We're excited to announce the first adult cast members for The Boy in the Dress, our new musical coming to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in November.

Returning to the RSC are Rufus Hound, playing the dad of title character Dennis, Natasha Lewis as the mum of Dennis's best friend Darvesh, and Associate Artist Forbes Masson, who takes the role of headmaster Mr Hawtrey. They will join Irvine Iqbal, who plays shopkeeper Raj in his RSC debut.

Rufus is currently performing with us in Restoration comedy The Provoked Wife and played Sancho Panza in our Stratford and London runs of Don Quixote. Natasha was part of our original musical Miss Littlewood last year, while Forbes has worked with us many times over the past 15 years, including in Michael Boyd's acclaimed Histories cycle. Irvine is currently in the final week of playing the Sultan in Aladdin - The Musical at the Prince Edward Theatre and has also appeared in another David Walliams' show, Mr Stink.

More casting will be announced in the following weeks.

This is the first time David Walliams' heartwarming comedy has been put on stage, adapted by former RSC writer-in-residence Mark Ravenhill and featuring new songs from Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers.

Artistic Director Gregory Doran is thrilled to be directing the show: "It is tremendous to welcome such a talented cast of new and established RSC company members to our new musical production of The Boy in the Dress, particularly one with such a strong background of excellent musical theatre performances and first-class comic talent. The cast join an already impressive line-up of UK and international creatives, including comic writer, performer and beloved children’s book author David Walliams and chart-topping songwriters Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. I am excited to work together with them over the coming weeks to bring this life-affirming, funny story to the RST stage."

The Boy in the Dress will play in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 8 November 2019 - 8 March 2020.

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