Casting announced for Basden’s Dostoevsky play

Simon Bird and Marek Larwood are to star in the world premiere of Tom Basden’s latest play.

Basden has adapted Fyodor Dostoevsky’s short story The Crocodile into a stage production, which will be unveiled at the Manchester International Festival next month.

Casting has now been announced with Inbetweeners star Bird playing Zack, Larwood playing Mr Popov and former RSC member Ciarán Owens playing Ivan – a self-important actor who is swallowed by the eponymous crocodile.

Based has said of his adaptation: ‘I want it to be visually rich and bold. And sort of rambunctious. From my point of view, it’s been a really fun thing to write and play with. Which is not really what I expected when thinking about adapting Dostoevsky.’

The play, a co-production with avant-garde comedy producers The Invisible Dot and directed by Ned Bennett, will run at the Pavilion Theatre in Manchester’s Festival Square from July 14 until July 18.

Published: 3 Jun 2015