THE 50th anniversary season of Southampton's Nuffield Theatre will be marked by the appointment of a team of new associate actors - Laura Carmichael, Celia Imrie, Tom Hiddleston and Samantha Bond. 

The actors will join the current team of associates.  

Samantha Bond originally found fame on Nuffield’s main stage in the world premiere of Daisy Pulls It Off before it transferred to the West End.

Laura Carmichael, who made her West End debut in 2012, is from Southampton and starred in Nuffield’s 2008 production of The President’s Holiday.

The Associate Actors will act as ambassadors for the company and support the new vision for Nuffield as the leading producing theatre company in Southampton.

Tom Hiddleston said: “Sam Hodges has made an extraordinary habit of revolutionising theatre-making in my generation. He founded the HighTide Festival, a crucial platform for new writers to produce and present their first plays, and revitalised the Criterion Theatre in the West End with exciting new programming.

"His first season at Nuffield has been unerringly strong. The work speaks for itself. Nuffield feels revitalised with fresh, new creative ambition. It's going from strength to strength and I am proud to support it every step of the way.”

Celia Imrie added: "I am very flattered to be invited to be an Associate Actress of Nuffield,  I am looking forward to being a part of an adventurous new chapter where we can do work that has never been seen before, and give the audiences delicious surprises along the way.”

The new season features four new commissions, including the world premiere of the stage adaptation of the classic Coen Brothers’ film The Hudsucker Proxy.

The new season begins on 1 August with The Saints, a newly commissioned play about the highs and lows of following Southampton Football Club, written by award-winning young playwright Luke Barnes and directed by Matthew Dunster, exploring the pivotal role of football within regional cities across the country. 

The Festival will also see the world premiere of a new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s short story The Best Christmas Present in the World. 

The Nuffield's creative and executive director Sam Hodges said: “For our 50th birthday season, we wanted to programme work which reflects our ambitions for the next half century.

"It’s a season which places a strong emphasis on commission and new work, a season which develops new partnerships with some of the country’s leading theatres, which marks what I hope will be the start of a regular presence for our work in London, and a season of work which speaks to the city – whether directly, through a play about its football club (The Saints), or psychologically, through a play which speaks to its industrial past and legacy, a play about man versus big business (The Hudsucker Proxy)." 

Nuffield has once again received Arts Council England National Portfolio status and will receive £1.6m of funding over three years from 2015 – 2018.

Nuffield has also been successful in its capital bid for £180,000 which will be spent on the redevelopment of the theatre’s backstage and technical areas in 2014.