CAST ANNOUNCED FOR LONDON CLASSIC THEATRE’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF
JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES
London Classic Theatre today announces the full cast for their UK tour of Alan Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves as the company celebrates its 25th anniversary. Michael Cabot, the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre, directs Judy Buxton (Marjorie), Joseph Clowser (Neil), Helen Phillips (Pam), Tom Richardson (Dennis) and Holly Smith (Vera).
Ayckbourn’s play, Just Between Ourselves, premiered at the Library Theatre, Scarborough on 28 January 1976. London Classic Theatre’s new tour opens at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich on 26 February and tours to a further 20 venues across the UK, concluding the tour at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham on 12 July.
Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre, Michael Cabot said today, “I’m delighted to be directing Just Between Ourselves as the centrepiece of LCT’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. Alan Ayckbourn seems to have become a regular feature for us when we hit a big milestone – we produced Absent Friends for our fifteenth anniversary and Absurd Person Singular for our twentieth! Alan’s ambition, as a writer, both in terms of the worlds he creates, and the nuance of his writing is quite unparalleled. Ostensibly, his plays are comedies, dealing with marital tensions, aspiration and that very British preoccupation with class. Just Between Ourselves explores this familiar territory with aplomb, but under the surface lies another dimension, sometimes dark and often painful. Ayckbourn treads the tightrope between comedy and tragedy with an expert hand and makes extraordinary discoveries in the tension between them. Now in his 86th year, with 91 plays under his belt, Alan Ayckbourn is not only our most prolific playwright, but a genuine British institution. It’s a genuine privilege to be bringing Just Between Ourselves, one of his finest and most fascinating plays, to life in 2025.”
London Classic Theatre presents
JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES
By Alan Ayckbourn
26 February – 12 July
Cast: Judy Buxton (Marjorie); Joseph Clowser (Neil); Helen Phillips (Pam); Tom Richardson (Dennis); Holly Smith (Vera)
Director: Michael Cabot; Set and Costume Designer: Elizabeth Wright; Lighting Designer: Clare O’Donoghue
Five birthdays. Two unhappy marriages. One possessive mother.
It is 1976. Dennis tinkers in his garage, cheerfully indifferent to wife Vera’s impending breakdown. Marjorie hovers in the background, making tea and finding fault. Neil has planned a birthday surprise for his wife, but Pam doesn’t share his enthusiasm, preoccupied by frustrations of her own.
In perhaps his most emotionally charged play, Alan Ayckbourn masterfully evokes a world of hidden tensions and suppressed hostility. He expertly navigates the tightrope between comedy and tragedy, guiding us towards a hilarious, yet chilling finale.
Alan Ayckbourn is one of the most widely performed living English language playwrights and a highly regarded theatre director. He is an Olivier, Tony and Molière Award-winning writer who has written over 80 full length plays, more than half of which have gone on to the West End. His contribution to theatre has been recognised with both the Olivier Special Award and a Special Tony Award.
Judy Buxton plays Marjorie. Her theatre credits include The Greeks, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice (RSC), The School for Scandal (Royal Theatre Haymarket), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Novello Theatre), The Ghost Train (The Old Vic), After All These Years (Tabard Theatre), Funny Turns (Grove Theatre, Eastbourne), Run For Your Wife, Move Over Mrs Markham (Mill at Sonning), Blithe Spirit, Secondary Cause of Death (UK tour) and The Art of Concealment (Jermyn Street Theatre). Her television credits include Close Relations, Next of Kin, On the Up, Lovejoy, Bergerac, By the Sword Divided, Diary of a Nobody, Chance in a Million, Chalk and Cheese, How’s Your Father, Rising Damp and The Sweeney; and for film, The Big Sleep, Aces High, Get Real and Once a Man.
Joseph Clowser plays Neil. His theatre credits include Hummingbird (Leeds Playhouse, Seven Arts), Private Peaceful (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Living Together (Sidmouth Manor Pavilion), Short Memory (Waterloo East Theatre), Present Laughter (Sidmouth Manor Pavilion, Pomegranate Theatre), Jamaica Inn (Sidmouth Manor Pavilion, Pomegranate Theatre, Windsor Theatre Royal), The Gift (White Bear Theatre), The Tail of Klaus and Shelly Waterbottom (Theatre503). For television Inside Balmoral; and for film, Time Cut.
Helen Phillips plays Pam. She returns to London Classic Theatre after having appeared in Equus and The Importance of Being Earnest. Further theatre credits include The Lottery (Bury Court Opera), Crush! The Musical (Harold Pinter Theatre), And in the End (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Upstairs at The Gatehouse and Broadway Theatre, Catford), Dad’s Army Marches On (UK tour) and State Fair (Finborough Theatre, Trafalgar Studios). Her television credits include This is Going to Hurt, Doctors, Call the Midwife; and for film, Arthur and Merlin and Big Day.
Tom Richardson plays Dennis. He returns to London Classic Theatre having previously appeared in Abigail’s Party. Further theatre credits include Hamlet (Orange Tree Theatre), The Hound of the Baskervilles (Eastbourne Theatres), Little Women (HOME Manchester), The Snow Queen, Sleeping Beauty, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar (Storyhouse, Chester), Sherlock, Private Lives, Little Women (Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Watford Palace Theatre), As You Like It, She Stoops to Conquer, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Guildford Shakespeare Company), The Prince and the Pauper (New Vic), Lady Chatterley’s Lover (UK tour), Perfect Nonsense, Sense and Sensibility, Single Spies and The Rivals (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick and York Theatre Royal).
Holly Smith plays Mrs Prentice. She returns to London Classic Theatre having previously appeared in What The Butler Saw. Further theatre credits include A Christmas Carol, The Great Gatsby (Theatre Royal Windsor), The Mirror Crack’d, Shadowlands, Flare Path, Blithe Spirit, Out of Order (UK tour), Don’t Misunderstand Me, Beauty of the Father, Boeing Boeing, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, Candida (English Theatre of Hamburg), The Odd Couple (Vienna’s English Theatre), Miss Margarida’s Way (Leicester Square Theatre), National Mourning (Theatre503), The Hothouse (Trafalgar Studios), Teechers (Harrogate Theatre, Haymarket Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe), The Barchester Chronicles (Chichester Festival Theatre), Plaza Suite (Marlborough Theatre) and Annie (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre). Her television credits include Killing Eve, Zapped, Watson and Oliver, Coming of Age and The Frame; and for film, Ghost Stories, Closer and Appearances.
Michael Cabot directs and is the founder and Artistic Director of London Classic Theatre. He has directed all forty-eight LCT productions since their touring debut in 2000, including Faith Healer, Abigail’s Party, Boeing Boeing, Same Time, Next Year,Absurd Person Singular, No Man’s Land, My Mother Said I Never Should, Private Lives, Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Waiting for Godot, Absent Friends and Equus. His recent freelance work as director includes three collaborations with award-winning playwright Henry Naylor, The Collector (Arcola Theatre/UK tour), Angel and Borders (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Adelaide Fringe & Brits Off Broadway).