Anthony Head And Lesley Manville To Star In SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION At Old Vic

David Grindley directs Obi Abili, Anthony Head and Lesley Manville in John Guare's adrenalin-fuelled, Olivier award-winning play Six Degrees of Separation. A sharp, vivacious take on two worlds colliding, the play is inspired by the real life story of a flamboyant con artist who managed to convince wealthy residents of Manhattan's Upper East Side that he was the son of Sidney Poitier. Six Degrees of Separation had its official Broadway debut in 1990 and in 1993, was adapted into a film starring Stockard Channing (reprising her Broadway role), Donald Sutherland and Will Smith. This new production at The Old Vic will be the first major London revival of the play in almost 18 years.

Obi Abili plays Paul. As a recent graduate of RADA, Obi has  emerged as one to watch in 2010. His theatre work to date has included Dido Queen of Carthage at the National Theatre; Brothers
Size at The Young Vic and Angels in America (Headlong Theatre). Whilst at RADA, Obi performed in productions including Balm in Gilead written by Ché Walker, The Merchant of Venice and Assassins. Recent television work includes Moses Jones (BBC); Foyle's War and Kingdom with Stephen Fry (ITV).

Anthony Head plays John Flanders ('Flan') Kittredge. After his West End debut in Godspell,
Anthony went on to star in many acclaimed stage productions including Peter Shaffer's
Yonadab, Chess, The Rocky Horror Show and Otherwise Engaged with Richard E. Grant (West
End). His wide ranging television credits include Secret Army, Enemy at the Door, Love in a
Cold Climate, Howard's Way, the Fox series VR.5 as well as the Golden Globe nominated
series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Anthony's recent television
credits have included Spooks, Manchild and Little Britain (BBC). He can currently be seen in the
second series of the highly successful BBC drama Merlin.

Lesley Manville plays Louisa (‘Ouisa') Kittredge. She is perhaps best known for her acting
collaborations with director Mike Leigh which began in 1980. She has appeared in his films High
Hopes, Secrets and Lies, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing (for which she was awarded the London
Film Critics Circle Best Actress Award) and Vera Drake. Other film appearances include Dance
with a Stranger and Sammie and Rosie Get Laid. She was last seen at The Old Vic in the world
premiere of Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother. Recent theatre includes Her Naked Skin,
Pillars of the Community and His Dark Materials at the National Theatre. She has appeared in
many new plays at the RSC's Warehouse and at the Royal Court, including The Mother by Mark
Ravenhill, Borderline, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Falkland Sound and Top Girls for which she won
an Obie Award in New York. Television work includes the BBC series Cranford, North and
South and Law and Order UK.

John Guare's plays include Lydie Breeze, Bosoms and Neglect, Landscape of the Body, A Few
Stout Individuals and House of Blue Leaves (which won an Obie and New York Drama Critics
Circle Award for the Best American Play of 1970-71 and four Tony Awards in its 1986 Lincoln
Center revival). Six Degrees of Separation received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in
1991 and the Olivier Best Play Award in 1993. John also wrote the lyrics and co-authored the
book for the 1972 Tony-winning Best Musical, Two Gentlemen of Verona and was Oscar
nominated for his screenplay for Louis Malle's Atlantic City. In 2003 he won the PEN/Laura Pels
Master Dramatist Award; in 2004, the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts
and Letters and in 2005, the Obie Award for sustained excellence. He is a council member of
the Dramatists Guild, co-editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review, and teaches playwriting at
the Yale School of Drama.

David Grindley's recent credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Stratford Shakespeare
Festival, Stratford, Canada) and Christopher Hampton's The Philanthropist on Broadway
starring Matthew Broderick (a play in which he previously directed Simon Russell Beale at the
Donmar). Further directorial credits include Richard Greenberg's The American Plan with
Mercedes Ruehl and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion starring Claire Danes (both on
Broadway), National Anthems with Kevin Spacey (The Old Vic), Honour (West End), Some Girls
with David Schwimmer (West End), What the Butler Saw (Hampstead Theatre and West End),
Journey's End (West End and National Tour) and Alan Bennett's Single Spies (Theatre Royal
Bath and national tour). Other tours include Crown Matrimonial, Blackbird as well as Richard
Bean's In the Club.

The company includes Obi Abili (Paul), Sarah Goldberg (Elizabeth), Michael Goldsmith
(Ben), Ilan Goodman (Doug), Anthony Head (Flan), Lesley Manville (Ouisa), Steven Pacey
(Larkin), Sara Stewart (Kitty), Paul Stocker (Woody) and Kevin Trainor (Trent).
Full cast to be announced at a later date.