The Grapes of Wrath

Tour synopsis, cast & creatives

The epic story of the Joads journey across America is both a moving family saga and an extraordinary evocation of rural life during the Great Depression. Returning home from prison after killing a man in a drunken brawl, Tom Joad finds his family about to join the great exodus from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. Like thousands of others, the Joads have their farm repossessed by the bank after the crops fail yet again. Now, three generations of the Joad family are left with no choice but to pile all their worldly goods onto a broken down truck and head west on Route 66, refugees in their own country. Held together by their indomitable matriarch, Ma Joad, they make for California, lured by tales of unlimited work and prosperity amidst the fruit groves and vineyards. Instead, their hopes and dreams - and lives - are shattered by what they find. Steinbeck s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is one of the greatest celebrations of the dignity and the endurance of the human spirit ever written. Famously filmed by John Ford, with Henry Fonda as Tom.

Cast/Performers

Cherry Jones (Ma Joad), Zoe Aldrich (Elizabeth Sandry / 2nd Agricultural Officer / Understudy Granma), Afolabi Alli (Muley Graves / Flloyd Knowles / Understudy Jim Casy), Rhys Bailey (Winfield / Understudy Al Joad / Noah Joad / Man in the Barn's Son), Rachel Barnes (Band Accordion / Ensemble), Brandon Bassir (Camp Proprietor / Officer / Ensemble / Understudy Tom Joad), Lin Blakley (Granma / Understudy Mrs Wainwright), Tom Bulpett (Noah Joad), Morgan Burgess (Band Slide Guitar / 2nd Officer / Ensemble), Ryan Ellsworth (Willy / The Man Going Back / Ensemble / Understudy Pa / Grandpa / Uncle John), Amelia Gabriel (Ensemble / Understudy Band), Christopher Godwin (Grandpa), Valentine Hanson (1st Agricultural Officer / Weedpatch Camp Director / Camp Guard / Mr Wainwright / Understudy Muley / Floyd), Greg Hicks (Pa Joad), Harley Johnston (Ensemble / Understudy Guitar / Slide Guitar), Natey Jones (Jim Casy), William Lawlor (The Man in the Barn's Son), Mirren Mack (Rose of Sharon), Maimuna Memon (Woman with Guitar / Band Vocal / Banjo), Matthew Romaine (Band Fiddle / 1st Officer / Ensemble), Anish Roy (Connie Rivers / Ensemble), Michael Shaeffer (Uncle John), Robyn Sinclair (Mrs Knowles / Ensemble / Understudy Woman with Guitar), Tucker St Ivany (Al Joad), Tucker St Ivany (Al Joad), Emma Tracey (Ruthie / Understudy Rose of Sharon), Harry Treadaway (Tom Joad), Cath Whitefield (Gas Station Owner / Mrs Wainwright / Ensemble / Understudy Ma Joad / Elizabeth Sandry)

Creatives/Company

Book by: John Steinbeck
Adapted by: Frank Galati
Producer: National Theatre
Director(s): Carrie Cracknell, Alastair Coomer (CDG - casting), Naomi Downham (casting), Georgia Green (staff)
Design: Alex Eales
Costume: Evie Gurney
Lighting: Guy Hoare
Music: Stuart Earl