Jagged Fence's THE ONLY TRUE HISTORY OF LIZZIE FINN Cast Announced

Jagged Fence presents? the UK premiere of The Only True History of Lizzie Finn, by Sebastian Barry. Directed by Blanche McIntyre and designed by James Perkins with lighting design by Gary Bowman and sound design by George Dennis, the cast features Justin Avoth, Penelope Beaumont,  Lucy Black, Karen Cogan,? Oliver Hembrough, Andrew Jarvis, Andrew Macklin and Shereen Martin.

Justin Avoth’s theatre credits include Edward II (Shakespeare’s Globe), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Exchange, Manchester – commended for Ian Charleson Awards), Beasts and Beauties (Hampstead Theatre), Molière or the League of Hypocrites (Finborough Theatre), De Montfort, Chains (Orange Tree Theatre), Hamlet (Southwark Playhouse), Nathan the Wise (Hampstead Theatre), Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Ash Girl, True Brit (Birmingham Rep), The Snow Palace (Tricycle Theatre), Venice Preserved (Almeida Theatre) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Headlong Theatre).

Penelope Beaumont trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Acting School. Theatre credits include The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe), Richard III, Bond’s Lear, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Ambassadors, West End), Anthony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Cyrano de Bergerac, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company).
Lucy Black’s theatre credits include Epsom Downs (Salisbury Playhouse) Coram Boy, The Misanthrope (Bristol Old Vic), Cause Celebre (Old Vic), Mary Barton, The Three Sister's (Royal Exchange).

Karen Cogan trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Credits include The Playboy of the Western World (Old Vic) Goldfish in the Sun, Proof (Everyman Palace Productions) and Godspell (Cork Arts Theatre).

Oliver Hemborough’s theatre credits include The Admirable Crichton, The Rivals, Spring and Port Wine, Where Have I Been All My Life? and Far from the Madding Crowd (New Vic), Auricular, Motel Chronicles (Theatre 503), Through the Door (Trafalgar Studios), Mamma Mia! (West End); Macbeth, The Deep Blue Sea, Twelfth Night (Northcott),Twelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic) and Company (BOVTS)

Andrew Jarvis has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the English Shakespeare Company. He played Arthur Kipps in The Woman in Black (Fortune Theatre) and was the recipient of the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actor for Richard III. Other credits include The Alchemist, The Merry Wives of Windsor (National Theatre), Becket (Haymarket Theatre), The Henrys, The War of the Roses (Old Vic), The Lord of the Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and The Tempest (Theatre Royal Haymarket).
Andrew Macklin trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Theatre credits include Cinderella, The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Watford Palace Theatre), Three Sisters (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) I’ll Be The Devil (Royal Shakespeare Company), All Over Town (Dublin Festival), Cinderella (Salisbury Playhouse) and Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Bath).

Shereen Martin trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Credits include The Great Game, The Bomb (Tricycle Theatre), Hens (Riverside Studios), The Black Album, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (National Theatre), Model for Mankind (Cock Tavern), The Bacchae (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Tejas Verdes (Gate Theatre), Twelfth Night (Noel Coward Theatre), Measure for Measure, Richard III, Titus Andronicus (Royal Shakespeare Company), Romeo and Juliet (Liverpool Playhouse).

It's 1892. Lizzie Finn is a celebrated dancer. Charmed by a soldier returning from the war, Lizzie becomes entangled in an intense and passionate affair. Rich dialogue, humour and original music and dance explore the play's themes of prejudice, sexuality and belonging in this new play by one of Ireland's most acclaimed playwrights.

Writer Sebastian Barry’s plays include Andersen's English, The Steward of Christendom, The Pride of Parnell Street, The Pentagonal Dream, Boss Grady's Boys, Prayers of Sherkin, White Woman Street, Our Lady of Sligo, Hinterland, Whistling Psyche, Fred and Jane, Dallas Sweetman and Tales of Ballycumber. He has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel On Canaan's Side was longlisted for the Booker.

Director Blanche McIntyre was the winner of the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Foxfinder and Accolade, the Off West End Theatre Award for Best Director in 2012, and the inaugural winner of the Leverhulme Bursary for Emerging Theatre Directors in 2009. She was Associate Director at Out of Joint in 2010, and Director in Residence at The National Theatre Studio and the Finborough Theatre in 2009. Theatre credits include The Seven Year Itch (Salisbury Playhouse), Repentance/Behind The Lines (ANGLE at the Bush Theatre), Foxfinder, Accolade, Molière or the League of Hypocrites (Finborough Theatre), When Did You Last See My Mother? (Trafalgar Studios), Pinching For My Soul (Focus Theatre Dublin), Birds, Open Heart Surgery (Southwark Playhouse), Wuthering Heights (UK Tour), The Revenger’s Tragedy (BAC), The Master and Margarita (Greenwich Playhouse), Robin Hood (Latitude), Three Hours After Marriage (Union Theatre), A Model for Mankind (Cock Tavern), Doctor Faustus, The Devil Is An Ass, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as Told to Carl Jung by an Inmate of Broadmoor Asylum (White Bear Theatre), Cressida, Lost Hearts, The Invention of Love (Edinburgh Festival). As Associate Director theatre credits include The Big Fellah (Out of Joint 2010 and 2011 tours), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Changeling Theatre Company).