PRESS RELEASE: CASTING IS ANNOUNCED FOR ROALD DAHL'S THE TWITS

Mr and Mrs Twit are not very nice. In fact they’re extremely nasty. They’re nasty to each other, and they’re VILE to everyone else. They hold a family of monkeys hostage in a cage and force them to stand on their heads. ALL THE TIME. We told you they weren’t very nice. Can the monkeys find a way to show those vicious Twits what for?

Casting is announced today for Roald Dahl’s The Twits directed by John Tiffany. Mischievously adapted from Roald Dahl’s story, Enda Walsh turns The Twits upside down and brings this revolting revolution to the Royal Court’s stage.

Jason Watkins and Monica Dolan will play Mr and Mrs Twit, Sam Cox will play Yorkshire Terrier Man, Cait Davis will play Monkey Mum, Aimée-Ffion Edwards will play Monkey Daughter, Christine Entwisle will play Tattooed Fortune Teller Lady, Oliver Llewellyn-Jenkins will play Monkey Son, Glyn Pritchard will play Monkey Father and Dwane Walcott will play The Handsome Waltzer Boy.

Roald Dahl’s The Twits will be accompanied by a full programme of free writing workshops for children and their families designed by Enda Walsh and John Tiffany, free in-school workshops for all schools.

The Twits is directed by John Tiffany. Steven Hoggett is associate director and movement director, Martin Lowe is the composer and musical supervisor, design is by Chloe Lamford, lighting by Philip Gladwell and sound by Gregory Clarke.

Enda Walsh’s plays include Ballyturk, which premiered at Galway Arts Festival last year before transferring to the National Theatre, Once, directed by John Tiffany, which won eight Tony Awards, Penelope at the Druid Theatre, Chatroom at the National Theatre, Misterman for Landmark and the Galway Arts Festival and Disco Pigs for Corcadorca Theatre Company. He was last at the Royal Court in 2002 with Bedbound which was initially commissioned for the Dublin Theatre Festival. His screen credits include Chatroom, Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen and Disco Pigs.

John Tiffany, Associate Director of the Royal Court, directs. His most recent credits at the Royal Court include Hope by Jack Thorne, The Pass by John Donnelly and Let the Right One In (a National Theatre of Scotland production, which transferred to the Apollo in the West End). His production of The Glass Menagerie at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Broadway was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Director, and Once (New York Theater Workshop, Broadway, Melbourne Australia, Seoul South Korea and the West End) won John a Tony, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award and an Obie Award. His work for the National Theatre of Scotland includes Macbeth (also on Broadway), Enquirer (co-directed with Vicky Featherstone), The Missing, Peter Pan, The House of Bernarda Alba, Transform Caithness: Hunter, Be Near Me, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, The Bacchae and Black Watch, for which he won an Olivier and Critics’ Circle Award.

Steven Hoggett and John Tiffany previously worked together on Let The Right One In, Black Watch and The Bacchae for the National Theatre of Scotland as well as Once (winner of eight Tony awards and currently playing on Broadway and the West End) and The Glass Menagerie (Broadway). Steven won the Olivier Award for Best Choreographer for Black Watch in 2009. His other work as a choreographer includes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (West End and Broadway), The Full Monty (Sheffield Lyceum/ West End), Dr Dee (MIF) American Idiot (Broadway), Rocky The Musical (Broadway) and, most recently, The Last Ship (Broadway). Steven was a founding member and Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly where his credits include Lovesong, Beautiful Burnout, Othello, Stockholm, pool (no water) and Dirty Wonderland.

Cast Biographies:

Sam Cox’s theatre credits include Man, Macbeth, My Dad’s A Birdman and The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (all Young Vic), Henry V, The Tempest, Gabriel, Julius Caesar, Doctor Scroggys’ War, T’is Pity She’s a Whore, All’s Well That Ends Well, Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII (all Shakespeare’s Globe), Lovesong (Frantic Assembly), Inherit The Wind (Old Vic), Oedipus and The UN Inspector (National Theatre), God in Ruins, Macbeth, King John, Henry V, Romeo And Juliet, Richard II and Troilus And Cressida (all Royal Shakespeare Company) and Arcadia, Festen, Run for Your Wife, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jeeves and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (West End). Television credits include Doctors, New Tricks, The Commander and Doctor Who. Film credits include King of Soho, Wall, Anna Karenina, Agora, Hippie Hippie Shake, Double Heartbeat, Call at Coracon and Burnt Fen.

Cait Davis’ most recent theatre work includes Electra at the Old Vic, directed by Ian Rickson. Other theatre credits include The Jungle Book (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Wolves In The Wall (National Theatre Of Scotland/Lyric Hammersmith/Tour), The Little Fir Tree (Crucible Studio Theatre), Measure For Measure (National Theatre), Top Girls (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow), Those Eyes, That Mouth and Fermentation (both Gridiron Theatre Company), The Chimp That Spoke and Mosquito Coast (both Young Vic/National Tour), How To Behave (Station Opera House/Hampstead Theatre), Running Girl and Red (both Boilerhouse), 1984 (Northern Stage Ensemble), Phantom Limb (Theatre Gargantua), Into Our Dreams (Almeida Theatre), Scratch (20:21 Productions), The Carrier Frequency (Stans Cafe), Walking To Whiteway (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham). For Frantic Assembly Cait has performed in pool (no water), Klub, Flesh, Sell Out, Zero and Dirty Wonderland. Television credits include Doctors and Respectable Trade.

Monica Dolan’s previous credits at the Royal Court include Birth of a Nation, Sliding with Suzanne and The Glory of Living. Other recent theatre credits include The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse), King Lear and The Seagull (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Macbeth and She Stoops to Conquer (Out of Joint). Recent television credits include W1A, The Casual Vacancy and Wolf Hall. Film credits include Pride, The Falling, Kick Ass 2 and Never Let Me Go.

Aimée-Ffion Edwards previously appeared in the Royal Court Theatre’s production of Jerusalem (West End and Broadway). Amy’s other theatre credits include Trelawney of the Wells, The Recruiting Officer (Donmar Warehouse), Fireface (Young Vic) and Shitmix (Trafalgar Studios). Television credits include Detectorists, Wolf Hall, Under Milk Wood, Peaky Blinders, A Poet In New York, Inside Number 9, Walking and Talking, Luther, Being Human, Law and Order, Casualty 1909 and Skins. Film credits include Queen and Country, One Day, Steak Knife and Epithet.

Christine Entwisle’s previous credits at the Royal Court include Hope, Primetime, Narrative and The Wonderful World of Dissocia (also National Tour & Edinburgh International Festival). Her extensive credits for the RSC include As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Drunks, Morte d’Arthur and Romeo and Juliet. At the Young Vic she has performed in Ubu Kunst, Missing Jesus and Fine. Elsewhere her credits include Six Characters In Search of an Author (Headlong/ Chichester/ West End), Half Life (National Theatre of Scotland), C’est Vauxhall! (Barbican), The Wedding and Scarlet Theatre (Southwark Playhouse), Billy The Girl (Clean Break/ Soho), Genetics for Blondes (Soho Theatre), Vassa (Almeida at the Albery). Television credits include Holby City, Dalziel & Pascoe, Where the Heart Is and Attachments.

Oliver Llewellyn-Jenkins’ previous theatre credits include Bobby Moore in World Cup Final 1966 (Bristol Old Vic), Will Scarlett in Wanted! Robin Hood (Library Theatre), Rudge in The History Boys (Mercury Theatre), Batman Live (US Tour); O Go My Man, Harper Regan, Richard III, The Country Wife, That Face and Summerfolk (all RWCMD). Television credits include Doctors, Poets of the Somme, Stella, The Story of Tracy Beaker and BAFTA Award-winning drama Care. Oliver’s film credits include Carrie’s War and The Tulse Luper Suitcase Trilogy.

Glyn Pritchard’s previous theatre credits include The Black Album, Ghetto, Fuente Ovejuna and Bartholomew Fair (all National Theatre), King Lear (Young Vic), Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Marriage of Figaro (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Bee (Soho Theatre/Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre), Blodeuwedd (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru), The Dark Philosophers (National Theatre Wales/Told By an Idiot). Television credits include Law and Order: UK, Babylon, Stella, Casualty, Brookside and Coronation Street. Film credits include Hunky Dory, Weekenders and Butterflies.

Dwane Walcott’s theatre credits include Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse), Titus Andronicus, A Mad World, My Masters and Candide (Royal Shakespeare Company), Damned by Despair (National Theatre), Venice Preserv’d (The Spectator’s Guild), Romeo & Juliet (Stafford Open Air), Shorts Shattered (Landor Theatre), Angelica Tales (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Blood, Sweat & Tears (Extant Theatre). Television credits include Tut and Doctors. Film credits include Onway Film, 12-The Damaged Race, Flashmob and Next Day.

Jason Watkins’s previous credits at the Royal Court include Boy Gets Girl directed by Ian Rickson, Max Stafford Clark’s King Lear and Rafts and Dreams. Jason’s other theatre credits include Strange Interlude, Our Class, A Laughing Matter, She Stoops to Conquer and Inadmissible Evidence (all National Theatre), Kissing The Pope, Plantagenets and The Plain Dealer (all Royal Shakespeare Company), Habeus Corpus (Donmar Warehouse), Timon of Athens (Young Vic) and Bedroom Farce, Kafka’s Dick and Filumena (all West End). Jason’s extensive television credits include The Hollow Crown, Silent Witness, Atlantis, Miranda, Call The Midwife and The Wrong Mans. Film credits include the Nativity! trilogy, The Golden Compass, Wild Child and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason.

About Roald Dahl and his legacy
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was one of the world’s most inventive, mischievous and successful storytellers. His stories are currently available in 58 languages, and, by conservative estimate, he has sold more than 200 million books.

The Twits will be the latest Roald Dahl title to be adapted for stage and screen, following major films including Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Matilda (1996), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Fantastic Mr Fox (2009). Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of The BFG is set for release in July 2016. The phenomenally successful award-winning Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical continues playing to packed audiences in the West End and on Broadway. In 2015, the show is set to open in Sydney and begin touring the USA. Additionally, over a million people have seen the West End musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory since its opening in June 2013.

Ten percent of all the Roald Dahl royalties are donated to the two Roald Dahl charities – Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. Roald Dahl Day is marked annually all over the world on Roald Dahl’s birthday, September 13th, and in 2016 there will be global celebrations for the Centenary of his birth.

For further information on The Twits and the wonderful world of Roald Dahl please visit:
www.roalddahl.com
www.facebook.com/RoaldDahl
www.twitter.com/roald_dahl