Tamsin Greig Leads Cast in Orange Tree Theatre's CRANFORD Adaptation

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Tamsin Greig leads an ensemble cast in Josh Roche's adaptation of the Victorian novel.

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The Orange Tree Theatre has announced the full cast for Cranford by Lin Coghlan and Shaun McKenna , based on the original novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, co-created and directed by Josh Roche. Joining the previously announced Tamsin Greig (Matty Jenkyns) are Sara Crowe (Mrs Forester), Abigail Cruttenden (Deborah Jenkyns/ Lady Glenmire), Saffron Dey (Martha/ Young Matty), Alexandra Gilbreath (Miss Pole), Jonny Glynn (Older Peter/ Signor Brunoni/ Mr Johnson/ Rev Jenkyns/ Mulliner), Michael Lumsden (Tom Holbrook/ Dr Hoggins/ Dobson), Robert Merriam (Jem Hearn/ Young Peter), Sara Powell (Mrs Jamieson), and Phoebe Pryce (Eliza Cleghorn).

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Cranford will open on 13 November, with previews from 3 November 2026, and runs until 16 January 2027.

I won't listen to reason. Reason always means what someone else has to say. Welcome to Cranford: a small town where gossip travels fast and traditions run deep. But in the 1840s, change is coming – whether anyone likes it or not.

Tamsin Greig leads an ensemble cast as Matty Jenkyns, who lives at the centre of a close-knit community of formidable women. Their lives are governed by a web of peculiar customs and unspoken rules. But as the outside world rushes in, the residents of Cranford must navigate troubled friendships, lost love, and the challenge of holding on to what matters most.

Elizabeth Gaskell's 1853 novel celebrates the complexities of everyday life with humour, heart, and extraordinary insight. It stands alongside her North and South and Wives and Daughters as a masterpiece of Victorian fiction. Director Josh Roche reunites with writers Lin Coghlan and Shaun McKenna following their 'masterpiece' adaptation of The Forsyte Saga at the RSC.

Sara Crowe plays Mrs Forester. Her theatre credits include The Mirror Crack'd (The Mill at Sonning), The Constant Wife, Sheila's Island, The Entertainer, Calendar Girls – The Musical, How the Other Half Loves, Don't Dress for Dinner, Crush the Musical, Fallen Angels, Absurd Person Singular (UK tours), A Comedy of Errors, A Company of Rascals (Guildford Shakespeare Company, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre ), The Lady in the Van, Accolade, A Touch of Danger (Theatre Royal Windsor), The Cabinet Minister ( Menier Chocolate Factory ), Queen (Assembly Rooms, Tabard Theatre), The Way Old Friends Do (Criterion Theatre, Birmingham Rep Theatre), The Hound of the Baskervilles ( Yvonne Arnaud Theatre ), A Splinter of Ice (Cheltenham Everyman Theatre), Tonight at 8:30, Less Than Kind (Jermyn Street Theatre), Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), Noises Off (Mercury Theatre), Radio Times, Life x 3 ( Watermill Theatre ), Bedroom Farce (Duke of York's Theatre), Calendar Girls (Noël Coward Theatre), A Woman of Not Importance, The City Madam (RSC), A Busy Day (Lyric Theatre), Dames at Sea ( Ambassadors Theatre ), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Henceforward (Vaudeville Theatre), Plunder (Savoy Theatre), and Private Lives (Aldwych Theatre). Her television credits include Bookish, Martin's Close, Skins, Gil Mayo, The Green Green Grass, Big Meg Little Meg, Boggie Outlaws, Freddy and Max, Haggard, Scarlett, The Good Guys, The Rory Bremner Show, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, Alas Smith and Jones, KYTV, and Now Something Else; and for film, Carry On Columbus, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The Steal.

Abigail Cruttenden plays Deborah Jenkyns/Lady Glenmire. Her theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest (Royal Exchange Theatre), Handbagged (Kiln Theatre), Swive (The Globe), Black Chiffon ( Park Theatre ), An Enemy of the People, A Marvellous Year for Plums, The Rivals (Chichester Festival Theatre), Accolade (St James' Theatre), Drawing the Line, 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre), The Seagull (Richmond Theatre), Benefactors, The Crucible (Sheffield Theatres), When Did You Last See My Mother? (Trafalgar Studios), The Knot of the Heart ( Almeida Theatre ), Afterlife, Flight (National Theatre), Twelfth Night (RSC), The Importance of Being Earnest (Birmingham Rep Theatre, The Old Vic, Theatre Clwyd), Hay Fever, The School for Scandal, The Cherry Orchard, You Never Can Tell (Theatre Clwyd), The Black Prince (Aldwych Theatre), and Romeo and Juliet (Ludlow Festival Theatre). Her television credits include The Marlow Murder Club, Silent Witness, Showtrial, Not Going Out, Fresh Meat, The Outcast, Benidorm, The Royal Bodyguard, Sex and the City, Teenage Kicks, The Commander, Foyle's War, The Robinsons, Doctors and Nurses, Helen West , Anna Karenina, Sword of Honour, Monarch of the Glen, Into the Blue, Sharpe's Regiment, Message for Posterity, and Jane Eyre; and for film, Portraits of Dangerous Women, Munich: The Edge of War, Denial, await Further Instructions, The Theory of Everything, Charlotte Gray, and Hideous Kinky.

Saffron Dey plays Martha/ Young Matty. Her theatre credits include Hamnet (RSC, international tour), Blacklist (Mercury Theatre), Ain't I a Woman? (Tower Theatre), and Top Girls (Liverpool Everyman). Her television credits include Call the Midwife.

Alexandra Gilbreath returns to the Orange Tree to play Miss Pole having previously appeared in The Sugar Syndrome. Her theatre credit includes Fallen Angels, The Lie ( Menier Chocolate Factory ), Cymbeline, The Empress, The Provok'd Wife, The Rover, Shakespeare Live, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Merry Wives: The Musical, The Tamer Tamed, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's Tale, Cyrano De Bergerac, Ghosts, Love's Labour's Lost, The Country Wife (RSC), The Fever Syndrome, Mother Christmas (Hampstead Theatre), God's Dice, Shallow Slumber (Soho Theatre), Dessert (Southwark Playhouse), The Invisible ( Bush Theatre ), The Wars of the Roses, Hay Fever (Rose Theatre Kingston), Playhouse Creatures (Chichester Festival Theatre), Othello (Sheffield Theatres), The Village Bike ( Royal Court Theatre ), Twelfth Night (RSC, Duke of York's Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Donmar Warehouse), Disappeared (The Royal Court), King Lear ( West Yorkshire Playhouse ), and Bernarda Alba ( Gate Theatre ). Her television credits include The Chelsea Detective, The Jury, Beyond Paradise, Becoming Elizabeth, A Hundred Streets, Father Brown, WPC 56, Inspector George Gently, Rites of Passage, Trial and Retribution, Life Begins, Absolute Power, The Commander: Virus, The Waltz King, Happiness, Midsomer Murders, The Project, Monarch of the Glen, Out of Hours, A Wing and A Prayer, The Heart Surgeon, and Screaming; and for film, The Art of Love and Dead Babies.

Jonny Glynn plays Older Peter/Signor Brunoni/Mr Johnson/Rev Jenkyns/Mulliner. His theatre credits include Queen Anne, Lady Windermere's Fan (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Richard II, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare's Globe), Henry IV, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, King John, The Blue Angel, Measure for Measure (RSC), Coriolan/us (National Theatre Wales), Lucky Seven (Hampstead Theatre), Amy's View, Arcadia (Manchester Library Theatre), Pera Palas ( Gate Theatre ), Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (Lyric Hammersmith), The Rivals, I have Been Here Before, Crimes of the Heart, Tartuffe, The Count of Monte Cristo (Royal Theatre Exchange), Hamlet (Birmingham Rep Theatre), The New Apartment (Watermans Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew ( West Yorkshire Playhouse ), and Gawaine and the Green Knight (Royal Opera House). His television credits include Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, Anonymous Authors, Search, Clocking Off, and Moll Flanders; and for film, Curse in a Frame and Submarine.

Tamsin Greig plays Matty Jenkyns. Her theatre credits include The Deep Blue Sea ( Theatre Royal Bath ), Backstroke (Donmar Warehouse), Peggy for You, IHO, Longing (Hampstead Theatre), Talking Heads Live: Nights in the Garden of Spain (Bridge Theatre), A Kind of Alaska ( Harold Pinter Theatre), Labour of Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Twelfth Night, Gethsemane (National Theatre), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Jumpy ( Royal Court Theatre ), God of Carnage (Gielgud Theatre), The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, King John (RSC), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Gatehouse Theatre), Abigail's Party (Exeter Northcott Theatre), Bell, Book and Candle ( Queens Theatre , Hornchurch), Burning Houses, No Flies On Mr Hunter (The Chelsea Centre), Don Carlos (Hammersmith Lyric Studio), French Without Tears (Watford Palace Theatre), Great Expectations (The Duke's Playhouse), The Return of the Native (Worcester Swan Theatre), and Venom (The Drill Hall). Her television credits include The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Suspect, Sex Beast, The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Bennett 's Talking Heads, Belgravia, Elementary, Diana and I, Inside No 9, The Guilty, White Heat, Episodes, Friday Night Dinner, Emma, Green Wing, Black Books, Blind Men, Blue Heaven, Cry Wolf, Dr Who, Falling Apart, Going Postal, Happiness, High Stakes, Jonathan Creek, Kinsey, Love Soup, Neverwhere, Numero Uno, People Like Us, Tech Heads, The Lenny Henry Show, The World of Pub, When I'm 64, Wycliffe; and for film, Land of Legend, My Happy Ending, Official Secrets, Romeo & Juliet, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Tamara Drewe, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Breaking the Bank, Stop The World, Captain Eager & The Mark Of Voth, Cheese Makes You Dream, Cuckoo, Glasses Break, Miranda, Pure, Ready When You Are Mr McGill, Shaun of the Dead, and The Amazing Mr Blunden.

Michael Lumsden returns to the Orange Tree to play Tom Holbrook/Dr Hoggins/Dobson having previously appeared in While the Sun Shines and The Philanderer. His other theatre credits include The Forsyte Saga ( Park Theatre , RSC), The End of the Night ( Park Theatre ), For Services Rendered (Jermyn Street Theatre), Eastern Star (Tara Theatre), and Killjoy (The Mill at Sonning). His television credits include Professor T, The Crow Girl, and Birds of a Feather; and for radio, he plays series regular Alistair Lloyd in BBC Radio 4's The Archers.

Robert Merriam plays Jem Hearn/Young Peter. His theatre credits include Whatever Happened to that Guy? ( Park Theatre ), Down to Chance (Pleasance Theatre, UK tour), Police Cops: The Original (Gordon Aikman Theatre), Pleading Stupidity (UK tour), Stephen Sondheim Old Friends (Sondheim Theatre), and Maria Friedman and Friends: Legacy ( Menier Chocolate Factory ).

Sara Powell plays Mrs Jamieson. Her theatre credits include Hamlet (Chichester Festival Theatre), Lyonesse, The Seagull ( Harold Pinter Theatre), Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike (Charing Cross Theatre), Keith?, The Plague, Richard III, La Peste (Arcola Theatre), Cyrano De Bergerac, The Crucible (Bristol Old Vic), The Madness of George III ( Nottingham Playhouse Theatre), Disgraced ( Bush Theatre ), A Walk on Part (Soho Theatre), Macbeth ( Almeida Theatre ), Stuff Happens, The Villain's Opera, Troilus and Cressida, Honk, Darker Face of the Earth (National Theatre), World Music (Donmar Warehouse), Absence of War (Birmingham Rep), Mapping the Edge (Sheffield Theatres), The Duchess of Malfi (RSC), Golden Girls (Mercury Theatre), Our Country's Good (Theatr Clwyd), and The House of Bernarda Alba (Brix Theatre). Her television credits include Pierre, Inspector Lynley, Dalgleish – Cover her Face, The Choice, The Killing Kind, The Hunted, The House Across the Street, Murder in Provence, Doctor Who, Death in Paradise, Ghosts, Unforgotten, Damned, Little Boy Blu

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Cast-Set-For-CRANFORD-at-Orange-Tree-Theatre-20260918)._