News: Full cast announced for world premiere of Fisherman’s Friends

Full cast has been announced for the world premiere of Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical, which opens at Hall for Cornwall on Wednesday 13 October.

Cast includes Calum Callaghan (Mr Selfridge) as Danny, a fish-out-of-water music manager who stumbles across a group of shanty singing fishermen in Port Isaac, Cornwall.  The leader of the band, Jim, played by

Deka Walmsley (Billy Elliot, Macbeth) plays Jim, alongside Robert Duncan (Drop the Dead Donkey) as Jago, Mensah Bediako (Master Harold and the Boys) as Leadville, Dan Buckley (The Book of Mormon) as Rowan, Rakesh Boury (Rock of Ages) as Dinger, Matt Slack (Blood Brothers) as Wiggie and Hadrian Delacey (The Phantom of the Opera) as Archie.

The band is completed by Cornish actor Edward Rowe, known for his comedy character Kernow King and as the star of the BAFTA-winning film Bait, as Ben.

Susie Blake (Mrs Brown’s Boys, Coronation Street) joins the company as Maggie, alongside Parisa Shahmir (The Last Ship) as Alwyn, Deborah Tracey (Standing At The Sky’s Edge) as record label manager Leah and Georgia Bruce (Malory Towers) as Sally.

Cast is completed by on-stage actor-musicians, James William-Pattison (Once), Annie Grace (The Last Ship), John O’Mahony (This Restless House), Louise Beadel (Fame) and musicians Hazel Askew (BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee), Alfie Gidley (New Roots finalist) and Musical Director James Findlay (winner of the BBC Young Folk Award 2010).

Performances run from Wednesday 13 October to Saturday 30 October 2021 at Hall for Cornwall.

When a group of Cornish fishermen came together to sing the traditional working songs they’d sung for generations, they hoped to raise a few quid for charity. Nobody, least of all the fishermen, expected the story to end on the Pyramid stage of Glastonbury.

Packed with sea shanties, Fisherman’s Friends is a feelgood voyage about friendship, community and music, featuring shanties such as “Keep Haulin'”, “Nelson’s Blood”, “No Hopers Jokers & Rogues”, “Sweet Maid of Madeira” and many more.

The show is directed by James Grieve and written by Amanda Whittington, with choreography by Matt Cole, set and costume design by Lucy Osborne, musical supervision by David White, sound design by Dan Samson, lighting design by Johanna Town and casting by Jim Arnold.

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