FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE URMETAZOAN BY ALEX RUGMAN
Posted on 10 August 2026.
Posted in: Announcements
Hampstead Theatre today announces the full cast for the world premiere of The Urmetazoan by Alex Rugman. Directed by Anna Ledwich the production plays Hampstead Downstairs from 18 September to 24 October, with a press night on Thursday 24 September.
A graduate of Hampstead’s INSPIRE programme for emerging playwrights Alex Rugman’s play explores the complex bond between two very different sisters who reconnect while facing an unimaginable goodbye.
Ben Allen (Folk, Hampstead Theatre) will play Will, Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Glengarry Glenross, Old Vic) plays Alice and Meghan Treadway (Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall) will play Abigail.
Director Anna Ledwich said:
“Alex has written a smart, funny, deeply relatable play in which love, family, deep space and sisterhood are put under the microscope. It is deeply exciting to be bringing it to life with such a tremendous cast and creative team.”
Sisters are strange – a collision of opposites and alignments, pulling and pushing away from each other. Alice and Abigail are no different. Alice got their mother’s looks; Abigail got her sense of humour. Alice has a Nobel Prize for Medicine; Abigail likes to get stoned on the sofa. Abigail is a homebody; Alice is preparing to leave the earth forever on a one-way mission to deep space.
When the sisters rediscover the joy of being in each other's orbit, the concept of a goodbye becomes much harder than either of them anticipated. But the countdown has already started.
Alex Rugman is an award-winning writer and co-artistic director of Freight Theare. Previous work includes How To Save A Rock (Pleasance Theatre), Move Fast and Break Things (Camden People’s Theatre) and An Investigation (Peckham Fringe).
Director Anna Ledwich returns to Hampstead, where her previous credits include Bird Grove, The Billionaire Inside Your Head, and the Olivier nominated productions of Dry Powder and Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.
The full creative team includes designer Tomás Palmer, lighting designer Jonathan Chan and sound designer Sarah Spencer.
The Urmetazoan plays at Hampstead Downstairs from 18 September to 24 October.
