An all-star cast is set to shock audiences with a startling new play. Nick Moran, star of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, leads the cast of Four Nights in Knaresborough, a darkly-comic drama about the terror surrounding the murder of Thomas Becket.

Moran, one of the country's most exciting young actors, became a household name as Eddie in Guy Ritchie's cult classic film.

Other members of the cast are equally talented and recognisable. Robert Cavanah played Heathcliffe in LWT's Wuthering Heights and also starred in The Governor and Cracker, Tim Dantay played Dr Sam Morgan in five series of Peak Practice. Joseph Millson and Joy Brook have both played major parts in Peak Practice and The Bill, Band of Gold and Thin Blue Line.

Cavanah took time out from rehearsals to talk to Leisuretime.

He said he is relishing his part in this utterly uncompromising new play which wrenches the lid off one of the most dramatic events in British history: "It's basically about the four guys that Henry the Second reportedly instructed to arrest Thomas Becket. They went over, things got a little bit out of control and they ended up murdering him very brutally. It's about their potential descent into madness."

It is easy to think such a successful bunch would have cruised into these prize roles but apparently not. Cavanah said the director, Paul Miller, had spent several months trying to find a lead actor before he chose Moran. It was then a case of matching everyone around him. Cavanah was the second actor chosen three months later.

He had just spent five months filming for TV and was dying to get his teeth into "a really good piece of dynamic text", preferably classical.

He said: "This isn't classical but it's fairly epic with amazing language. It's one of the best pieces of writing I've come across in ages. And it's got a really good cast."

But auditioning is difficult, no matter how successful or experienced you are. Cavanah said he has gone into an audition and found the casting director had no idea who he is or how famous he was. But he said that simply keeps him on his toes and his strategy is to approach every audition with a humble and open mind.

He said: "We all had to audition, even Nick, and that happens unless you are a mega-star."

Four Nights in Knaresborough was originated by New Vic Workshop at the Tricycle Theatre in London, where it opened to public and critical acclaim.

Cavanah said: "It is quite a provocative piece and everyone is willing to put themselves on the line and try something new."

The story follows the four crazy, licentious and powerful killers who find themselves abandoned and alone in a country convulsed with outrage. They are forced into a deadly, year-long waiting game with only the four walls of Knaresborough to protect them from the wrath of the nation.

Cavanah said: "It's a classic story but told in a particularly modern and funny way. I hate to be cheap but there's a lot of bad language, there's a lot of nudity, a lot of raucous humour and sexy gags."

But he believes theatre should go beyond simple entertainment: "It's about offering people ways of looking at life around them or themselves not just to have a laugh and go away and say that was a pleasant little evening. I want people to have a laugh and go away and say 'that was a pleasant little evening that made me think about something'."

November 19-24, Four Nights in Knaresborough, Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, Mon-Thur 7.45pm, Fri & Sat 6pm & 8.45pm, £10- £19, 020 8460 6677.

November 12, 2001 19:31

Joan Gardner