Game of Thrones star Samantha Spiro will go from a role in Dr Who to the Chichester Festival Theatre, it can be revealed.
For the Olivier Award-winning actress, who was most recently seen in season six of smash-hit fantasy drama series as Melessa Tarly, will team up with Daniel Ryan to lead the cast of Deborah Bruce’s new play The House They Grew Up In.
And she confirmed during a BBC Breakfast interview that she would be appearing in the current Doctor Who series, although she didn’t to say what her role was, or when she would be seen. She said: “I’ll be in this series of Doctor Who. I can’t say how, I can’t say who, I can’t say where!”
Daniel Ryan
The news comes as casting was announced for two plays premiering this summer as part of Chichester Festival Theatre’s 2017 season. Genevieve Hulme-Beaman and Grace Molony play the title roles in Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls, which plays in the Minerva Theatre from 9 June – 8 July, directed by Lisa Blair.
Molony makes her professional theatre debut as Kate, while Hulme-Beaman, whose theatre work includes The Seagull at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre and The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe, plays Baba.
The full company is: Romayne Andrews, Rachel Atkins, Tom Canton, Chris Garner, Colm Gormley, Genevieve Hulme-Beaman (Baba), Melanie McHugh, Keshini Misha, Grace Molony (Kate), Bailey Patrick, Valery Schatz (Mr Gentleman) and Jade Yourell.
The House They Grew Up In runs in the Minerva Theatre from 14 July – 5 August, directed by Jeremy Herrin in a co-production with Headlong. Spiro returns to Chichester where she played Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in 2008; her award-winning theatre roles also include Di and Viv and Rose (West End), Chicken Soup with Barley (Royal Court) and Hello, Dolly! (Regent’s Park).
Her extensive television work includes Grandma’s House, The Tracey Ullman Show and Barbara Windsor in the forthcoming Babs. Daniel Ryan makes his Chichester debut; his many television series include Mount Pleasant, Home Fires and Doc Martin, and theatre includes Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse), Posh (Royal Court) and Gethsemane (National Theatre).
Booking is now open for both The Country Girls and The House They Grew Up In:
at cft.org.uk – box office 01243 781312.
