Nottingham Playhouse has announced the final casting for the world premiere of William Ivory’s The Market Deeping Model Railway Club.

Lucy Briers (Backstroke, Donmar; The Other Bennet Sister, BBC One; Wolf Hall, Royal Shakespeare Company) takes on the role of Linda, opposite Adrian Scarborough, in this comedy of high stakes drama in a small-town setting – celebrating community, friendship, and British eccentricity.

Lucy joins the previously announced Babatunde Aléshé, Matt Bardock, Geoffrey Beevers, Paul Bradley, James Bradshaw, Adrian Scarborough and Deka Walmsley in the cast of this new play, directed by Nottingham Playhouse Artistic Director, Adam Penford, who said:

“We are so delighted to have Lucy completing our brilliant cast for The Market Deeping Model Railway Club. Her vast experience in both drama and comedy mean she’s perfect for the role of Linda – astute, pithy and endlessly patient with the Club members and her Chairman husband Graham, played by Adrian.

“Rehearsals start this week and we can’t wait to get stuck in.”

The Market Deeping Model Railway Club is the latest in Nottingham Playhouse’s commitment to commission new plays, following the Olivier award-winning Punch by James Graham and the acclaimed Scenes from a Friendship by Jane Upton. Beth Steel’s West End hit, Till the Stars Come Down, also makes its regional premiere in the autumn at Nottingham Playhouse.

The creatives for The Market Deeping Model Railway Club include playwright William Ivory (The Great Escaper, Made in Dagenham, Common as Muck); Director Adam Penford (Punch, Nottingham Playhouse, Broadway and West End; Dear Evan Hansen, Nottingham Playhouse and UK Tour); Designer Soutra Gilmour of SG Scenography (the multiple Olivier-Award nominated Sunset Boulevard for the Jamie Lloyd Company; Woman in Mind, Duke of Yorks Theatre); Lighting Designer Howard Hudson (Starlight Express, Troubadour Theatre; & Juliet, Broadway, West End, UK, European and Australian Tours); Sound Designer & Composer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite (Punch, Nottingham Playhouse, Broadway & West End; Summerfolk, National Theatre); award-winning Projection Designer Jon Driscoll (NYE, National Theatre; 42nd Street, Leicester Curve); Voice Coach Kay Welch (The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man, Nottingham Playhouse; The Sound of Music, Chichester Festival Theatre) and Casting Director Ginny Schiller CDG.

The Market Deeping Model Railway Club’s chances of victory at the Annual Show have been ripped apart by vandals, and the group must rally to piece their miniature world back together.

When their story goes global, help floods in from unexpected sources – including fellow enthusiast Sir Rod Stewart. But what lies ahead for the club? Chairman Graham, his astute wife Linda and the eclectic bunch of enthusiasts must face the question: what exactly is it about their everyday lives, that makes recreating the England of the past in miniature so appealing?

The Market Deeping Model Railway Club is sponsored by LNER.

Tickets are now on sale: nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

The play has been written in consultation with members of the Market Deeping Model Railway Club, and whilst this play is inspired by real events, characters, names and events have been fictionalised for the purposes of the play.