Initial casting for Arthur Miller's The Crucible is announced. Richard Armitage, Anna Madeley and Samantha Colley are to play John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams in Ya?l

Farber's new production at The Old Vic, with previews from Tuesday 24 June. The cast also includes Sarah Niles, Rebecca Saire and Zara White, with further cast to be announced.

Ya?l Farber directs a visceral re-imagining of Arthur Miller's modern American masterpiece about the Salem witch trials drawing parallels with his experience of McCarthy's anti-communist investigations in the 1950's. The Crucible tells the story of one man's fight to save his identity in a repressive Puritan community where intolerance collides with lust and superstition, fuelling widespread hysteria with tragic results.

The Crucible is the second play in a new season of productions which are presented in-the-

round at The Old Vic. Reprising the transformation of The Old Vic's auditorium into the round, first seen for the award-winning 2008 production of The Norman Conquests, this ambitious project is once more made possible by the generous support of CQS. The season of productions is supported for the fourth consecutive year by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Richard Armitage plays John Proctor. This summer Richard can be seen in New Line Cinema's tornado disaster film Into the Storm, directed by Steven Quale and opposite Sarah Wayne

Callies. Later this year he will reprise his starring role of Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the

Dwarves, in Peter Jackson's last instalment of the highly successful Hobbit trilogy alongside

Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Cate Blanchett. He is also well known to

cinema audiences for playing villain Heinz Kruger in Captain America: The First Avenger.

Richard has appeared in many high profile television shows such as North and South, Spooks,

Robin Hood, Strike Back, The Vicar of Dibley and the BBC's Macbeth opposite James McAvoy

and Keeley Hawes. A respected theatre actor, his previous stage work includes The Duchess of

Malfi and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Hamlet at the Birmingham Rep.

Samantha Colley plays Abigail Williams. Samantha is to graduate from The Oxford School of

Drama in 2014. Whilst training, she played the title role in Anna Karenina, Katherina in The

Taming of the Shrew and Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. The Crucible is to be

Samantha's professional stage debut.

Anna Madeley plays Elizabeth Proctor. Anna's previous stage credits include Richard Eyre's

Broadway production of Private Lives (Music Box Theater), Earthquakes in London (National),

The Turn of the Screw (Almeida) and The Philanthropist (Donmar and Broadway). She has also

appeared in three seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company. On film she has starred in In

Bruges, Guest House Paradiso and A Fantastic Fear of Everything. Most recently, she played

Miss Ravillious in Mr Selfridge and has had roles in Utopia, Hustle, and the controversial

Channel 4 drama Consent.

Yaël Farber is a multiple award-winning director and playwright of international acclaim. Her

productions have toured the world extensively - earning her a reputation for hard-hitting,

controversial works of the highest artistic standard. Her most recent work Nirbhaya (directed

and written by Farber in India) earned rave reviews and three international awards at the 2013

Edinburgh Festival and has just completed a sold out run at The Southbank Centre. Mies Julie

(written and directed by Farber) won a string of international awards at the 2012 Edinburgh

Festival, was named one of the Top Ten Productions of 2012 by The New York Times, and Top

five Productions of 2012 by The Guardian. Yaël is the recipient of four Best Director Awards

(1991, 2002, 2008, 2012) in her native South Africa, where she was named Artist of the Year

(2003). She has won the Scotsman Fringe First Award (Edinburgh 2000, 2012, 2013), The Sony

Gold Award (London 2001), Best of Edinburgh Award (Edinburgh 2012) and The Amnesty

Freedom of Expression Award 2013. She has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award (New

York, 2007) and a TMA Best Director Award (UK 2008). Her productions have toured across

the major cities of the USA, the UK (including the West End and the Barbican), Canada,

Australia, Japan, Europe and Africa, The United Arab Emirates and Bermuda. She created a

work in residence at The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, and was Head of the Directing Program

at the National Theatre School of Canada for three years (2009 - 2012).

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan.

His plays include The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944), All My Sons (1947), Death of a

Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two

Mondays (1955), After the Fall (1964), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation

of the World and Other Business (1972), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977), The American Clock

(1980) and Playing for Time. Later plays include The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last

Yankee (1993), Broken Glass (1994), Mr. Peters' Connections (1998), Resurrection Blues (2002),

and Finishing the Picture (2004). Other works include Focus, a novel (1945), The Misfits, a

screenplay (1960), and the texts for In Russia (1969), In the Country (1977), and Chinese

Encounters (1979), three books in collaboration with his wife, photographer Inge Morath.

Memoirs include Salesman in Beijing (1984), and Timebends, an autobiography (1988). Short

fiction includes the collection I Don't Need You Anymore (1967), the novella, Homely Girl, a Life

(1995) and Presence: Stories (2007). He was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award for

Playwriting at University of Michigan in 1936. He twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle

Award, received two Emmy awards and three Tony Awards for his plays, as well as a Tony

Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also won an Obie award, a BBC Best Play Award, the

George Foster Peabody Award, a Gold Medal for Drama from the National Institute of Arts and

Letters, the Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library, the John F. Kennedy

Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Algur Meadows Award. He was named Jefferson

Lecturer for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2001. He was awarded the 2002

Prince of Asturias Award for Letters and the 2003 Jerusalem Prize. He received honorary

degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University and was awarded the Prix Moliere of

the French theatre, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award and the

Pulitzer Prize.

Kevin Spacey returns to the role of pioneering lawyer Clarence Darrow after the critically

acclaimed Old Vic production of Inherit the Wind and the PBS film Darrow. Thea Sharrock

directs him in Rintels' compelling one man tour-de-force in which the larger than life Darrow

with his legendary wit relives some of his pivotal experiences, including the infamous Scopes

'Monkey' and 'Thrill Killers' trials which established his reputation as a courtroom giant and

civil rights hero.

Director Ian Rickson and Kristin Scott Thomas reunite to bring Sophocles' tragedy to The

Old Vic in the round. Frank McGuinness delivers a taut adaptation of the classic tale of

Electra and Orestes' revenge on their father's murderers. Electra's fury has been stoked to a

crescendo by her impotence to act, until her brother arrives and then it explodes without

mercy.

A co-production with Sonia Friedman Productions Bank of America Merrill Lynch Corporate Responsibility

Developing solutions for social and environmental challenges is at the core of Bank of America

Merrill Lynch's responsibility platform. In more than 100 markets around the world, we partner

with employees, clients and stakeholders to help make financial lives better. The firm focuses

on responsible business practices, environmental sustainability, advancing opportunity in local

communities through education and employability programmes and investing in global

leadership development. We realise the power of our people and value our differences,

recognising that our diversity makes us a stronger firm and allows us to better service our

stakeholders. By harnessing our intellectual resources, sharing knowledge and connecting

capital with need, we are providing opportunities that effect positive change. Learn more at

www.bankofamerica.com/about and follow us on Twitter at @BofA_Community.

www.bankofamerica.com

CQS is once again delighted to be supporting The Old Vic. CQS is a global multi strategy

asset management firm providing investment solutions for institutional investors. Our track

record is underpinned by fundamental research and quantitative analysis, with robust

institutional operational and risk management platforms. We are a founding member of the

HFSB and regulated by the FCA in the UK, the SFC in Hong Kong, ASIC in Australia and

registered with the SEC in the US.

www.cqs.ch

PwC helps organisations and individuals create the value they're looking for. We're a

network of firms in 157 countries with more than 184,000 people who are committed to

delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Tell us what matters to you and

find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.com

American Airlines supports The Old Vic by providing transatlantic flights. For more

information on American Airlines or our support of theatre, contact our press office at

polly.tracey@aa.com

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