Award-winning actress Dame Eileen Atkins (Cranford, Doc Martin, The Crown) is returning to Chichester Festival Theatre this summer in a revival of Amy Herzog’s acclaimed play 4000 Miles.
Directed by Sir Richard Eyre, the cast also includes Sebastian Croft – one of the stars of Netflix’s Heartstopper, and Horrible Histories: The Movie, for which he received a children’s BAFTA nomination.
The cast also includes Nell Barlow (BAFTA Breakthrough Talent 2022) and Elizabeth Chu (Lesbian Space Crime at Soho Theatre).
Amy Herzog’s award-winning drama – named Time magazine’s best play of 2012 – is a warm, wry and compassionate story about love, loss, memory and moving on.
Eileen Atkins was originally slated to star in a production of 4000 Miles at The Old Vic, alongside Hollywood actor Timothée Chalamet, but the pandemic forced the show to cancel.
The story centres on 21-year-old Leo (Sebastian Croft). who arrives late one night without warning at his grandmother’s Manhattan apartment – the furthest point on a momentous bike ride across America. Vera (Eileen Atkins) is 91 and lives alone, her independence undimmed by the challenges of modern living. Baffled by each other at first, this odd couple slowly edge across the distance between them.
Director Richard Eyre is formerly Director of the National Theatre, and his recent films include The Children Act and Allelujah.
The creative team for 4000 Miles also includes set and costume design by Peter McKintosh, lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound design by John Leonard, and casting by Ginny Schiller CDG.
4000 Miles runs from 4 May to 10 June 2023 in the Minerva Theatre at Chichester.
Read more about Chichester’s new season for 2023
