JUNIPER BLOOD 

Written by Mike Bartlett

Cast: Terique Jarrett, Hattie Morahan, Nadia Parkes, Jonathan Slinger, Sam Troughton

Director: James Macdonald; Designer: ULTZ; Associate Set Designer: Mark Simmonds;

Lighting Designer: Jo Joelson; Sound Designer: Helen Skiera

16 August – 4 October

“Dreams.
You don’t compromise on those.”

Lip and Ruth have left the city behind for a new life on a farm; trying to live differently, live better. But when Ruth’s stepdaughter and her provocative best friend arrive, this quiet rural project is thrown into chaos, as conflicting visions of the future come crashing into the present.

Mike Bartlett’s powerful new play Juniper Blood explores the true cost of pursuing our ideals in an imperfect world.

James Macdonald directs an outstanding cast including Terique Jarrett, Hattie Morahan, Nadia Parkes, Jonathan Slinger and Sam Troughton.

Mike Bartlett’s plays include Unicorn (Garrick Theatre), Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), The 47th (The Old Vic), Cock (Ambassadors’ Theatre, Royal Court Theatre), Mrs Delgado (Arts at the Old Fire Station, Theatre Royal Bath, Oxford Playhouse), Albion, Game (Almeida Theatre), Snowflake (Arts at the Old Fire Station, Kiln Theatre), Wild (Hampstead Theatre), King Charles III – Olivier Award for Best New Play (Almeida Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre, Music Box Theatre, New York), An Intervention (Paines Plough, Watford Palace Theatre), Bull (Sheffield Theatres, Off Broadway, Young Vic), Medea (Headlong, Glasgow Citizens, Watford Palace Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre), Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre, Gielgud Theatre), 13 (National Theatre), Decade (Headlong),Earthquakes in London (Headlong, National Theatre), Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Royal Court Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Contractions (Royal Court Theatre, Sheffield Theatres), My Child (Royal Court Theatre), Artefacts (Bush Theatre, Nabokov). Bartlett has previously been Writer In Residence at the National Theatre and is currently an Associate Playwright at the Royal Court Theatre. His television credits include Life, Doctor Foster, King Charles III, Sticks and Stones, Trauma and Press.

Terique Jarrett plays Femi. His theatre credits include Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith), Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic), “Daddy”: A Melodrama (Almeida Theatre), The Mirror and the Light (RSC), Our Town (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre) and Motown the Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre). His television credits include Andor, Moon Knight and Find Me in Paris; and for film, Layla.

Hattie Morahan returns to the Donmar to play Ruth – she previously appeared in The Family Reunion. Her other theatre credits include Ghosts, The Changeling (Shakespeare’s Globe), Orpheus Descending (Menier Chocolate Factory), Grief is the Thing With Feathers (Complicité), Anatomy of a Suicide, The City (Royal Court Theatre), A Doll’s House – Winner of Best Actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and Critics’ Circle Awards (Young Vic), The Dark Earth and The Light Sky (Almeida Theatre), Flare (Micah) (Bush Theatre),Plenty (Sheffield Theatres), The Real Thing (The Old Vic), Three More Sleepless Nights, Time And The Conways, …some trace of her, The Seagull, Iphigenia at Aulis, Power(National Theatre), See How They Run (UK tour), Twelfth Night (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Singer (OSC, Tricycle Theatre), Arsenic and Old Lace (Strand Theatre), The Circle (UK tour), Night Of The Soul, The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Huis Clos, Love In A Woodand Hamlet (RSC). Her television credits include Fool Me Once, Sex Education, Hijack, The Undeclared War, The Sleepers, Inside No.9, Angela Carter: Of Wolves & Women, Zanzibar, My Mother And Other Strangers, Ballot Monkeys, The Outcast, Arthur and George, The Bletchley Circle, Law and Order UK, Eternal Law, Money, Larkrise To Candleford, Outnumbered, Marple: A Pocket Full Of Rye, Trial & Retribution: To Kill A King, Bike Squad, Sense And Sensibility, Bodies, New Tricks and Peacock Spring; and for film, Black Dog, Luther: The Fallen Sun, Operation Mincemeat, Enola Holmes, Official Secrets, Beauty and the Beast, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mr Holmes, Having You, Summer In February, The Bank Job, The Golden Compass, Out of Time, Good Boy and Love Hate.

Nadia Parkes plays Milly. Her theatre credits include The House Party (Headlong, Chichester Festival Theatre). Her television credits include Kidnapped, Inspector Lynley, Half Bad: The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, Tokyo Vice, Starstruck, Domina, The Spanish Princess and Doctor Who; and for film, CC Emily and This is Christmas.

Jonathan Slinger plays Tony. His theatre credits include Waiting for Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), A View from the Bridge (Octagon Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Rose Theatre, Kingston), Sarah (The Coronet Theatre), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Rose Theatre Kingston), Oleanna (Theatre Royal Bath, West End), Crave, Yes, Prime Minister(Chichester Festival Theatre), The Provoked Wife, Hamlet, All’s Well that Ends Well, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, The Homecoming, Macbeth, Richard III – nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards,  Richard II – nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards, Henry VI parts I, II and III, Henry V, The American Pilot, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC), Absolute Hell, Power, The Duchess of Malfi, The Coast of Utopia, The Machine Workers (National Theatre), Fanny and Alexander (The Old Vic), Trouble in Mind (The Print Room), Plastic (Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Urinetown (St. James Theatre, Apollo Theatre), The Gods Weep (RSC, Hampstead Theatre), Uncle Vanya(Young Vic), Bones (Newcastle LIVE, Hampstead Theatre), Medea (Queen’s Theatre), As You Like it, Dreaming (Royal Exchange Theatre), Widower’s Houses (National Theatre, UK tour), Mother Courage (Contact Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, The Maid’s Tragedy (Shakespeare’s Globe), Romeo and Juliet, Bouncers (New Vic Theatre), Morning and Evening (Hampstead Theatre) and The Cherry Orchard (Haymarket Theatre, Leicester). His television credits include Steal, The Sixth Commandment, Shadow and Bone, Alex Rider, The Salisbury Poisonings, I May Destroy You, Kiri, Nelson in his Own Words, Playing Ball, The Adventures of Daniel, Vexed, Paradox, Krod Mandoon, Hunter, Hustle, Little Dorrit, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Genius of Beethoven, To the Ends of the Earth, Foyle’s War, Murder in Suburbia, Cold Feet, Out of Hours, The Bill and Stick with Me Kid; and for film, The Taking, Harmony, A Knight’s Tale, Forgive and Forget and Spring Awakening. 

Sam Troughton plays Lip. His theatre credits include Closer (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre),Beginning (National Theatre, Ambassadors Theatre), Rutherford and Son, Stories, King Lear, Buried Child, The Coast of Utopia: Salvage, The Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck, The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Tartuffe (National Theatre), La Musica, Bull, Three Sisters (Young Vic), Mint, Death Tax, The President Has Come To See You, Love, Love, Love (Royal Court Theatre), Bull, As You Like It (Sheffield Theatres, E59E Theatre New York), A Streetcar Named Desire (Liverpool Playhouse), Morte D’Arthur, Romeo and Juliet, The Grain Store, Julius Caesar, The Winter’s Tale, Richard III, Henry VI Parts I, II and III, The Taming Of The Shrew (RSC), An Oak Tree (Birmingham Rep), Nathan The Wise (Hampstead Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC/City of London Sinfonia), The School For Scandal (Derby Playhouse), and Hamlet (Orange Tree Theatre). His television credits include Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Black Doves, A Very Royal Scandal, The Lazarus Project, Litvinenko, Ragdoll, The Outlaws, Stephen, The Offenders, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Chernobyl, The Little Drummer Girl, The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses, Dancing On The Edge, The Town, Robin Hood, Hex, Messiah, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, Seven Wonders of the Industrial Age: The Sewer King, Ultimate Force, Foyle’s War and Summer In The Suburbs; and for film,  Napoleon, Mank, Peterloo, The Ritual, Slumber, Spirit Trap, Alien vs Predator, Vera Drake and Sylvia. 

James Macdonald returns to the Donmar – he previously directed A Doll’s House, Part 2, The Way Of The World and Roots. For the Royal Court Theatre, his credits includeGlass.kill.imp.bluebeard (also The Public Theater), One For Sorrow, The Children(transferred to Manhattan Theatre Club), Escaped Alone (transferred to BAM Harvey Theater), The Wolf From The Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information(transferred to New York Theatre Workshop), Cock (transferred to Duke on 42^nd Street), Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (transferred to The Public Theatre), Dying City(transferred to Lincoln Center), Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (transferred to St Ann’s Warehouse / US & European tour), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry & Me, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice Of Satan and Putting Two and Two Together. His other theatre credits include, Unicorn, Waiting For Godot, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End), Boys On The Verge Of Tears(Soho Theatre) Infinite Life, Night Of The Iguana, John, Dido Queen Of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Yard Theatre), The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC), Sea Creatures, Wild, And No More Shall We Part, #aiww – The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead Theatre), The Father (Theatre Royal Bath, Kiln Theatre, West End), Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph Of Love (Almeida Theatre), The Chinese Room (Williamstown Festival), Cloud Nine(Atlantic Theatre Company), A Number (New York Theatre Workshop), King Lear, The Book Of Grace (Public Theatre), Top Girls (Manhattan Theatre Club, Broadway), John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music). His film credits include A Number.