BAFTA-nominated Irish actor Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) has signed on to lead a stage adaptation of Bruce Robinson’s 1987 cult tragi-comedy Withnail and I at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre alongside actors Adonis Siddique and Malcolm Sinclair.
Directed by the double Olivier Award-winning Sean Foley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep, and designed by Alice Power, the show will premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with performances from 3 May until 25 May 2024.
The adaption was written by Robinson. The original film was based on an unpublished novel by Robinson and was produced by Handmade Films, with Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, and Richard Griffiths leading. On stage, Sheehan will star as Withnail while Siddique is Marwood, and Malcolm Sinclair is Uncle Monty.
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Sheehan made his acting debut in Aisling Walsh’s acclaimed feature Song For A Raggy Boy. Since then, his screen credits include Season of the Witch, Cherrybomb, Killing Bono, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The Road Within, and, most notably, Netflix’s Umbrella Academy. His stage work includes The Playboy of the Western World, directed by John Crowley at the Old Vic, Richard III in The Wars of the Roses, directed by Trevor Nunn for the Rose Theatre, and Endgame, directed by Danya Taymor at the Gate Theatre Dublin.
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Siddique’s theatre credits include The Crown Jewels in the West End, Saleem in East Is East (a Birmingham Rep co-production with the National Theatre); Dorian Gray in The Picture Of Dorian Gray at the Pleasance Theatre in London, Crowther in The History Boys, Jav in Mismatched, a Sky Comedy and Birmingham Rep production. His film and television credits include Newark Newark, Tin Star, Tyrant, Beyond Reasonable Doubt for CNN, and the feature film Me Myself and D.
Sinclair is currently appearing at the National Theatre in Dear Octopus with Lindsay Duncan. His other many theatre credits include The Inquiry at Chichester Festival Theatre, My Fair Lady in the West End, The Light in the Piazza internationally and at the Royal Festival Hall, An Enemy of the People at Nottingham Playhouse, This House at Chichester Festival Theatre and at the Garrick Theatre. On screen, he has also starred in Drowning, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Survivor, and A Belfast story.