Last Updated on 1 February 2022 by Showcall Editorial Team
Samuel Barnett, Helen Schlesinger and Danny Webb are among cast joining Ralph Fiennes in David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy at London’s Bridge Theatre
The full line-up has been announced for cast joining Ralph Fiennes in the world premiere of David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy at London’s Bridge Theatre.
They are Alisha Bailey, Samuel Barnett, David Bromley, Al Coppola, Siobhán Cullen, Ian Kirkby, Alana Maria, Dani Moseley, Guy Paul, Helen Schlesinger, Mary Stillwaggon Stewart and Danny Webb.
The play, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will run at the Bridge Theatre from 16 March to 18 June 2022, with opening night on 23 March.
Straight Line Crazy is described as a “blazing account of the life of a man whose iron will exposed the weakness of democracy in the face of charismatic conviction”. It is based on the real-life story of Robert Moses who, for 40 years, was considered the most powerful man in New York City despite never being elected to office.
Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of workers, he created new parks, new bridges and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors, but in the 1950s, groups of citizens at grass-roots level began to organise against his schemes and against the motor car, campaigning for a very different idea of what a city was and for what it should be.
Fiennes will play Moses, who manipulated the authorities through a mix of guile, charm and intimidation. Webb has been cast as New York Governor Al Smith while Schlesinger portrays campaigning journalist Jane Jacobs.
Fiennes last worked with Hytner and Hare on Hare’s Covid play, Beat the Devil, at the Bridge Theatre in autumn 2020.
