National Theatre Live: Dear Octopus
2024The family, from whose tentacles we can never quite escape. When a golden wedding anniversary reunites the Randolph family on the eve of WWII, Dora and Charles must reckon with the adults their children have become. Their children, meanwhile, are haunted by the memory of the family they once were. As the weekend’s celebrations unfold, the family walks a tightrope between intimacy and estrangement, camaraderie and rivalry, love and hate. Heartbreaking and joyful, this captivating revival of Dodie Smith’s (I Capture the Castle) play is a moving dissection of family and what it means to grow up and return home. Lindsay Duncan (Hansard) plays Dora in this beautiful, contemporary production, directed by Emily Burns (Jack Absolute Flies Again).
Acted in
Bessie Carter
as Fenny
Pandora Colin
as Edna
Bethan Cullinane
as Cynthia
Lindsay Duncan
as Dora
Kate Fahy
as Belle
Tom Glenister
as Hugh
Jo Herbert
as Hilda
Billy Howle
as Nicholas
Molly Jin
as Kathleen‘Scrap’ Kenton
Syakira Moeladi
as Laurel
Amy Morgan
as Margery
Celia Nelson
as Nanny Patching
Dharmesh Patel
as Kenneth
Ashwin Sakthivel
as Bill
Malcolm Sinclair
as Charles
Asha Sthanakiya
as Flouncey
Natalie Thomas
as Gertrude, the parlourmaid
John Vernon
as Radio News Reader