Zoë Wanamaker in Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Harlequinade’ and ‘All On Her Own’

Zoë Wanamaker is set to appear in Terence Rattigan’s Harlequinade, directed by Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford. 

The synopsis is as follows:

“A classical theatre company attempts to produce The Winter’s Tale and Romeo and Juliet, while the intrigues and dalliances of the company members are accidently revealed with increasingly chaotic and hysterical consequences.”

Wanamaker – who played Madam Hooch in the Harry Potter films and is a two-time Olivier award winner – will be appearing as Dame Maud alongside Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart) as Arthur Gosport and  Tom Bateman as Jack Wakefield.

She is also set to perform Terence Rattigan’s dramatic monologue All On Her Own as part of a double bill.

The monologue – which will be played in the West End for the first time – is allegedly a “brief but powerfully atmospheric play”:

“A woman with a secret, alone at midnight in London has a burden to share that is at times both heart-breaking and sinister.”

London Theatre reports Kenneth Branagh’s statement:

“Zoë Wanamaker is a brilliant comedienne and a great tragic actress too. In joining us for the Rattigan comedy we seized on the opportunity to let her show us the dramatic side of a playwright also known as ‘the English Chekhov’. The rarely seen All On Her Own provides a fabulous woman’s role, and makes for an intriguingly balanced double bill.”

The Harlequinade and All on Her Own Double Bill will run from 24 October 2015 to 13 January 2016 at the Garrick Theatre in London.