Dame Judi Dench is to share a stage with her daughter, Finty Williams, for the first time in a new play set on May 7, the general election day this year.

The pair will play a mother and daughter going to cast their ballot in The Vote.

The play, which runs at London’s Donmar Warehouse for two weeks, is set in a fictional London polling station in the last hour-and-a-half before polls close – and will be screened on channel More 4 at that exact time on election day itself.

The cast, which also includes Mark Gatiss, Catherine Tate and Timothy West, will play a mixture of voters, election officials and volunteers helping out on the night.

The theatre’s artistic director, Josie Rourke, who also directs the play, said: “Broadcast live to the nation on the night of the election, this is a unique opportunity for the Donmar to make a small theatre feel very big.

“Some of the nation’s greatest actors are coming together this election night to give theatre a seat at the table of a national event. Everyone involved is approaching this experiment with a sense of adventure.”

She added: “This huge acting company will be portraying a 90-minute slice of our nation as it goes to the polls. The scale and scope of this incredible company of actors is going to make this a very special event.

“This is the first time Judi Dench has been back on the Donmar stage since 1976. To have her at the heart of this incredible company of actors makes this great event a total joy.”

The play is the work of James Graham, whose recent work includes This House, set in the dying days of James Callaghan’s Labour government, and Coalition, which examined the negotiations involved in the creation of the current government.