John Middleton, Christopher Harper, Hannah Tointon and more to star in Strangers on a Train coming to Birmingham

The thriller is based on the psychological drama by the celebrated writer Patricia Highsmith, which was immortalised by Hitchcock’s Academy Award-winning film.

Casting is led by John Middleton playing Detective Arthur Gerard, who left Emmerdale earlier this year in a deeply moving storyline - having played the village’s beloved Vicar Ashley Thomas for over 20 years.

Christopher Harper – currently appearing on the nation’s screens as Coronation Street’s Nathan Curtis in the show’s explosive grooming storyline - plays Charles Bruno. Charles is a psychopathic playboy who has a chance encounter with a troubled stranger named Guy Haines, played by Jack Ashton of Call The Midwife fame.

Hannah Tointon, starring as Guy’s fiancé, Anne Faulkner, is famed for her roles in Mr Selfridge, The Inbetweeners and Hollyoaks.

A fateful encounter takes place between two men in the dining carriage of a train crossing America. Guy Haines is the successful businessman with a nagging doubt about the fidelity of his wife. Charles Bruno is a cold, calculating chancer with a dark secret. A daring and dangerous plan develops from this casual conversation, setting in motion a chain of events that will change the two men’s lives forever.

Director Anthony Banks’ credits include this year’s hugely successful production of Gaslight starring Kara Tointon and Keith Allen, as well as Dennis Kelly’s DNA, Bryony Lavery’s Cesario and More Light, Lucinda Coxon’s The Eternal Not and Michael Lesslie’s Prince of Denmark, Snoo Wilson’s Pignight, Mark Ravenhill’s The Experiment, Tennessee Williams’ The Hotel Plays, Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie.

Anthony was an associate director at the National Theatre until 2014 where he commissioned and developed one hundred new plays for NT Connections.

Strangers on a Train will come to Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre from January 29 to February 3.

For more information and tickets, click here