Miriam Petche, Siân Phillips and Jasper Talbot
lead the cast for the world premiere of
ATONEMENT
By Ian McEwan
Adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Adam Penford
29 May – 20 June, Chichester Festival Theatre
Casting has been announced for the world premiere of Ian McEwan’s Atonement, adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton, which runs at Chichester Festival Theatre from 29 May – 20 June (press night: 5 June), directed by Adam Penford.
Siân Phillips will play the older Briony Tallis, with Miriam Petche (Industry) as Cecilia and Jasper Talbot (Redlands) as Robbie. The company also includes James Backway, Tom Chapman, Isabella Dempster (as the young Briony), Yanexi Enriquez, Debra Gillett, Gabin Kongolo, Natasha Magigi and Jonathan Oliver.
Dame Siân Phillips makes a welcome return to Chichester as the older Briony Tallis. Her distinguished leading roles on stage include her Olivier and Tony Award-nominated Marlene Dietrich in Marlene, Olivier-nominated Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, and recently Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre; and on screen, her BAFTA Award-winning Livia in I, Claudius and many guest appearances in series from Lewis and Keeping Faith to Silent Witness.
Miriam Petche plays Cecilia; known to an international TV audience as Sweetpea Golightly in the HBO/BBC series Industry, her screen credits also include the forthcoming Believe Me.
Jasper Talbot plays Robbie, returning to Chichester where he played Mick Jagger in Redlands for which he was nominated for The Stage Debut Award; since then his stage credits include Inter Alia at the National Theatre and The Line of Beauty at the Almeida.
Stretching from the 1930s through the Second World War to the present day, Ian McEwan’s dazzling masterpiece was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and voted by Time Magazine and the Guardian as one of the 100 greatest novels of the past century.
On an English country estate during the blazing summer of 1935, 13 year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a passionate scene between her elder sister Cecilia and the son of their housekeeper, Robbie. In a disastrous desire for drama but only a dim understanding of its impact, Briony makes an accusation which will fatally alter Cecilia and Robbie’s lives and many others too – for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.
This world premiere stage adaptation is by Christopher Hampton, whose many plays and adaptations also include The Philanthropist and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which won the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Play and is now being revived at the National Theatre.
Adam Penford, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse where his recent work includes James Graham’s award-winning Punch, also in the West End and on Broadway, returns to Chichester following his 2023 production of The Sound of Music.
The designer is Anthony Ward; lighting designer Aideen Malone; composer and sound designer, Alexandra Faye Braithwaite; video designer Andrzej Goulding; movement and intimacy director, Ben Wright; and casting director, Helena Palmer CDG.
