Cast announced for Shakespeare production

Stafford Gatehouse Theatre has announced that Titanic star Jonathan Hyde has joined ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the role of Nick Bottom and Milly Zero of The Crown and EastEnders fame, will play the role of Hermia.

Jonathan is possibly best known for his leading roles in films such as Richie Rich, Titanic, The Mummy and Jumanji among many others.

In Titanic, he played infamous White Star Line chairman Bruce Ismay, who encouraged the captain to speed up and then sneaked into a life raft after disaster struck.

On the smaller screen, Jonathan most recently played Eldritch Palmer in four seasons of FX TV series The Strain and also David Napley alongside Hugh Grant in A Very English Scandal for Amazon/BBC.

Jonathan has worked extensively at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Prospect Theatre Company, Almeida, Menier Chocolate Factory and the great Citizen’s Theatre Company of Glasgow.

Last year he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his role in Gently Down The Stream at the Park Theatre.

Jonathan said: “Shakespeare is very special to me, and so is A Midsummer Night’s Dream; I played Puck in 1978 in the Benjamin Britten opera of the Dream at the Sydney Opera House.

“And Isobel Buchanan, who was singing Helena, married me two years later. So, to be reunited with the Dream 45 years later and to be playing Nick Bottom is a real thrill.”

Milly Zero is best known as Dotty Cotton in BBC TV’s EastEnders. Her television debut was at the age of 13, in CBBC’s ‘All At Sea’, playing Hannah Enright.

Milly trained at The BRIT School for Performing Arts in London and graduated in 2017. She has also appeared in the Netflix series The Crown.

She said: “I can’t wait to get on stage at The Gatehouse, with such a wonderful cast and team.

“Hermia is a wonderfully fiesty, defiant and exciting character and I feel very lucky to get the chance to take her on.”

The production, which will also feature Broadway star Kerry Ellis, is supported with direction by Sean Turner, choreography by Chris Whittaker, Lighting by Barry Smith, music composition by Stamatis Seraphim, costume design by Jida Akil and set design by Anna Phillips and runs at the Gatehouse Theatre from June 23 to July 9.

For further information, go online to www.gatehousetheatre.co.uk.