Defibrillator Announced Cast for Speech and Debate

Defibrillator today announces a casting update for the UK première of Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam whose play The Humans won four Tony Awards this year, including Best Play.

Tom Attenborough directs Douglas Booth (his film work includes Noah and The Riot Club and his television work includes Great Expectations and Worried About The Boy) and Tony Revolori (best known for playing Zero Moustafa inThe Grand Budapest Hotel and soon to be seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming) in the production which opens at Trafalgar Studios on 24 February 2017, with previews from 22 February, and runs until 1 April. Further casting will be announced shortly.

They may go to the same high school, but misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met and their peers just don’t take them seriously…. until a sex scandal involving one of their teachers brings them together. By creating a Speech and Debate team they finally have a chance to be heard, but will they be able to get their interpretive dance version of The Crucible ready in time for the big day?!

A hilarious play that grapples with serious modern social issues — homophobia, teenage alienation and the limits of online privacy. Speech and Debate is Karam’s first play to be produced in the UK. It premièred at the Roundabout Theatre Company, has received more than 150 productions in the US, and 2017 will see the release of a film version, written by Karam.

Stephen Karam’s plays include The Humans (Tony Award for Best Play, finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Sons of the Prophet (finalist for 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Dark Sisters, columbinus, Girl on Girl, Emma and an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.

Tom Attenborough directs. His directing credits include Burbage’s Farewell (Chichester Festival Theatre), Twelfth Night, Bell Book & Candle (US & UK tour), Untold Stories (Watermill Theatre), Private Lives (ATG UK tour). He is the Artistic Director of Rhapsody of Words Productions, Associate Director of the Watermill Theatre and Artistic Associate of HighTide Festival Theatre.