Emma Cunniffe is to take lead role of Nora in the Library Theatre Company production of A Doll’s House at The Lowry
Leading TV actor Emma Cunniffe, who hit the headlines when she starred as Emma Quinlan in the BBC’s raunchy mini-series The Lakes in 1997 and 1999, takes the leading role of Nora in the Library Theatre Company’s forthcoming production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at The Lowry in Salford between Thursday 24 February – Saturday 12 March 2011.
Emma’s other starring roles in hit TV shows include All the King’s Men, Clocking Off, Flesh and Blood, in which she co-starred alongside Christopher Eccleston, The Whistle-Blower, in which her co-stars were Amanda Burton and Neil Pearson. She also played Constanze, the wife of Mozart in The Genius of Mozart, the BBC’s acclaimed docu-drama on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 2004.
The production, the Library Theatre Company’s third production at The Lowry in Salford, has been adapted by playwright Bryony Lavery and will be directed by Chris Honer, the LTC’s Artistic Director.
It’s a return to the area for Emma, who was born in Chester and went to school in nearby Frodsham. “I am really looking forward to working on A Doll’s House,” she says. “It is a fascinating play by one of my favourite playwrights.”
A Doll’s House, about a bank manager’s wife, Nora, who has to risk her hard-earned and fully deserved reputation in order to save her husband, aroused a great deal of controversy upon its premiere in 1879, and still has an unerring capacity to shock its audience.
“Ibsen wrote brilliantly for women”, explains Emma, “and Nora is a great female role. I’m excited about playing it and about working in Manchester again.”
Playing Torvald, Nora’s husband, is Ken Bradshaw, who played Czechoslovak dissident Ferdinand in the Library Theatre Company’s acclaimed production of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll in spring 2008, while also in the cast, as Nils Krogstad, Torvald’s scheming colleague, will be Paul Barnhill, currently playing Fred Scrooge in the Library Theatre Company’s hit production of A Christmas Carol at The Lowry.
Find out more about A Dolls House and how to book here.