Marking the 30th anniversary of Sebastian Faulks’s international best-selling novel, a brand-new stage adaptation of Birdsong will launch onto The Rep’s stage on Mon 27 Jan for a limited run only.
Adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and directed by Original Theatre’s Artistic Director, Alastair Whatley, Birdsong tells the story of one man’s journey through an all-consuming love affair and into the horror of the First World War.
Joining the previously announced Max Bowden (EastEnders) who’ll be playing Jack Firebrace, James Esler (Litvinenko) will play Stephen Wraysford alongside Charlie Russell (The Goes Wrong Show, And Then There Were None (BBC)) as Isabelle Azaire. They are joined by Joseph Benjamin Baker as Evans/Levi, Raif Clarke as Tipper, James Findlay as Brennan, Dave Fishley as Turner, Gracie Follows as Lisette, Sulin Hasso as Marguerite, Tama Phethean as Shaw/LeBrun, Natalie Radmall-Quirke as Jeanne, Roger Ringrose as Bérard/Barclay and Sargon Yelda as René Azaire/Gray.
The epic First World War story of love and loss features Design by Richard Kent, Lighting by Jason Taylor, Music Composition by Sophie Cotton, Sound by Dominic Bilkey with Casting by Ellie Collyer-Bristow (CDG).
The producers of Birdsong are working in partnership with the Royal British Legion during the tour.
In pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their world upside down. As the war breaks out over the idyll of his former life, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground. Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle as his world explodes around him.