With Creditors currently running, and Tanika Gupta’s Hedda in rehearsals, Orange Tree Theatre today announces the full cast and creative team for the 250th Anniversary production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comic classic The Rivals.
Artistic Director Tom Littler will direct Robert Bathurst and Patricia Hodge, alongside Pete Ashmore, Joëlle Brabban, Zoe Brough, Dylan Corbett-Bader, Jim Findley, Colm Gormley, Robert Maskell, Boadicea Ricketts, James Sheldon and Kit Young.
Tom Littler today said, “It’s a real pleasure to be working with this brilliant company on The Rivals. Each actor brings their own insight, energy, and creativity, and I’m excited to see how we’ll capture Sheridan’s humour and wit in the glamour and chaos of the Roaring Twenties.”
Following the run at the Orange Tree, The Rivals will then tour to Theatre Royal Bath (27-31 January 2026) and Cambridge Arts Theatre (3-7 February 2026).
Robert Bathurst plays Anthony Absolute.
His theatre credits include Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Southbank Centre), Love, Loss and Chianti (Riverside Studios, Chichester Festival Theatre), King Charles III (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Who Cares? (Royal Court Theatre), An Ideal Husband (Chichester Festival Theatre), Blue/Orange, Present Laughter (UK tour), Blithe Spirit (Harold Pinter Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour), Alex: The Stage Play (Arts Theatre, international tour), Whipping It Up (Ambassadors Theatre), Member’s Only (Trafalgar Studios), Three Sisters (Playhouse Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Theatre Royal Brighton), Alarms And Excursions (Gielgud Theatre), Good Copy (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Nose, The Comedy Of Errors, The Importance Of Being Earnest (Nottingham Playhouse), Footlight Revues, Lady Audley’s Secret (Lyric Hammersmith), Noises Off (Savoy Theatre), Saint Joan, Little Hotel On The Side (National Theatre), and Dry Rot (Lyric Theatre). His television credits include Cold Feet (as series regular David Marsden), Doctor Who, Toast of Tinseltown, Toast of London, Dad’s Army, Downton Abbey, Dracula, My Dad’s the Prime Minister, The Larkins, Dave Allen At Peace, Gap Year, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Fleabag, Agatha Raisin, Cockroaches, Blandings, Hattie, Wild At Heart, The Pillars Of The Earth, The Queen, Roman’s Empire, My Family, Get Well Soon, The Detectives, New World, Red Dwarf, Lazarus and Dingwall; and for film, Munich: Edge Of War, The Mezzotint, Absolutely Anything, Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie, Heidi, The Thief Lord, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Whoops Apocalypse, Diamond’s Edge and Twenty-One.
Patricia Hodge plays Mrs Malaprop.
Her theatre credits include Watch on the Rhine (Donmar Warehouse), Private Lives (Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Trafalgar Studios), Copenhagen, Travels With My Aunt, As You Like It (Chichester Festival Theatre), Relative Values (Harold Pinter Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath), Dandy Dick (Theatre Royal Brighton, UK tour), Calendar Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre, UK tour, Noël Coward Theatre), The Clean House (Sheffield Theatres, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, UK tour), The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Boeing Boeing (Comedy Theatre), His Dark Materials, Noises Off, Summerfolk, A Little Night Music, Money (Olivier Award Best Supporting Actress for Money – National Theatre), Heartbreak House (Almeida Theatre), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Strand Theatre, UK tour), Separate Tables (Albery Theatre, UK tour), Shades (Albery Theatre), Nymph Errant (Adelphi Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Noel and Gertie (Warehouse Theatre, Comedy Theatre – Olivier Award Best Actress in a Musical nomination), Benefactors (Michael Codron), The Mitford Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre, Globe Theatre – Olivier Award Best Actress in a Musical nomination), Then and Now (Hampstead Theatre), Happy Yellow (Bush Theatre), Pippin (Her Majesty’s Theatre), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Phoenix Theatre), Popkiss (Globe Theatre), and All My Sons, Say Who You Are, The Birthday Party, The Anniversary (Traverse Theatre). Her television credits includes Death Valley, Murder in Provence, All Creatures Great and Small, Roadkill, A Very English Scandal, Downton Abbey Christmas Special, Miranda (series regular), Maxwell, Hustle, Waking the Dead, The Falklands Play, The People’s Passion, The Moonstone, The Legacy of Reggie Perrin, The Cloning of Joanna May, Rich Tea and Sympathy, The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, The Shell Seekers, The Heat of the Day, Inspector Morse, Let’s Face the Music of…, Exclusive Yarns, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Time for Murder, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Oss, Robin of Sherwood, Hotel Du Lac (BAFTA Best Actress nomination), Behind Enemy Lines, The Death of the Heart, Dust to Dust, Hay Fever, Jemima Shore Investigates, Holding the Fort, Nanny, The Professionals, The Other ‘Arf, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Target, Rumpole of the Bailey, The One and Only Mrs Phyllis Dixey, Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic, Softy Softly, The Naked Civil Servant, Quiller, The Girls of Slender Means and Menace; and for film, Arthur’s Whisky, The Laureate, Before You Go, Prague Duet, Jilting Joe, The Leading Man, Sunset, Just Ask for Diamond, Thieves in the Night, Vilde, The Wild One, Betrayal, Riding High, Charlotte, The Elephant Man, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Heavy Metal, Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse and The Disappearance.
Pete Ashmore plays Frederick Arnold Gieves.
Previous credits at the Orange Tree Theatre include Uncle Vanya and The Circle (Bath Theatre Royal). Other theatre credits include Macbeth (National Theare), Romeo and Juliet (Bristol Old Vic, Belgrade Theatre, Hackney Empire), Cutlery Wars (Soho Theatre), Public Property (Hampstead Theatre), Jemima Puddle-Duck and her Friends, The King of the Paprika Crisps, Tom’s Midnight Garden (Unicorn Theatre), Nothing (E59E59 Theatres), House and Garden (Harrogate Theatre), Vernon God Little, The Ruffian on the Stair, The Lady Aio, Nothing, The Queen of Spades, Venice Preserved (Citizens Theatre), One Snowy Night (Chichester Festival Theatre), Brief Encounter (Stephen Joseph Theatre, UK tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Jungle Book, A Christmas Carol (Watermill Theatre), Venice Preserved, The Provoked Wife (RSC), A Christmas Carol (Theatre by the Lake), The Lovely Bones, Treasure Island (Birmingham Rep), Arms and the Man, The Canterbury Tales (Palace Theatre), The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Arabian Nights (Sherman Cymru), The Itinerant Music Hall (Lyric Hammersmith), Hamlet (US tour), and The Jungle Book (Lyric Theatre Belfast). His television credits include Suspect and The Crown; and for film, Sanditon, Powdered, and First Days.
Joëlle Brabban plays Lucy.
Her theatre credits include Stig of the Dump, Little Women, Romeo and Juliet (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre), Jane Hair – The Brontes Restyled (Buglight Theatre), Terrible Thames (Birmingham Stage Company), The Prince and the Pauper (Trinity Theatre), The Little Mermaid (Derby Theatre), Dear Uncle, My Mother Said I Never Should, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Theatre by the Lake), and War Horse (National Theatre, UK tour); and for film, In Another Life.
Zoe Brough returns to the Orange Tree Theatre to play Lydia Languish.
She previously appeared in Playhouse Creatures. Other theatre credits include The Still Room (Park Theatre), Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith) and The Nether (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York’s Theatre). Her television credits include Outrageous and Father Brown; and for film, Porcelain.
Dylan Corbett-Bader plays Bob Acres.
His theatre credits include Revenge: After the Levoyah (The Yard Theatre, Soho Theatre), King Lear (The Shed, Wyndham’s Theatre) and The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (RSC). His television credits include Andor, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, We Were the Lucky Ones; and for film, A Haunting in Venice.
Jim Findley plays Thomas.
His theatre credits include Girl on an Altar (Abbey Theatre, Kiln Theatre), Love All, The Tempest, For Services Rendered (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Lady from the Sea (Donmar Warehouse), Black Spartacus (Courtyard Theatre), Antigone (Storyhouse, Chester), Our Town (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Meeting (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Duchess of Malfi (Nottingham Playhouse), Inside Out of Mind (UK tour), Gulliver’s Travels (Curve, Leicester), Of Mice and Men, The Silver Sword (Nottingham Playhouse), Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Eclipse Theatre, Nottingham Theatre), Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (Almedia Theatre), The Marriage of Figaro (Crucible Theatre), and Playboy of the West Indies (Oxford Playhouse). His television credits include Mr Bigstuff and Pitching In; and for film, Prancer – A Christmas Tale, Cry Freedom, Playing Away, and A Passion of Remembrance.
Colm Gormley plays Lucius O’Trigger.
His theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), An Interrogation (Hampstead Theatre), Cowbois (RSC, Royal Court Theatre), Othello, Warhorse (National Theatre), Fighting Irish, The Boy with the Bomb in his Crisps (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, I’ll Be the Devil (RSC), Mother Courage and Her Children (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Country Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre), Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible), A Handful Of Stars (Trafalgar Studios, Theatre503), Dancing at Lughnasa (Royal and Derngate, Northampton, Oxford Playhouse), Truth and Reconciliation (Royal Court Theatre), The Time Step (Theatre503), Three Sisters, The White Devil, Twelfth Night, The Resistible Rise of Artuo Ui, The Seagull, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mercury Theatre Colchester) and The Early Bird (UK tour). His television credits include Victoria, Officially Special, Titanic and McDonald and Dodds; and for film, Country of Hotels, Jimmy’s Hall, Downhill and Bloody Sunday.
Robert Maskell plays David.
His previous credits at the Orange Tree Theatre include The Circle (Theatre Royal Bath), The Importance of Being Earnest, The Gangs of New York, Little Women, Stig of the Dump, Romeo and Juliet (Storyhouse, Chester), White Witch (The Black Swan Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Playhouse Theatre, Menier Chocolate Factory), White Witch (The Black Swan, The Chelsea Theatre), Bar Mitzvah Boy (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Twelfth Night (Iris Theatre), Blind Eye, Compliance (Theatre503), A Man of No Importance (Salisbury Playhouse), Macbeth, Richard III (Guildford Shakespeare Company), Daisy Pulls It Off, James and the Giant Peach (Watermill Theatre), La Cage Aux Folles (Playhouse Theatre), The Sound of Music (London Palladium), and Love Me Dorothy! (Greenwich Playhouse). His television credits include Professor T, The Sister Boniface Mysteries, Cut and Blow, and Eroica.
Boadicea Ricketts plays Julia Melville.
Her theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC), Owners, Tonight At 8:30 (Jermyn Street Theatre), Biscuits for Breakfast (Hampstead Theatre), Addictive Beat (Boundless Theatre), She Ventures and He Wins (Young Vic), Bartholomew Fair (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare’s Globe), Thor and Loki (UK tour). Her television credits include Call the Midwife and Grantchester; and for film, Black Box and Rose.
James Sheldon plays ‘Faulty’ Faulkland.
His theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice (Octagon Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest, Gangs of New York (Storyhouse, Chester), Pressure (Ambassadors Theatre), Busman’s Honeymoon (The Mill at Sonning), The Girl on the Train, Strangers on a Train, The Glass Menagerie (English Theatre Frankfurt), She Stoops to Conquer, As You Like It, Macbeth, Thy Eternal Summer, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Robin Hood (Guildford Shakespeare Company), Wuthering Heights (Oxford Shakespeare Company), Creditors, Miss Julie (Jermyn Street Theatre, Theatre by the Lake), After the Dance (Theatre by the Lake), As You Like It (UK tour), Align (Theatre503), The Dover Road (Jermyn Street Theatre), Eigengrau (The King’s Head Theatre, Strip Theatre), The Perfect Boy (The Bargehouse), and Anne Boleyn (Stratford Circus), and Rise Up (Theatre Centre). His television credits include Shakespeare and Hathaway.
Kit Young plays Jack Absolute.
His theatre credits include All’s Well That Ends Well, The Wits, The Queen’s Arcadia (Shakespeare’s Globe), Influence (Collective Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), Macbeth (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Donmar Warehouse), The Real Thing (Theatre Royal, Bath), and The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray (Leicester Square Theatre). His television credits include Alien: Earth, and Shadow and Bone; and for film, The Beautiful Game, The School for Good and Evil and Out of Darkness.
Artistic Director of the OT Tom Littler directs. At the OT, he has directed Creditors, Churchill in Moscow, Twelfth Night, Suite in Three Keys (also Theatre Royal Bath), She Stoops to Conquer, and The Circle (later revived for a national tour by Theatre Royal Bath). Other theatre includes Saturday Night (Jermyn Street Theatre, Arts Theatre), A Little Night Music (Budapest), Good Grief (Theatre Royal Bath), Dances of Death (Gate Theatre), Martine (Finborough Theatre), Miss Julie and Creditors (Theatre by the Lake, Jermyn Street Theatre), Tonight at 8.30, Cancelling Socrates, The Tempest, The Odyssey, 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre), Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Munich) and Hamlet (Guildford Shakespeare Company). He was Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre from 2017 to 2022, before moving to the OT.
Creative: Directed by Tom Littler; Set and Costume Design: Anett Black and Neil Irish; Lighting Design: William Reynolds; Sound Design and Composition: Tom Attwood; Movement Direction: Leah Harris; Assistant Direction: Freya Griffiths; Costume Supervision: Emma Kylmälä; Casting Consultant: Ginny Schiller CDG; Associate Script Editor: Rosie Tricks
