Reasons To Be Pretty

Siân is currently in Stephen Poliakoff’s My City, also at the Almeida. Previously her theatre credits include Mike Leigh’s Ecstasy at the Duchess and Hampstead Theatres as well as Joseph K at the Gate Theatre, Wanderlust for the Royal Court, Dido, Queen of Carthage for the National Theatre, The Birthday Party at the Lyric Hammersmith and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company. On television her credits include Garrow’s Law, Silk, New Tricks, Doc Martin, The Commander and Cape Roth.

Tom returns to the Almeida having previous played Malcolm in John Caird’s production of Macbeth. He has most recently been seen at the Old Vic in Design For Living. Previously his theatre credits include Creditors and The Cut for the Donmar Warehouse, Glass Eels for Hampstead Theatre and Restoration for the Salisbury Playhouse. His film credits include An Enemy to Die For, Look, Stranger, Telstar and The Libertine. His television credits include Great Expectations, State of Play, Napoleon, In Love With Barbara and Dracula.

Billie Piper made her stage debut as Ann in Christopher Hampton’s Treats at the Garrick Theatre. On television, as well as playing Rose in Doctor Who, she is best known for playing Belle in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Her other television credits include A Passionate Woman, Mansfield Park and Shadow in the North. Her film credits include Animals United, Spirit Trap and Things To Do Before You’re 30.

The Almeida began its relationship with LaBute in 2000 when it presented hisbash: latter-day plays. Their close association with the playwright continued with productions ofThe Shape of Things,The Distance From Here,The Mercy SeatandIn a Dark Dark House. LaBute’s other plays includeAutobahn,Fat Pig,Some Girls,This Is How It GoesandIn A Forest Dark and Deepwhich has recently opened at the Vaudeville Theatre. LaBute received his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University and was the recipient of a literary fellowship to study at the Royal Court Theatre and attended the Sundance Institute’s Playwrights Lab. His films includeIn the Company of Men, for which he won the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Best First Feature and the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival,Your Friends and Neighbors, Nurse Betty,PossessionandThe Shape of Things- a film adaptation of his play by the same title. LaBute is the author of several fictional pieces that have been published in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar and Playboy among others, andSeconds of Pleasure, a collection of his short stories was published by Grove Atlantic.

Michael Attenborough is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre (since 2002). Previously, he was Associate Director, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (1972-74), Associate Director, Leeds Playhouse (now West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1974-79), Associate Director, Young Vic (1979-80), Artistic Director, Palace Theatre, Watford (1980-84), Artistic Director, Hampstead Theatre (1984-89), Principal Associate Director, Royal Shakespeare Company (1990-2002). On leaving the RSC he was invited to become an Honorary Associate Artist.

For the Almeida: Through a Glass Darkly; Measure For Measure; When the Rain Stops Falling; In a Dark Dark House; The Homecoming; Awake and Sing; Big White Fog; There Came A Gypsy Riding; Enemies; The Late Henry Moss; Brighton Rock; The Mercy Seat; Five Gold Rings.

For the RSC: Amphibians; The Changeling; Les Liaisons Dangereuses (UK and European tour); After Easter; Pentecost; The Herbal Bed (also in the West End and Broadway); Romeo and Juliet; A Month in the Country; Othello; Henry IV parts I and II; The Prisoner’s Dilemma; Antony and Cleopatra.

For the Palace Theatre productions include: The Girl in Melanie Klein; The Big Knife; Romantic Comedy (also in the West End); Terra Nova.

For the Hampstead Theatre productions include: The War at Home (also on Broadway); Particular Friendships; That Summer; Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme; Separation (also in the West End).

Freelance: Over a Barrel; Single Spies (Turnstyle Group); 1984 (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton); Yerma (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Anna Weiss (West End); My Mother Said I Never Should (Royal Court); Fashion (Tricycle Theatre); Apollo and Daphne (North Wall); Playing with Fire (National Theatre).