Castings for Backbeat and productions at The National

The full West End casting for Backbeat, the story of the early Beatles, has been announced. Backbeat opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 11th October and will be previewing from 26th September – you can currently save 25% on some tickets. Casting, which includes a number of members of the original Citizen’s Theatre cast;

  • Stuart Sutcliffe: Nick Blood (who was in Women Beware Women at the National Theatre)
  • John Lennon: Andrew Knott, reprising his role from the original Glasgow Citizens production (stage credits include original cast in The History Boys and TV appearances include Spooks, Gavin and Stacey, Life on Mars and Coronation Street)
  • Astrid Kirchherr: Ruta Gedmintas (Sky Atlantic’s The Borgias and the BBC’s The Tudors)
  • Paul McCartney: Daniel Healy, another member of the original Citizen’s Theatre production and a genuine singer/songwriter
  • George Harrison: William Payne
  • Pete Best: Oliver Bennett, also from the original production
  • Tony Sheridan/Ringo Starr: Adam Sopp
  • Klaus Voorman: Dominic Rouse
  • Arthur Ballard/Bert Kaempfert: Ben Fox
  • Sir George Martin: James Wallace

Meanwhile, at The National, castings announced include;

  • Collaborators: Mark Addy, Sarah Annis, Marcus Cunningham, Jacqueline Defferary, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Jenn, Jess Murphy, William Postlethwaite, Pierce Reid, Nick Sampson, Maggie Service and Perri Snowdon.
  • Juno and the Paycock: Sinead Cusack, Ciaran Hinds, Cornelius Clarke, Risteard Cooper, Clare Dunne, Kieran Gough, Luke Hayden, Dermot Kerrigan, Nick Lee, Gillian McCarthy, Bernadette McKenna, Brian Martin, Janet Moran, Kevin Murphy, Ronan Raftery, Sophie Robinson, Eoin Slattery and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.
  • The Comedy of Errors: Lenny Henry, Claudie Blakley, Clare Cathcart, Chris Jarman, Lucian Msamati, Joseph Mydell, Pamela Nomvete, Daniel Poyser, Amit Shah and Michelle Terry.