Kim Cattrall and Michael Pennington to Lead ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA at Chichester Festival Theatre

International screen and stage star Kim Cattrall leads the cast of William Shakespeare's depiction of politics and passion, alongside distinguished actor Michael Pennington, in the final production at Chichester's Festival Theatre this summer.

Desire and duty collide in Shakespeare's captivating tragedy in which two charismatic leaders, Mark Antony of Rome and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, are caught in an all-encompassing love that threatens the Empire. Like Romeo and Juliet, this is the tale of two impassioned lovers, doomed by the complexities of the world in which they live. But unlike the youth of Shakespeare's earlier tale, Antony and Cleopatra play out their tragic story among warring countries, where their relationship stirs jealousies and hostilities in the Roman and Egyptian political worlds.

Kim Cattrall plays Cleopatra, reprising the role she first played in the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse production in 2010. Perhaps best known for her memorable performance in the hit television series, Sex and the City, for which she won severAl Golden Globe Awards, she has also establishEd Strong stage credentials with credits that include Wild Honey (her Broadway debut alongside Ian McKellen), Private Lives (Theatre Royal Bath, West End, Broadway and Toronto), The Cryptogram (Donmar Warehouse) and Whose Life is it Anyway? (West End). Film credits include Sex and the City 1 and 2, Mannequin, Meet Monica Velour, The Ghost and Mannequin. Television credits include Any Human Heart and My Boy Jack.

Michael Pennington plays Antony. He is a leading Shakespearean actor whose credits include extensive work with the RSC, as well as his own English Shakespeare Company. His Chichester credits include The Syndicate, The Master Builder, Collaboration and Taking Sides (which both transferred to the West End) and The Front Page, as well as his solo shows, Anton Chekhov and Sweet William. Other theatre credits include Judgement Day (The Print Room), Love is My Sin (Paris and New York), The Misanthrope, Filumena, Waste, The Seagull and The Provok'd Wife (all for the Peter Hall Company). Screen credits include the Oscar-winning film The Iron Lady, in which he played Labour leader Michael Foot alongside Meryl Streep.

Ian Hogg plays Enobarbus. His theatre credits include Henry V, Mary Stuart, Three and Me and For Services Rendered (all for The National Theatre), As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, Equus, Coriolanus, Marat Sade, The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Jew of Malta (all for the RSC).

Martin Hutson plays Octavius Caesar, reprising the role he played in 2010 at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. He has already featured in Chichester's Festival 2012, playing Anthony Nutting in A Marvellous Year for Plums. Other Chichester credits include Taking Sides and Collaboration, which both transferred to the West End. Other theatre credits include The Heart of Robin Hood and Titus Andronicus (all for RSC), Ghosts and As You Like It, (receiving an Ian Charleson Award nomination for both productions), The Voysey Inheritance and The Mandate (both for The National Theatre) and The Jew of Malta (Almeida Theatre).

The cast also features Jack Bannell, Terry Doe, Ruth Everett, Chris Garner, Mark Gillis, Simon Hepworth, Martin Herdman, Oliver Hoare, Harmage Singh Kalirai, Aïcha Kossoko, Pepter Lunkuse, Cornelius Macarthy, Offue Okegbe, Barnaby Sax, Ken Shorter and Mark Sutherland.

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