Meet the Cast of Small Island
We are delighted to announce full casting for our exhilarating new co-production of Small Island, presented by The Rep, Leeds Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse, in association with Actors Touring Company – which marks the first time the stage adaptation will be shown to audiences outside London and coming to The House stage from Wed 1 – Sat 18 Apr!
This unforgettable journey from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London has been adapted from Andrea Levy’s powerful multi award-winning novel by Helen Edmundson and directed by Actors Touring Company‘s Artistic Director, Matthew Xia.
Matthew Xia, adds:
I can’t wait to get in the rehearsal room with this incredible group of artists to reimagine Small Island together. Working with such a talented, courageous and empathetic cast and creative team empowers us to delve deep – beyond nostalgia and heritage – to create a rich immersive world through which we can confront our shared history.
“I want audiences to feel the elemental force of this story: the power of a Caribbean hurricane set against the post-war austerity of a Britain clinging to empire. But I also want them to feel the hope that propels people across oceans in search of prosperity, opportunity and belonging.”
The full cast includes Anna Crichlow (Tess, Ockham’s Razor; The Innocent in the Fir Tree and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Hortense; Daniel Ward (Bones in Tambo & Bones, Actors Touring Company and Stratford East/UK Tour in association with Leeds Playhouse; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Royal Exchange, Manchester; The Amen Corner, National Theatre) as Gilbert; musical theatre star and finalist in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Over the Rainbow Bronté Barbé (Katherine Plumber in the original London production of Newsies, Troubadour Theatre; Kathy in Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder, Edinburgh Fringe and West End; Princess Fiona in Shrek UK Tour) as Queenie; Mark Arends (Moby Dick, Royal & Derngate; Fatherland, Lyric Hammersmith/Frantic Assembly; Mr Bates vs The Post Office, ITV1) as Bernard.
Completing the cast are Mara Allen (Curan in Kenneth Branagh’s King Lear, Wyndham’s/The Shed, New York; An Octoroon, Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Romantic Getaway, SKY Comedy) as Miss Ma/Celia; Rosemary Boyle (Dancing at Lughnasa, Sheffield Crucible/Royal Exchange Theatre; Of Mice and Men, UK Tour; The James Plays, National Theatre/National Theatre Scotland/International Tour) as Mrs Ryder; Paul Hawkyard (The Railway Children, Kings Cross Theatre; Warhorse & Birdsong, West End; Here We Go, BBC1) is playing Arthur; Zoe Lambert (The Railway Children, York Theatre Royal production for Bradford City of Culture; The Comedy of Errors, RSC; Threepenny Opera, Northern Stage) as Aunt Dorothy/Miss Todd; Jordan Laviniere (I Wish, Unicorn Theatre/New Victory Theatre, New York; Wuthering Heights, UK Tour, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre) as Little Michael; Marcia Mantack (Of All The Beautiful Things in The World, HOME Manchester, Stepping Out, Vaudeville Theatre, Broken, Ithena Theatre) as Miss Jewel; Andre Squire (Greenland Migration, HBO Max/Amazon Prime; Black Ops, BBC; (the) Woman, Park Theatre) as Elwood; making his professional theatre debut, CBBC presenter and Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist Rhys Stephenson as Michael; Everal A Walsh (Through It All Together, Leeds Playhouse; Animal Farm, Leeds Playhouse/Stratford East/Nottingham Playhouse; Amadeus, National Theatre) as Kenneth/Mr Philip; Toby Webster (The Score, Theatre Royal Bath/Theatre Royal Haymarket; Whistle Down the Wind, Watermill; The Provoked Wife, RSC) as Kip/Young Man in Sweetshop; and Phil Yarrow (Peter Pan Goes Wrong, West End & UK Tour; Room on the Broom, original West End cast; The Split, BBC1) as Mr Buxton/Captain Soames/Sgt Thwaites.
Joining director Matthew Xia on the creative team behind this bold new staging of Small Island will be: Set & Costume Designer Simon Kenny; Lighting Designer Ciarán Cunningham; Movement & Intimacy Director Asha Jennings-Grant; Voice & Dialect Coach Hazel Holder; Fight Director Kev McCurdy; WHAM Designer & Supervisor Dominique Hamilton; Casting Director Lucy Casson CDG; Composer Luke Bacchus; Music Mentoring Ben Kwasi Burrell; Video Designer Gino Green; and Associate Director Sara Aniqah Malik.
Journey from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica
to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London in Small Island…
A powerful and intimate portrayal of Andrea Levy’s multi award-winning novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson. Directed by Matthew Xia, this bold staging offers a fresh perspective on a world shaped by empire and entitlement, caught between belonging and unbelonging, disappointment and hope.
Four unforgettable characters bring this Windrush story to life: Hortense and Gilbert, determined Jamaican migrants in search of belonging and respect; Queenie, an Englishwoman who defies convention; and Bernard, her husband, struggling with change. Together, they discover love across culture, colour and class – and the fragile hope of a shared future.