Dame Judi Dench joins cast of election
night drama
Page 2. South East Times. Issue 65
Dame Judi Dench has been cast in a
ground-breaking new stage play set in a
fictional polling station on UK election
night.
The Vote will make theatrical history
when it is broadcast live on TV as polls
close for real on 7 May.
Its ensemble cast, which consists of
about 50 actors, includes Mark Gatiss,
Catherine Tate and Timothy West.
The play, by James Graham, opens
at London’s Donmar Warehouse two
weeks ahead of election day.
It hopes to shine a light on the “diverse,
diligent and often hilarious individuals”
who out turn out at polling stations
on election night and “turn these
unglamorous settings into places where
history is made”.
The 7 May performance of The Vote at
the Donmar will be broadcast live on
the More4 channel from 20:30 - 22:00
GMT.
Dame Judi, who last appeared at the
tiny Covent Garden venue in the late
1970s, will play a voter who arrives at
the polling station with her daughter -
New Homes
played by her real
life daughter Finty
Williams.
“This is a unique
opportunity for
the Donmar to
make a small
theatre feel very
big,” said
artistic director
Josie Rourke.
“Some of the
nation’s greatest
actors are coming
together this
election night to
give theatre a seat
at the table of a
national event. Everyone involved is
approaching this experiment with a sense
of adventure.”
Rourke last worked with playwright
James Graham on 2014’s Privacy, an
interactive play about internet security
that encouraged audiences to use their
smart phones as part of the show.
His other work includes political drama
This House for the National Theatre.
“When James Graham and I collaborated
on Privacy, we were attempting
something no-one had tried before.
This is our next step in pushing the
boundaries of how theatre speaks to
audiences in a brave, new and popular
language about the times in which we
live,” Rourke said.
Described as “an unprecedented
national television event”, The Vote’s
live TV broadcast is being produced by
Twofour - the team behind the Channel 4
documentary series Educating Yorkshire.
Tickets for the stage performances
from 24 April - 7 May will be available
through a ballot which opens on 30
March on the Donmar website.