Mr Foote's Other Leg: Full cast announced

Hampstead Theatre is delighted to announce that Simon Russell Beale will be joined by Micah Balfour, Sophie Bleasdale, Joshua Elliott, Jenny Galloway, Ian Kelly, Dervla Kirwan, Forbes Masson, Joseph Millson and Colin Stinton in the cast of Ian Kelly’s new play about the dawn of celebrity.

In Georgian London no one is more famous than Samuel Foote. Satirist, impressionist and dangerous comedian, he has become a celebrity in a city, and at the moment in time, when the concept of selling personality was born. He even has the ear of the king.

Adored by many, despised by some, Foote finds himself at the sharp end of attacks from the press… and a surgeon’s knife. And in an age obsessed with fame, his colleagues from the worlds of science and the stage – from Benjamin Franklin to David Garrick – begin to wonder: does fame make you mad?

Simon Russell Beale stars as Samuel Foote, one of the greatest lost figures of Georgian London. Ian Kelly’s comedy, based on his award-winning biography of Foote (Theatre Book of the Year 2013), explores our obsession with the rise and fall of celebrity through the true story of the Oscar Wilde of the 18th century.

Ian Kelly’s other biographies include Antonin Careme, Beau Brummell, Giacomo Casanova (Sunday Times Biography of the Year 2008), and Dame Vivienne Westwood. 


Richard Eyre returns to Hampstead following The 
Last
 of
 The
 Duchess in 2011. His many West End and Broadway productions include Ghosts, 
_Hamlet_, 
_Guys 
and 
Dolls_,
 Carmen,
 The
 Marriage
 of
 Figaro, 
Quartermaine’s
 Terms_
 and _
The
 Pajama
 Game. Film credits include Iris, 
_Notes
 on 
a
 Scandal_
 and the forthcoming The 
Dresser.

Lighting will be designed by Peter Mumford, and sound by John Leonard.

Simon Russell Beale’s stage appearances include Temple (Donmar), King
 Lear and Timon of
 Athens (National Theatre) and Privates 
on 
Parade (Noel Coward Theatre). TV includes Penny 
Dreadful, Henry
 IV
 Parts 
I
 & 
II and Spooks. Film includes My 
Week 
with Marilyn,
 Tarzan,
 Into 
the
 Woods and The 
Deep 
Blue
 Sea. His awards include two BAFTAs, three Olivier Awards, and Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards.

Micah Balfour’s stage work includes Absolute
 Beginners (Lyric Hammersmith), Market
 Boy and The 
Royal
 Hunt
 of
 the 
Sun (National Theatre). TV includes Emmerdale
 and 
_The
 Musketeers_. Film includes Diana and World
 War 
Z.

Sophie Bleasdale is currently an undergraduate at RADA where she has performed in Mad 
to
 Go_
 and
 _She 
Stoops 
To
 Conquer. TV includes Casualty 
_and _Ashes 
to
 Ashes.

Joshua Elliott is an undergraduate from RCSSD, where roles include The 
Man 
of
 Mode 
and Hay Fever.

Jenny Galloway was last at Hampstead in Nina Raine’s Tiger 
Country.
Other stage work includes Hay 
Fever (Noel Coward Theatre) and Cause
 Célèbre (Old Vic). TV includes The
 Coroner
 and Ambassadors. Film includes In Transit
 and London 
Road.

Writer Ian Kelly’s stage credits include The 
Pitmen 
Painters (National Theatre/West End/ Broadway), Beau
 Brummell and Cooking 
for 
Kings (New York). TV includes Downton
 Abbey and
 Chasing 
The 
Hill. Film includes
 Closed and Harry
 Potter 
and
 The 
Deathly
 Hallows.

Dervla Kirwan’s recent stage roles include The 
Weir (Donmar), Uncle 
Vanya and Frankie
 and 
Johnny 
in 
the
 Clair
 de 
Lune (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Aristocrats
 (National Theatre). Her TV work includes Ballykissangel, 
_Goodnight 
Sweetheart_,
 Silence,
 Material
 Girl and Moving
 On, and in film Ondine,
 Entity, Luna and Silent
 Hours.

Forbes Masson’s stage work includes The
 Ruling 
Class and Richard 
III (Trafalgar Studios). His many productions for the RSC include
 Ahasuerus, The
 Taming 
of 
the
 Shrew,
 Morte
 D’Arthur
 and 
_As 
You 
Like 
It_. TV includes My 
Life 
Story 
and Monarch 
of 
the 
Glen. He has been in many BBC Radio productions.

Joseph Millson’s many stage roles include Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe),
 Rocket
 To
 The
 Moon and Every
 Good
 Boy
 Deserves 
Favour (National Theatre), Love 
Never 
Dies (West End), The 
Priory (Royal Court) and Judgment 
Day (Almeida). TV includes The
 Last
 Kingdom,
 Banished,
 24-Live
 Another
 Day and Penny
 Dreadful and film I
 Give 
It
 A 
Year,
 Dead 
of
 the 
Nite and The 
Dead
 2-India.

Colin Stinton was last at Hampstead in Sarah Helm’s Loyalty directed by Edward Hall. His distinguished stage career includes The 
Pajama 
Game and The 
Resistible 
Rise
 of
 Arturo 
Ui (Chichester/West End) and Mother
 Courage
 and 
Her 
Children (National Theatre). TV includes The
 Agency and Harley 
Street. Film includes Rush,
 City
 Slacker and The 
Bourne 
Ultimatum.