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York Theatre Royal is proud to announce its residency at the National Railway Museum has received an Exceptional Award from Arts Council England. The news follows the theatre once again becoming a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England last year. The award aims to respond to new ideas that come from the arts sector, that do not already fit into an organisation’s existing plans.

York Theatre Royal applied for the award as part of plans to take work to the National Railway Museum during the theatre’s closure for re-development. This award enhances activity already taking place such as the large-scale community theatre project In Fog and Falling Snow and the re-staging of the Olivier Award winning show The Railway Children, allowing these projects to form part of an ambitious residency at the museum for the theatre; enabling staff from both organisations to work more closely together.

For a theatre and a museum to work together in this way is quite revolutionary and we’re so pleased that Arts Council England has decided to support the project.

said Damian Cruden, Artistic Director at York Theatre Royal.

A blueprint document outlining the process of the collaboration and sharing lessons learnt along the way will be created for use by other organisations within the arts sector. It is hoped this document will enable and encourage other national and regional museums and theatres to work together. Key to the aims of the collaboration is for both organisations to benefit from the collation of research into how and why people choose to engage with projects running during the residency, or to come and see a production on during this time. This will then be used to inform future projects and collaborations at both institutions.

The funding allows the Creative Engagement and Learning teams from both organisations to work together on more projects too, creating new exciting activities for children and young people that utilise the skills of both teams to develop new practise. This includes two immersive theatre projects about World War I and the Orient Express, writers in residence creating work especially for young people, digital projects and York Theatre Royal bringing their highly acclaimed TakeOver Festival to the museum.

Jim Lowe, Head of Operations at the National Railway Museum said:

Having the York Theatre Royal take up residency here at the museum is hugely exciting. We have worked well and successfully in the past and are now looking forward to delivering the same high quality production of The Railway Children from July 2015. Having this residency will form an extra strong partnership and we’re looking forward to all that it offers.

As part of the community theatre project – for which over 500 residents of York and surrounding areas have volunteered – the National Railway Museum already play host to the various groups of volunteers such as photography and promotion groups. Since the theatre’s closure for development earlier this year they have also provided space for the York Theatre Royal youth theatre, one of the largest in the country.

The York Theatre Royal, National Railway Museum and Pilot Theatre co-production is a piece of new theatre from Mike Kenny and Bridget Foreman called In Fog and Falling Snow bought to life by the people of York. Directed by Damian Cruden, Juliet Forster and Katie Posner and told by a cast of over 200, audiences will move through the National Railway Museum’s collections and end up in the new purpose built Signal Box Theatre, telling the story of George Hudson, the disgraced entrepreneur who changed the face of railway travel.

Following E Nesbit’s The Railway Children which runs from 31st July to 5 September 2015 at the museum, there will be a third collaborative project taking place, after the theatre has re-opened, with the aim of creating a sustainable partnership between the two attractions.

Tickets for both The Railway Children and In Fog and Falling Snow are available from York Theatre Royal’s Box Office in De Grey Rooms on St Leonards Place or on 01904 623568 or can be booked securely online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

For Services Rendered cast now announced

FOR SERVICES RENDERED

By W. Somerset Maugham
Director Howard Davies

31 July – 5 September
Minerva Theatre, Chichester

Award-winning director Howard Davies stages Chichester’s new production of For Services Rendered with a distinguished cast.

This 1932 drama is considered to be one of W. Somerset Maugham’s greatest plays. It depicts a world where both men and women are struggling to adjust to life in the aftermath of World War One. Former soldiers face debt, redundancy and depression, while the choices available to women are equally limited.

Somerset Maugham was a distinguished novelist and short story writer as well as playwright, whose work includes Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, and Cakes and Ale.

David Annen plays Dr Prentice. His credits include the Young Vic production of Ah! Wilderness, as well as The Master and Margarita and A Disappearing Number (both for Complicite).

Anthony Calf plays Wilfred. His Chichester credits include Private Lives (and West End), The Deep Blue Sea andWallenstein. Other credits include The Hard Problem, The White Guard and Gethsemane (all for the National Theatre).

Sam Callis plays Howard. His credits include the West End production of Hay Fever, and The League of Youth and The Importance of Being Earnest (both for Nottingham Playhouse).

Simon Chandler plays Leonard. His credits include Red Velvet at the Tricycle Theatre (also West End and New York), as well as the films The Theory of Everything and The King’s Speech.

Nick Fletcher plays Collie. His credits include the Young Vic production of A Doll’s House (also West End and New York), as well as Treasure Island and The White Guard (both for the National Theatre).

Stella Gonet plays Charlotte. Her credits include Chichester’s acclaimed revival of Top Girls (also West End),Handbagged (Tricycle Theatre and West End), Hope (Royal Court Theatre) and Before the Party (Almeida Theatre).

Jo Herbert plays Ethel. Her credits include 3 Winters (National Theatre), Hello/Goodbye (Hampstead Theatre) and As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Yolanda Kettle plays Lois. Her credits include Birdland and Anhedonia (both for the Royal Court Theatre) and Shutters(Park Theatre).

Joseph Kloska plays Sydney. His credits include Measure for Measure (RSC), The School for Scandal (Barbican Theatre) and The Vertical Hour (Royal Court Theatre).

Justine Mitchell plays Eva. Her credits include Mr Burns (Almeida Theatre), Man (Young Vic) and Children of the Sun(National Theatre).

Matilda Ziegler plays Gwen. Her credits include The School for Scandal (Barbican Theatre), Inadmissable Evidence andMachinal (National Theatre) and the West End production of An Inspector Calls.

Director Howard Davies’s numerous credits include award-winning productions of The White Guard, Mourning Becomes Electra and All My Sons (all for the National Theatre), The Iceman Cometh (Almeida Theatre and West End), and the original RSC production of Piaf (also West End and Broadway).

Design is by William Dudley, whose credits include Festival 2015’s The Rehearsal, as well as Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe), Fortune’s Fool (Old Vic), The Winter’s Tale (RSC) and Uncle Vanya (The Print Room).

Lighting Design is by Mark Henderson whose Chichester credits include Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Private Lives (all of which transferred to the West End) and ENRON (also Royal Court Theatre, West End, Broadway and tour), the West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as The History Boys and The Habit of Art (both for the National Theatre).

Sound Design is by Mike Walker whose Chichester credits include Taken at Midnight and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, both of which transferred to the West End. Other credits include Crazy for You,The Glass Menagerie, Caroline or Change (National Theatre), and Jerry Springer – The Opera (Battersea Arts Centre, Edinburgh Festival, National Theatre and UK tour) for which he won the first Olivier Award for Best Sound Design.

For Services Rendered is sponsored by SieMatic.

Events

Director Howard Davies will be in conversation with novelist and CFT biographer Kate Mosse at a pre-show talk on Wednesday 5 August, 6pm. Tickets are free but booking is essential.

Meet some of the For Services Rendered company at a post-show talk hosted by writer Simon Brett on Monday 17 August.

Join the technical crew and creative team for a For Services Rendered Theatre Day offering insights and discussions about the making of the production on Thursday 3 September, 11am. Tickets £5.

The Legacy of Conflict is a panel discussion about the cultural impact of the Great War, and why it remains a divisive subject 100 years after the end of hostilities. The event takes place on Friday 4 September, 5.30pm, Minerva Theatre. Free, but booking is essential.

Return to Sender  weaves together transcripts, postcards and stories from loved ones separated during World War One in a performance by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre members from Billingshurst satellite group. This will be staged on Saturday 19 September, 11am, Minerva Theatre. Tickets £5.

Booking information
For Services Rendered is at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester from 31 July – 5 September. Evenings 7.45pm (except for Press Night, Thursday 6 August at 7pm), matinees 2.45pm. Tickets: Previews/Press Nights £20, £25, all other performances £25, £34. To book, go to cft.org.uk or contact the Box Office on 01243 781312.

Special Prices for 16 – 25s
An allocation of tickets for 16 – 25 year olds priced at just £8.50 for all performances of For Services Rendered will go on sale on 30 June. These may be booked on 01243 781312, online at cft.org.uk/850 or in person.

 

WHIP-CRACK-AWAY!

CALAMITY JANE RIDES INTO LEEDS GRAND THEATRE

Jodie Prenger and Tom Lister will ride into Leeds in June bringing the wonderful characters of Calamity Jane andWild Bill Hickock to the City in a piece of musical theatre that has delighted audiences throughout the country.

Boasting an Oscar-nominated score that includes The Black Hills of Dakota, The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), Just Blew in from the Windy City and the award-winning Secret Love, Calamity Jane takes to the stage at Leeds Grand Theatre next Monday 22^nd to Saturday 27^th June.

Calamity Jane can outrun and outshoot any man in Deadwood.  Hard, swaggering and desperate to impress, she travels to Chicago to recruit a star, Adelaide Adams, for the Deadwood Stage.  But things don’t go too smoothly for Calamity, as everyone in town favours the new girl and she struggles to keep her jealousy and pride in check.  It takes her long-standing enemy Wild Bill Hickok to make her see sense, and realise her Secret Love.

Jodie Prenger won the role of Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh’s West End production of Oliver! through the BBC television series I’d Do Anything and went on  to receive both critical and public acclaim for her portrayal of the role at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Since then she has starred in the National Theatre’s hit production of One Man, Two Guvnors both in the West End and on tour and as Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. Jodie is also a regular presenter on BBC Radio 2.

Tom Lister most recently played ‘Grimes and Eel’ in the world premiere of “Water Babies” at Leicester Curve. He is probably best known to TV audiences for his role as ‘Carl King’ in ITV’s “Emmerdale”, a part he played for nine years. His theatre credits also include ‘Pan’ in “Loves Mistress” at the Globe Theatre and ‘Ralph’ in “Accrington Pals” at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Calamity Jane is at Leeds Grand Theatre from Tuesday 23^rd to Saturday 27^th June

 

Tickets are on sale now priced from £22 to £40

 

Book online at leedsgrandtheatre.com or call Box office on 0844 848 2700

 

DAVID HASSELHOFF TO STAR IN WORLD PREMIERE AT DARLINGTON CIVIC THEATRE

David Hasselhoff will star in a brand new musical – Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, which comes to Darlington Civic Theatre for one week only from November 23.

A DJ dad, a wild child daughter and a trip to the party island of Ibiza with a pulsating dance track from the 80’s and 90’s. David Hasselhoff, the iconic star of Baywatch and Knight Rider, plays Ross, a hilarious hedonist. He’s Ibiza’s top 80’s DJ who doesn’t realise a new decade has dawned, disco is out, the club scene is in.

He tries to keep up with the times… and with Mandy, his new younger girlfriend, but matters are complicated when his teenage daughter Penny arrives to stay. Father and daughter haven’t seen each other for three years, since a messy divorce, and she is no longer a demure school girl, but a wild child who quickly falls for Rik, the holiday rep.

It’s the story of two generations colliding, as a badly behaved parent tries to control a wild child teenager! This hilarious hit-fest is also a touching father and daughter drama, set against a background of sun, sea, sex, drugs and hits that take us back to the 80’s and 90’s when we wore denim overalls, girls had hair scrunchies and guys played Nintendo Game Boy. Think ‘Mamma Mia’ on speed! ‘Friends’ meets ‘Ibiza Uncovered’, with the soundtrack of our lives.

Underscoring this coming of age tale of love, laughter and friendship is a string of hits from the record number one ‘Everything I Do I Do it For You’ to M. C. Hammer’s ‘Can’t Touch This’ from ‘Ride on Time’ to ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. We dare you not to dance!

From the makers of ‘Dreamboats and Petticoats’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ comes a heart warming and hilarious story promising to be the ‘Mamma Mia’ party night of the year!

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life is at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday November 23 to Saturday November 28. Tickets* are priced from £23 to £35.

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

*All ticket prices include a £1 restoration levy

London, 18 June 2015. Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley, is returning to Wembley, not only for his last ever UK performance on 4^th July, but also to immortalise his world record-holding feet, in a cast outside The SSE Arena at Wembley Park.

The world-renowned Irish Dancer set a record breaking run of 21 consecutive shows at London’s legendary Wembley Arena in 1998 and holds the Guinness World Record for a staggering 35 taps per second.

Now Flatley’s famous feet will forever have a place in the ‘Square of Fame’ outside the SSE Arena, amongst the hand prints of other stars including Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Bryan Adams, Lionel Richie and Dolly Parton.

Michael said: “It’s a privilege to have my feet, so integral to what I do and who I am, immortalised here at Wembley Park which has such a rich entertainment heritage.”

“It is the only fitting venue for my final UK performance of Lord of the Dance.”

Matt Slade, MD of Wembley Park, the transformed area around the SSE Arena and National Stadium commented, “To have people like Michael Flatley leaving their mark here at Wembley Park speaks volumes about the significance of Wembley as part of our national heritage. Generations have come to Wembley Park for entertainment and we’re honoured to be hosting Michael’s last UK performance here at the SSE Arena.”

Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games, with a special appearance by Michael Flatley, will hold its last UK tour performance on Saturday 4^thJuly at 8pm at the SSE Arena, Wembley Park, though the London production, starring James Keegan and Matt Smith, will continue at the Dominion Theatre until 5^th September. For tickets at the SSE Arena, Wembley Park visit http://www.ssearena.co.uk/.

For further information on Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games visit http://www.lordofthedance.com/

 

TWO CHILLING TALES TO SEND YOU LOCO… IT’S ELEMENTARY

Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train steams into Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday 30 June closely followed by Sherlock Holmes and The Ripper Murders by Brian Clemens from Tuesday 7 July.

Talking Scarlet theatre company brings two star-studded casts to Darlington Civic Theatre as part of a spine-tingling summer thriller season.

The Ghost Train is the classic comedy thriller that follows a group of travellers (including a newlywed couple, an estranged couple, a self-indulgent young dandy and an elderly spinster with a parrot) stranded in the waiting room of an isolated railway station on a dark and stormy night. They are warned by the stationmaster that they will die if they see the ghostly train that haunts the line. Ridley’s inspiration came after becoming stranded overnight at Mangotsfield station in Bristol, now a disused station on the Midland Railway main line.

The production stars Jeffrey Holland (Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M’Lord?, Oh, Doctor Beeching!), Tom Butcher (The Bill, Doctors), Sophie Powles (Emmerdale), Judy Buxton (General Hospital, On the Up) and David Janson (Get Some In!, ‘Allo ‘Allo!, Keeping Up Appearances).

Sherlock Holmes and The Ripper Murders tells of the grisly serial killings in Victorian Whitechapel, dubbed by the popular press at the time as the work of ‘Jack the Ripper’. Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are drawn into one of the darkest plots ever to shake the foundations of England.

The production stars Andrew Paul (Coronation Street, The Bill), Neil Roberts (Holby City, Coronation Street) and Kim Taylforth (London’s Burning, Brookside).

The Ghost Train runs at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday 30 June to Saturday 4 July. Sherlock Holmes and The Ripper Murders runs from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 July.

Tickets* for both productions are priced from £12.60 with a double ticket offer to see both thrillers and save up to £10. To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

*All ticket prices include a £1 restoration levy

SEBASTIAN FAULKS
TO APPEAR IN CAMEO ROLE
IN RACHEL WAGSTAFF’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STAGE ADAPTATION
OF HIS NOVEL BIRDSONG

Novelist Sebastian Faulks will be treading the boards in a cameo acting role in Rachel Wagstaff’s adaptation of his play BIRDSONG at Richmond Theatre this summer.

Audiences will be able to see Sebastian Faulks playing the role of a sapper (tunneler) called Wheeler, at evening performances on Monday 29 June, Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 July (the run continues until 4 July).

The producers of BIRDSONG offered Sebastian Faulks the contract of a paid acting job, having seen his performance when he tried out the role for two nights at Bristol Old Vic in May. Sebastian was keen to recreate the role for a final time as he enjoyed himself so much in Bristol, where he delivered all of his lines perfectly to an outstanding response.

Sebastian’s fellow cast members include Peter Duncan, Edmund Wiseman and Emily Bowker who head the cast of BIRDSONG. Also in the cast are Emily Altneu, Max Bowden (most recently seen as Justin Fitzgerald in BBC One’s Waterloo Road), Selma Brook, James Findlay (winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2010), Roger Martin, Liam McCormick, James Staddon, Cloudia Swann and Alastair Whatley.

Richmond Theatre is the final venue for BIRDSONG, which has been on a critically acclaimed tour since February.

Touring during the 100th anniversary of the First World War, BIRDSONG tells a mesmerising story of love and courage, before and during the war. In pre-war France, a young Englishman, Stephen Wraysford, embarks on a passionate and dangerous affair with the beautiful Isabelle Azaire that turns their worlds upside down.  As the war breaks out, Stephen must lead his men through the carnage of the Battle of the Somme and through the sprawling tunnels that lie deep underground.  Faced with the unprecedented horror of the war, Stephen clings to the memory of Isabelle and the idyll of his former life as his world explodes around him.

The 2013 and 2014 tours were hugely successful and critically acclaimed, seen by over 130,000 people and receiving 4- and 5-star reviews, with audiences calling the show ‘simply stunning’. Sebastian Faulks was thrilled the show was re-mounted to tour again, and has previously stated: “Both Rachel and I want this to be the definitive version of Birdsong on stage. The audience watch it and think, thank God I have never undergone all of this. These experiences are far outside the lives of most people but there is something about the way the production works which makes people identify and think, it could be me…”

Rachel Wagstaff is currently co-writing two screenplays with Sebastian Faulks, one for Eleventh Hour Productions, and one for Bob & Co. She is also under commission to write a new musical for Vicky Graham Productions/Old Vic Productions, and writing a stage play for The Original Theatre Company. Rachel adapted Sebastian Faulks’s novel, The Girl at the Lion d’Or, for Radio Four (Woman’s Hour), and When I Lost You, an Afternoon Play for Radio Four, co-written with Duncan Abel, was featured on Pick of the Week last year.

BIRDSONG is again directed by Alastair Whatley, with set design by Victoria Spearing, lighting by Alex Wardle for Charcoalblue and sound by Dom Bilkey.

BIRDSONG is produced on tour by Alastair Whatley for The Original Theatre Company and Anne-Marie Woodley and Jon Woodley for Birdsong Productions Ltd.

Official BIRDSONG website:  www.birdsongthetour.com

Official BIRDSONG trailer:  http://www.birdsongthetour.com/#/trailer/4581629926

BIRDSONG is suitable for ages 12+.

RICHMOND LISTINGS

BIRDSONG
RICHMOND THEATRE
Little Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1QJ
29 June – 4 July 2015 (evenings 7.30pm; matinees Wednesday and Saturday 2.30pm)
Sebastian Faulks* is performing at evening performances on Monday 29 June, Wednesday 1 July and Thursday 2 July (*subject to availability) at 7.30pm.
Booking:  0844 871 7651 www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/
Tickets: £10 – £32.40 (booking fees apply)

 

Made in Corby presents
No Way Back
Created by Frantic Assembly

Taking inspiration from events in our lives that have shaped who we are, No Way Back is a brand new piece of theatre inspired by the stories of the Corby company, and created by a team of artists from Frantic Assembly working alongside this group of local performers.

A collaborative theatre project, No Way Back has brought both Frantic Assembly’s co-founder and Artistic Director Scott Graham and Associate Director Neil Bettles back to Corby, their home town. They will work with six professional performers, lighting designer Andy Purves and video designer Andrej Goulding.

To encourage people to come forward and take part in creating the show, Frantic Assembly began with open taster workshops across the town in May attracting over 70 people. Then in workshop trials that followed, ten non-professional performers from Corby were selected to co-create and perform in the July show. Local performers selected were Natalie Chisholm, Johnny Cruickshank, Maureen Gallacher, Sam Gooding, Nikki Hammond, India Martin, Stacey Miller, Gordon Ritchie, Lisa Shepherd and Louise Slaven.

They will perform alongside Sally Harris who taught both Scott Graham and Neil Bettles drama at Kingswood School in Corby, Steven Miller who recently played Iago in Frantic Assembly’s acclaimed production of Othello, Vicki Manderson who performed in Frantic Assembly’s Beautiful Burnout and was the company’s Associate on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Jonnie Riordan who is a graduate of Frantic Assembly’s Ignition training programme for young men, Sofie Burgoyne and Krista Vuori.

No Way Back is Made in Corby’s second signature commission in a three year programme bringing together the best national and international artists and the Corby community. The aim is for more people to experience and be inspired by the arts, irrespective of where they live or their social, educational or financial circumstances.

Corby is a test bed for increasing arts participation and arts-led regeneration. One of the fastest growing places in the UK, the town is set to double in size by 2030. The last fifteen years have brought about ambitious investment in housing, regeneration, town centre redevelopment and a new civic building and home to The Core at Corby Cube Theatre, with its growing national reputation for work with young people.

Listings
No Way Back
Directed by Scott Graham and Neil Bettles
Lighting Design by Andy Purves
Video Design by Andrej Goulding

Performances will take place at 2pm and 7.30pm on July 9th and 10th.
Post show talks after 7.30pm performance on July 9th and 2pm on July 10th.
Tickets are on sale from The Core at Corby Cube Ticket Office: 01536 470 470 andwww.thecorecorby.com

On Saturday 5th September 2015 The 39 Steps will close after 9 years at the Criterion Theatre.

Based on John Buchan’s 1914 spy thriller The Thirty Nine Steps and adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow (Desmond Oliver Dingle/The National Theatre of Brent), The 39 Steps is directed by Maria Aitken, with design by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Ian Scott, sound by Mic Pool, and movement byToby Sedgwick. The 39 Steps is presented by Edward Snape for Fiery Angel and Tricycle London Productions with the West Yorkshire Playhouse. From an original concept by Simon Corble & Nobby Dimon.

The Olivier, Tony and Whatsonstage award-winning comedy has celebrated 9 years in the West End since it opened at the Criterion Theatre in 2006. By the 5th September, The 39 Steps will have played the 5th highest number of performances of any play in West End history.

Following the incredible adventures of our handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents, and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women.

This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller features 4 actors, playing 139 roles in 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action.

Over the past 9 years, the production has seen more than 50 actors tread its boards and between them they have got through over 3,000 pairs of stockings, 530 O/S maps of Scotland, 38 pairs of handcuffs and 16 suspender belts. With the production having performed in 39 countries including Moscow, Shanghai, Tokyo and Paris, an audience of 3 million have seen the production worldwide.

The tongue-in-cheek production opened at London’s Criterion Theatre in September 2006, following short runs at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and London’s Tricycle Theatre. The original cast included Rupert Degas, Charles Edwards, Simon Gregor and Catherine McCormack.

The 39 Steps was also famously adapted for screen by Alfred Hitchcock in what is widely regarded as one of the best films from his early period. The stage production references a number of the legendary scenes from Hitchcock’s 1935 classic movie thriller of the same name including the chase on the Flying Scotsman Train, the escape on the Forth Rail Bridge and the controversial ‘stockings and suspenders’ scene.

Current cast includes Daniel Llewelyn-Williams [Richard Hannay], Kelly Hotten [Pamela/Annabella/Margaret], Mike Goodenough [Man], and Gary Sefton [Man].

www.love39steps.com

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED – NIGEL ANTHONY, ROSALIND AYRES,

NIGEL HAVERS, MARTIN JARVIS,

CHRISTINE KAVANAGH, SIÂN PHILLIPS, CARMEN du SAUTOY, DAVID SHAW-PARKER

STAR IN THE HIT WEST END PRODUCTION OF

At THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

FROM TUESDAY 17^TH TO SATURDAY 21^ST NOVEMBER

Oscar Wilde’s

The Importance of Being Earnest

‘A trivial comedy for serious people’

 

Directed by LUCY BAILEY

Designed by WILLIAM DUDLEY

Starring ROSALIND AYRES, NIGEL HAVERS, MARTIN JARVIS, CHRISTINE KAVANAGH and SIÂN PHILLIPS who reprise their West End performances and are joined by NIGEL ANTHONY, CARMEN du SAUTOY, DAVID SHAW-PARKER.

Full casting has now been announced for The Bunbury Company of Players production of Oscar Wilde’s much loved and witty masterpiece THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, which will embark on a first class regional tour from Autumn this year. The play will be on at the Grand Opera House York from Tuesday 17^th to Saturday 21^stNovember.

Rosalind Ayres (Titanic, Outnumbered, New Tricks), Nigel Havers (Chariots of Fire, Downton Abbey, Coronation Street), Martin Jarvis (Endeavour, Just William, Titanic), Christine Kavanagh (Man and Superman, Vera, Manchild),and Siân Phillips (Marlene, The Age of Innocence, Cabaret) will reunite as The Bunbury Company of Players, an extremely experienced cast of serious comedic actors, to reprise their roles as Miss Prism, Algernon Moncrieff, John Worthing J.P., Cecily Cardew and Lady Bracknell from the West End. They will be joined by Nigel Anthony(Tonight at 8.30, Dearest Nancy, Darling Evelyn, The Shepherd) in the roles of Lane and Merriman, with Carmen du Sautoy (The Man with the Golden Gun, Poor Little Rich Girl, Lost Empires) as Gwendolyn Fairfax, David Shaw-Parker(McQueen, Uncle Vanya, The Muppet’s Christmas Carol) as Rev Canon Chasuble. Dubbed by Wilde ‘a trivial comedy for serious people’, the production delivers an entirely faithful, but completely unique, setting to one of the greatest theatrical comedies.

Introducing Wide’s genius afresh to a new audience, acclaimed director Lucy Bailey, together with comic novelist, Simon Brett, and the innovative theatre designer William Dudley have created a delightful new context for the play which enchanted audiences across the UK last year.

‘Earnest gets a terrific twist’

The Daily Mail

‘Thoroughly likeable…Sparkling fun’

The Times

 

Rupert Gavin, producer for Incidental Colman, said “I am absolutely delighted that in our 34th year as a producing company with a long tradition in comedy, we are reprising our celebratory milestone 100th production – warmly received in the West end – with a U.K. wide tour of that landmark comedy in the English language, The Importance of Being Earnest. For this, we have drawn together an exceptional creative team, a group of brilliant comedic actors, and we bring of course, a twist to proceedings, that you would only expect of us.”

Nigel Havers, said: “This production is very close to my heart and we had a ball doing it in the West End last summer. I’m thrilled we get to do it all again and hope audiences in York will laugh and enjoy watching our twist on Oscar’s brilliant play as much as we enjoy performing it.”

The Importance of Being Earnest elegantly lampoons the hypocrisies of Victorian society and opens as two bachelors, the dependable, John Worthing, J.P. (Martin Jarvis) and upper class playboy Algernon Moncrieff (Nigel Havers), feel compelled to create different identities in order to pursue two eligible ladies Cecily Cardew (Christine Kavanagh) and Gwendolyn Fairfax (Carmen du Sautoy). The hilarious misadventures which result from their subterfuge;  their brushes with the redoubtable Lady Bracknell (Siân Phillips) and the uptight Miss Prism (Rosalind Ayres) result in a plot that twists and fizzles with some of the finest dialogue to be found in theatre.

Director                                Lucy Bailey

Designer                              William Dudley

Company Writer               Simon Brett

 

The Importance of Being Earnest is being produced by Rupert Gavin for Incidental Colman as a Bunbury Company of Players presentation.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Theatre: Grand Opera House York

Dates: 17 – 21 November

Performance days/times: Tue – Sat 7:30pm; Wed, Thu & Sat mats 2:30pm

Ticket prices: £32, £25, £16, £10

Booking details: In person at theatre box office or call ATG tickets on 0844 871 3024, book online atwww.atgtickets.com/york