Callum Woodhouse will star in the world premiere of The Devil May Care at Southwark Playhouse Borough next year.
Woodhouse, known for playing Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small and Leslie Durrell in The Durrells, will play Richard Conroe, the play’s titular ‘Devil’ character.
Inspired by George Bernard Shaw’s play The Devil’s Disciple, this new adaptation—written and directed by Mark Giesser—transports the compelling story of mistaken identity and sacrifice to the Philippine–American War at the turn of the 20th century, recasting America as the imperial power.
Lead cast also includes Beth Burrows (Call Me Madam, Upstairs at the Gatehouse – Off West End Award for Best Supporting Actress 2022) and Richard Lynson (Rain Man; The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, Criterion Theatre; The Lady With a Dog, Upstairs at The Gatehouse).
The supporting cast is comprised of Jill Greenacre (The Brittas Empire; Andy Robson; Brookside; Nowhere; Closer, UK National Tour; Jane Eyre, UK National Tour; My Cousin Rachel, UK National Tour; Rebecca, UK National Tour), Enzo Benvenuti (The Boys From Syracuse, Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Romeo & Juliet, European Tour; A Christmas Carol, European Tour; The Great Game; Renegade Nell) and Izyan Hay (Mission Impossible 8; Next, Please, Almeida Theatre; Dogeaters, New Earth Theatre).
Director Mark Giesser comments, Both in Shaw’s play and in my adaptation, the two principal characters of Richard, the ‘Devil’s disciple’, and Judith, the minister’s wife, are faced with the question of sacrifice. For Richard, it’s discovering if he’s capable of forfeiting his life to demonstrate a personal honour with which he isn’t credited and may not care about. For Judith, it’s discovering whether she has the capacity to allow an innocent man to die in place of her husband. Both Callum Woodhouse and Beth Burrows are actors of depth and sensitivity who can wrestle with these questions while also expressing the nuances of Shavian irony in the story.”
More about the play
Bernard Shaw’s 1897 drama saw the United States of America as the underdog, fighting against the imperial British; Giesser’s adaptation sees the America of 1899 take its first steps to acquire an empire when it annexes the Philippine Islands.
Giesser’s The Devil May Care follows Richard Conroe, a disreputable American trader, who is mistaken for a treasonous English minister and arrested. Both Conroe and the real minister’s wife, Judith, have to decide if they should reveal his true identity – potentially saving Conroe, but condemning the minister to death.
The Devil May Care is playing at Southwark Playhouse Borough from 8 January to 1 February 2025.
More about The Devil May Care at Southwark Playhouse Borough.
Related News
“A kind of ghost world”: Max Wilkinson on Night City, the gig economy and London’s invisible workforce
The Jonathan Larson Project casting confirmed for London [Updated]
New gig-economy drama Night City to premiere in London directed by Ebenezer Bamgboye
Redcliffe musical London cast announced to join Jordan Luke Gage
Latest News
Broadway legend Patti LuPone returns to the London Coliseum for Valentine’s Day 2027
Helen of Troy never got to tell her side. Watch the trailer for the play that does
After a sell-out world tour, The Choir of Man returns to the West End this Christmas
