Fiery Angel, The Ambassador Theatre Group, CFT Enterprises, Fiery Dragons & The Children’s Touring Partnership present the Chichester Festival Theatre Production of
Goodnight Mister Tom
By David Wood
From the classic novel by Michelle Magorian
- Last chance to see Goodnight Mister Tom at the Duke of York’s Theatre ahead of UK tour
- Final performance of Angus Jackson’s Oliver Award-winning production in the West End on 20 February
- The tour of this critically acclaimed production will open in Spring 2016 visiting Manchester, Milton Keynes, Glasgow, Birmingham, Oxford, York, Richmond, Aylesbury, Woking, Bath, Cambridge, Cardiff and Newcastle
Audiences have just over two weeks left to catch the Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of Michelle Magorian’s classic Goodnight Mister Tom which will end its limited West End run on Saturday 20 February. Adapted for stage by David Wood, this Chichester Festival Theatre production of Goodnight Mister Tom has enjoyed critical and public acclaim during its return to the West End after opening on 11 December 2015.
The cast, led by David Troughton in the central role of Tom Oakley, will embark on an extensive UK tour, opening at Manchester Opera House on 23 February. The tour will continue on to Milton Keynes Theatre, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre, Oxford New Theatre, York Grand Opera House, Richmond Theatre, Aylesbury Waterside, Woking New Victoria, Bath Theatre Royal, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Cardiff New Theatre and Newcastle Theatre Royal. David Wood’s stage adaptation enjoyed great critical acclaim in 2012/13, winning the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and Family.
Angus Jackson leads a stellar creative team that includes designer Robert Innes Hopkins(Oppenheimer; RSC/ West End), lighting designer Tim Mitchell (King and Country: Henry IV Part I And Part II; RSC/ Barbican) and sound designer Gregory Clarke (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; Chichester Festival Theatre & Children’s Touring Partnership). They are joined by composer 
Matthew Scott (Taken at Midnight; Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End), puppet designer and director Toby Olié (associate puppetry director of War Horse; West End) and choreographer Lizzi Gee (Future Conditional; Old Vic).
The novel Goodnight Mister Tom is now a modern classic and celebrates its 35th anniversary year in 2016. Michelle Magorian’s wonderfully uplifting tale is brought gloriously to life in this magical stage adaptation by David Wood. Set during the dangerous build up to the Second World War, Goodnight Mister Tom follows young William Beech, who is evacuated to the idyllic English countryside and forges a remarkable and heart-warming friendship with the elderly recluse, Tom Oakley.
Winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and commended for the Carnegie Medal, Goodnight Mister Tom is now a world-wide literary favourite and BAFTA award-winning TV film (starring John Thaw), and continues to inspire audiences and bring generations together.
David Troughton is currently playing the role of Tony Archer on BBC Radio 4’s long-running British contemporary rural drama, The Archers (since 2014). He has performed numerous times with both the RSC (The Shoemaker’s Holiday, Macbeth, Macbett, Henry IV: parts 1 and 2, Richard II andRichard III, The Cherry Orchard, The Tempest, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Venetian Twins) and the National Theatre (Season’s Greetings, Playing with Fire, Measure for Measure, Peter Pan and Fool For Love). He is also a regular on TV where his appearances includeGrantchester, Unforgotten, The Hollow Crown and many more.
Goodnight Mister Tom is adapted for the stage by David Wood OBE, the country’s leading writer and director of plays and musicals for children. Also over the Christmas season, David’s Olivier Award-nominated stage production of The Tiger Who Came to Tea ran at the Lyric Theatre and his adaptation of The Witches enjoyed a run in Leicester.
Author Michelle Magorian was inspired to write Goodnight Mister Tom after hearing her mother’s tales about her time as a nurse in the war. Published in 1981, it has been translated into 11 languages and won awards in the UK, America and Australia. Her novel Just Henry won the Costa Award for children’s fiction in 2008, was adapted for television in 2011, and starred Sheila Hancock who appears briefly as her younger self in Michelle’s latest novel, Impossible! Michelle is currently working with the composer Stephen Keeling on the musical Sea Change.
The production is directed by Angus Jackson, whose work includes Oppenheimer for the RSC Swan and Vaudeville Theatre, King Lear for Chichester and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Browning Version for Chichester and the Harold Pinter Theatre, Bingo for the Young Vic and Chichester, The Power Of Yes for the National’s Lyttleton theatre, and Elmina’s Kitchen for the National’s Cottesloe theatre and the Garrick Theatre. Forthcoming work includes Don Quixote in a new version by James Fenton for the RSC’s 400th anniversary season, starring David Threlfall and Rufus Hound.