Cast announced for The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures

Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of Pulitzer prize winning Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, directed by Olivier award winning Michael Boyd. Tamsin Greig will play the role of Empty having last been seen at Hampstead Theatre in William Boyd’s Longing.

The cast also includes David Calder, Richard Clothier, Daniel Flynn, Sara Kestelman, Katie Leung, Luke Newberry, Sirine Saba, Lex Shrapnel, Katy Stephens and Rhashan Stone.

Shot through with characteristic wit and searing passion, Tony Kushner’s latest play is the story of a family grappling to find meaning in a landscape they no longer recognise and an epic exploration of humanity’s compulsive search for Utopias, both personal and political. This newly revised draft of the play is the result of last autumn’s development workshop at Hampstead, led by Kushner and Boyd.

New York, 2007. Gus Marcantonio, retired longshoreman, former trade union organiser, renaissance man, feels that the world has turned its back on everything he has fought for in life. With his sister, he summons his three children home, trailing the appendages of their chaotic lives, to their Brooklyn brownstone for the last and most unusual family reunion yet…

BUY TICKETS

Tamsin Greig plays Empty. Tamsin received critical acclaim and an Olivier nomination for her performance as Pepe in the musical of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Hilary in Jumpy which transferred from The Royal Court Theatre to The Duke of York’s. Other theatre credits include Longing by William Boyd (Hampstead Theatre),The Little Dog Laughed for which she received an Olivier nomination,  David Hare’s Gethsemane for The National Theatre, God of Carnage, opposite Ralph Fiennes at The Gielgud. She won both an Olivier and The Critics Choice for Best Shakespearean Performance for Beatrice in the RSC’s production of Much Ado about Nothing and also played Constance in King John. She received both the Royal Television Society’s Award for Green Wing and BAFTA nominations for Episodes, Green Wing and Black Books.  Other notable televisions performances include, Miss Bates in Emma, Edith Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, Beth in White Heat, the ground breaking People Like Us, Happiness, Love Soup and most recently Guilty, a 3 part series for ITV, and Friday Night Dinner. The film of Tamara Drewe directed by Stephen Frears, was an out of competition hit at Cannes, and gained Tamsin a British Independent Film nomination for her performance as Beth. And she recently had a cameo in The Second Best Marigold Hotel directed by John Madden and played opposite Kelsey Grammar in Breaking the Bank directed Vadim Jean.

David Calder plays Gus. Recent theatre credits include The Audience (Apollo), The Nether (Duke of York’s), The Doctor’s Dilemma, Hamlet (National Theatre), King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Drawer Boy (Abbey, Dublin and Galway Arts Festival), The Tempest, Twelfth Night, King Lear,The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Five Gold Rings (Almeida Theatre), The Price, Othello (Young Vic). Recent television credits include The Moonstone, Emerald City, Cuckoo, Utopia, Houdini, The Wrong Mans, Titanic. Film credits include The Hatton Garden Job, Lady in the Van, and Bond – The World is Not Enough.

Richard Clothier plays Pill. Recent theatre credits include King Lear (National Theatre), The Way of the World (Chichester Festival Theatre), Enlightenment (Hampstead Theatre), The Promise (Orange Tree Theatre), Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice (Propeller UK and International Tour), And Then There Were None (Gielgud Theatre). Television credits include New Tricks, Henry V, Law & Order, Spooks, Kingdom, Foyle’s War, Midsummer Murders and film credits include Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hippy Hippy Shake, and Bye Bye Columbus. 

Daniel Flynn plays Adam. Daniel returns to Hampstead Theatre following his appearance in 55 Days in 2012. Other recent Theatre credits include The Father (Duke of York’s), Stephen Ward (Aldwych), Richard II (Donmar Warehouse), Light Shining In Buckinghamshire, 3 Winters, The White Guard (National Theatre). Television and film credits include Lewis, Father Brown, The Last Days of Anne Boleyn, Vera, The Bill and Biggles.

Sara Kestelman plays Clio. Her theatre credits include Girls (UK Tour), The Summer Book (Unicorn Theatre), Ignis (Print Rooms), 4000 Miles (Bath Theatre Royal), Torchsong Trilogy (Menier Chocolate Factory), Making Noise Quietly, Nine, Cabaret (Donmar), Hamlet, Love for Love, As You Like It, The Double Dealer, The Threepenny Opera and The American Clock (National Theatre), Macbeth, Custom of the Country (RSC), King Lear (RSC/Barbican), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC/New York). Her television and film credits include In The Flesh (Series 2), From There to Here, Holby City, Rome, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, The Last Spark of Sundown and The Last Romantics.

Katie Leung plays Sooze. Theatre credits include You For Me For You (Royal Court), The World of Extreme Happiness (National Theatre),and Wild Swans (Young Vic). Television credits include One Child, Run, Poirot and Father Brown, and film credits include The Foreigner, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a role she subsequently reprised for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Parts I & II).

Luke Newberry plays Eli. His theatre credits include Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse), Antigone (National Theatre), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal, Bath), The Secret Garden (Aldwych) and The Aliens (Trafalgar Studios).  Television credits include Lightfields, From Darkness, Banana and In the Flesh, and Film credits include Dusty and Me, The Legend of Hercules, Slapper & Me, Quartet and Anna Karenina.

Sirine Saba plays Maeve. Recent theatre credits include Another World (National Theatre), The Crossing Plays, Fireworks (Royal Court), Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse), Holy Warriors, Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Winter’s Tale (Regent’s Park Open Air). Television credits include Unforgotten – Series 2 Doctors, Silent Witness, and film credits include The Black Forest, Exhibition and I Am Slave.  

Lex Shrapnel plays V. His theatre credits include A Number (Young Vic and The Nuffield Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Royal & Derngate), The Deep Blue Sea (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Death of A Salesman (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Serious Money (Birmingham Rep), Richard II (RSC), Henry IV Part 1 (RSC), Henry V (RSC), Henry VI Parts 1-3 (RSC), Richard III (RSC), Hamlet (Birmingham Rep), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival) and King Lear (Almeida). His television and film credits include Medici: Masters of Florence, Grimsby, Sons of Liberty, Strange Weather, A.D. The Bible Continues, Seal Team Eight, The Assets, Hunted, Captain America: The First Avenger, Minder, Flyboys, Thunderbirds and K-19: The Widowmaker.

Katy Stephens plays Shelle. Her theatre credits include The Histories Cycle, As you like it, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, Taming of the Shew, Candide (RSC), The Oresteia, Julius Caesar, Thomas Tallis, Antony and Cleopatra, (Shakespeare’s Globe), Midsummer Nights Dream (Theatre Royal Bath), The King’s Speech, Forests (Birmingham Rep), Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic/ Barbican), Mine (Shared Experience). Television and film credits include Prick Thy Neighbour and Ellington.

Rhashan Stone plays Paul. Theatre credits include Our Town (Almeida), Love and Information (Royal Court), Southwark Fair, The Red Balloon (National Theatre), Henry VI parts 1, 2 & 3, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and Camino Real (RSC). Recent television credits include Apple Tree Yard, The A Word, Boomers, Ballot Monkeys, 24 – Live Another Day, Strikeback and film credits include Three and Out and Wondrous Oblivion.

Tony Kushner makes a highly anticipated return to Hampstead following Slavs! in 1994. His other plays include the inimitable Angels in America, A Bright Room Called Day, Slavs!, Homebody/Kabul; the musical Caroline, or Change and the opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck. His screenplays include the Oscar nominated Lincoln and Munich. Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, among other honours. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.

Michael Boyd’s recent directing credits include Right Now (Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, Theatre Royal Bath and Bush Theatre London), Eugene Onegin (Garsington Opera), Tamburlaine (Broadway) which received Obie, Drama Desk, and Drama League Awards; and Orfeo (Royal Opera House/Roundhouse) which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. His work has won many UK and international awards, including four Oliviers, and he was knighted for services to drama in 2012. Michael was the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2002-12 and the Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow from 1985-96.