CAST

ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN as Madonna (Bleak House, Becoming Jane)

Born in England, Anna Maxwell Martin studied at Liverpool University before joining the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.  Martin first came to prominence on the London West End stage playing the leading role of Lyra in the National Theatre's production of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. She was then cast in the part of Bessie Higgins in the BBC television adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel North and South, in 2004, and made a guest appearance in the 2005 series of Doctor Who. She played Esther Summerson, the central character in the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, for which she won the 2006 Best Actress BAFTA Television Award.

In January 2006, she took part in a reading of The Entertainer at the Royal Court Theatre, and in February and March she appeared in Other Hands at the Soho Theatre. She is the narrator of the CD version of The Foreshadowing, a children's book about the First World War by Marcus Sedgwick, which was published in May 2006. After that, she played Cassandra Austen in Becoming Jane, a film due for release in 2007 about the early life of the novelist Jane Austen starring Anne Hathaway. She played the gaoler's daughter in Lee Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, a multi-million pound production by Box TV for BBC One.  She is currently appearing as Sally Bowles in Bill Kenwright's West End production of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre. This revival of the famous musical is directed by Rufus Norris and is scheduled to run until 29 September 2007.

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