Janie Dee to join cast of THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE at National Theatre

Photo credit: Jennie Scott

With a week to go before rehearsals begin, the National Theatre have announced full casting for Jack Thorne’s new play The Motive and the Cue, directed by Sam Mendes.

It has announced that Janie Dee (Follies) will play Eileen Hurlie, joining Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton, Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor.

The cast also includes Aaron Anthony, Tom Babbage, Allan Corduner, Elena Delia, Ryan Ellsworth, Phoebe Horn, Aysha Kala, Luke Norris, Huw Parmenter, David Ricardo-Pearce, David Tarkenter, Kate Tydman, Laurence Ubong Williams and Michael Walters.

This startling new play opens at the Lyttelton Theatre on 20 April, and is inspired by the making of Burton and Gielgud’s Hamlet.

Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title in an experimental new production of Hamlet under John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

The Motive and the Cue was originally commissioned by Neal Street Productions and has been developed and co-produced by the National Theatre and Neal Street Productions. The production has set design by Es Devlin, costumes by Katrina Lindsay, lighting by Jon Clark, composition by Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound by Paul Arditti, video design by Luke Halls, and casting by Alastair Coomer CDG and Naomi Downham.

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