CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE GRADUATE

Fri 17 Feb 2017

Catherine McCormack and Jack Monaghan will lead the cast of The Graduate, opening on Tuesday 30 May at Curve.

Directed by Lucy Bailey (Great ExpectationsThe Postman Always Rings Twice, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Taming of the Shrew, RSC, Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s Globe) The Graduate is a co-production by West Yorkshire Playhouse and Curve in association with Simon Friend and Gavin Kalin Productions.*1

In 1960’s suburban California, an educated young man finds himself disillusioned by the world of aspiration and money that his parents have prepared him for. An illicit encounter with a married woman twice his age plunges him into a world of sensual hedonistic delight and sets them both on a thrillingly destructive course.

Lucy Bailey said: “The Graduate is a satire on the values and life style of middle class suburban America. The world seen through Benjamin’s eyes is a heightened surreal version of reality, at times grotesques and absurd. It’s a coming of age play – painfully funny and deeply human.”

Catherine McCormack, playing Mrs Robinson, has worked extensively in film, television and theatre. She is best known for her starring roles in the multiple Academy Award-winning film Braveheart with Mel Gibson, and Spy Game with Brad Pitt, as well as receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her role in All My Sons at the National Theatre, alongside Julie Walters.

Starring opposite her is Jack Monaghan as Benjamin, who has played the lead role in the record-breaking West End production of War Horse, as well as featuring in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror and Richard Curtis’ film About Time.

The Graduate is adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb and the motion picture screenplay by Calder Willingham & Buck Henry by special arrangement with StudioCanal.