exciting. This chart battle rocked the nation and quite literally defined a generation and I already know that our audiences are going to have the time of their lives being taken back to the rivalries, the chaos and the big personalities that made it all so unforgettable.”
Reliving the heady summer of 1995 when heavyweights of Britpop, Blur and Oasis, went head-to-head in the greatest chart battle of all time, The Battle is the first stage play by screenwriter and Sunday Times best-selling novelist John Niven. Best known for his razor-sharp novels including Kill Your Friends and The Second Coming, John Niven brings his uncompromising voice to the stage for the first time. The Battle draws on his deep insider knowledge of the music industry, shining a satirical light on the chaos behind the cool Britannia façade. The Battle is directed by Matthew Dunster (The Hunger Games: On Stage, 2:22 A Ghost Story, The Pillowman).
The creative team also includes Fly Davis as Set and Costume Designer, Jessica Hung Han Yun as Lighting Designer, Ian Dickinson as Sound Designer, Tal Rosner as Video Designer and Casting Director, Claire Bleasdale.