ROSE THEATRE KINGSTON ANNOUNCES FULL CAST FOR STEPHEN BILL’S CURTAINS
Rose Theatre Kingston present
CURTAINS
Written by Stephen Bill
Directed by Lindsay Posner
Set & Costume Designer: Peter McKintosh; LX Designer: Paul Pyant
Composer & Sound Designer: Isobel Waller-Bridge; Casting Director: Ginny Schiller
22 February – 17 March 2018
As part of their 10th anniversary season Rose Theatre Kingston today announces the full cast for Stephen Bill’s award-winning play Curtains. Lindsay Posner directs Leo Bill (Michael), Caroline Catz (Susan), Jonathan Coy (Geoffrey), Tim Dutton (Douglas), Wendy Nottingham (Margaret), Saskia Reeves (Katherine), Sandra Voe(Ida) and Marjorie Yates (Mrs Jackson). The production opens on Wednesday 28 February, with previews from Thursday 22 February, and runs until Saturday 17 March.
Ida’s family is throwing her a birthday tea for her eighty-sixth birthday. Their efforts to be cheerful and make the event a success verge on the desperate. Ida is racked with pain and feels she has lived too long. As the painfully laboured celebrations go on, her third daughter Susan returns unexpectedly after an absence of 25 years. Tensions immediately flare between the sisters, whilst Ida struggles to recognise her.
As the party comes to an end, the family disperse leaving Katherine remembering the pact she made with Ida not to let her suffer into old age… When the family returns, old prejudices and rivalries are forced into the open in this at times hilarious, painful and moving picture of a family in turmoil.
Stephen Bill won Drama Magazine’s award for Best Play, alongside Most Promising Playwright from both Evening Standard Theatre Awards and Players London Critics’ Awards for Curtains. His other playwrighting credits include The Old Order, Piggy Back Riders, Naked in the Bull Ring, The Bottom Drawer, Over the Bar,Over a Barrel, Cassie and What the Heart Feels. His television writing includes Eh Brian It’s a Whopper, Marjorie and The Preacher Man, The Darling Buds of May, Broke, The Locksmith and Maisie Raine.
Leo Bill plays Michael. His theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic), Hamlet (Barbican), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Pains of Youth, The Observer, The Hothouse, The Reporter (National Theatre), Secret Theatre (Lyric Hammersmith), The Silence of the Seas (Donmar Trafalgar), Posh (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York’s Theatre) and The Way of the World (Sheffield Theatres). Television credits include Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Taboo and The White Queen. Film credits include In Fabric, Peterloo, Mr Turner, A Long Way Down, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Alice in Wonderland, Becoming Jane and 28 Days Later.
Caroline Catz plays Susan. Her theatre credits include Top Girls (Out of Joint), On Emotion (Soho Theatre), Haunted (Arts Theatre), The Recruiting Officer (Chichester Festival Theatre), Dogs Barking (Bush Theatre), Shopping and F**king (Gielgud Theatre, Queen’s Theatre, international tour) and Six Degrees of Separation (Royal Court Theatre, Comedy Theatre). Catz stars as Louisa Ellingham in ITV’s Doc Martin and previously as Helen Morton in DCI Banks and Rosie Fox in The Bill. Other television credits include I Want My Wife Back, Murder in Suburbia, Single Handed, The Vice, All Quiet on the Preston Front, Real Men, In Denial of Murder, Valentines Kiss, Miss Marple and Hotel Babylon. Film credits include Radiomania, Look Me in the Eye, Under the Sun, I, Anna, Chick Lit and In Fabric.
Jonathan Coy plays Geoffrey. Theatre credits include Ink (Duke of York’s Theatre), Ivanov, Platonov, A Month in the Country (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Hard Problem, The Magistrate, Democracy, The Power of Yes(National Theatre), Privacy (Donmar Warehouse), Relatively Speaking (Theatre Royal Bath), Noises Off (The Old Vic, Novello Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s Theatre), Racing Demon (Sheffield Theatres), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Almeida Theatre), Bear Hug, The Weather (Royal Court Theatre) and Neville’s Island (Apollo Theatre). Television credits include Downton Abbey, Parade’s End, Ladies of Letters, The Pillars of the Earth and Underworld. His film credits include Much Ado About Nothing.
Tim Dutton plays Douglas. His theatre credits include Iliad (Almeida Theatre), 1984 (Almeida Theatre, Playhouse Theatre), Dangerous Corner (Salisbury Playhouse), Insufficiency (Riverside Studios), A Handful of Dust (Cambridge Theatre), Cider with Rosie (Birmingham Rep), She’s in Your Hands (Royal Exchange Theatre), London Assurance (Chichester Festival Theatre, UK tour, Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Lucky Ones, Love’s Labour’s Love and Victory (Chichester Festival Theatre). Television credits include Oliver Twist, Frenchman’s Creek, Genius: Einstein, Bonkers, Ally McBeal, Thanks and Melissa. Film credits include Tom and Viv, The Infiltrator, Delight, The Rendezvous, The Detonator, Tooth and The Bourne Identity.
Wendy Nottingham plays Margaret. Her theatre credits include Diminished (Hampstead Theatre), The Winslow Boy (The Old Vic), Celebrity Night at Café Red, Step 9 (of 12) (Trafalgar Studios), In Basildon, The Madness of Esme and Shaz, Ambulance (Royal Court Theatre), Grief, The Shaughraun, The Voysey Inheritance(National Theatre), Total Eclipse (Menier Chocolate Factory), Cloud Nine (Sheffield Theatres), Abigail’s Party(Ambassador Theatre, Hampstead Theatre) and The Crucible (Young Vic). Her television credits include Peaky Blinders, Mr Selfridge and The Boss. Her film credits include The Children Act and Vera Drake.
Saskia Reeves plays Katherine. Her theatre credits include King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe), Hello and Goodbye (Trafalgar Studios), A Disappearing Number (Complicité), The Mistress Contract (Royal Court Theatre), Orpheus Descending (Donmar Warehouse), Measure for Measure, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?(Young Vic), Much Ado About Nothing (Playhouse Theatre, international tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Man Of Mode (Donmar Warehouse, international tour) and Separation (Hampstead Theatre, Comedy Theatre). Her television credits include Collateral, Wolf Hall, Luther, A Child in Time, From There to Here, Wallander, Red Riding, The Sisters, Plotlands and Island At War. Her film credits include The Worricker Trilogy, Our Kind of Traitor, Butterfly Kiss, Close My Eyes and December Bride.
Sandra Voe plays Ida. Her theatre credits Motherland (New Diorama Theatre), Macbeth (Sheffield Theatres), Chairs, Three Sisters (Lyric Hammersmith), Attempts on Her Life, The Strangeness of Others (National Theatre), Enemies, Camera Obscura, The Winter Guest, The Deep Blue Sea, Nana, The Seagull (Almeida Theatre), The Kitchen and Attempts on Her Life (Royal Court Theatre). Television credits include Howards End, Playing the Field, Holding On, Body and Soul and Love Hurts. Film credits include Reg, Blood, Shadows in the Sun, Hidden Flaws, Vera Drake, Great Expectations, The Winter Guest, Breaking the Waves, Immortal Beloved, Naked,Comrades and Local Hero.
Marjorie Yates returns following A Day in the Death of Joe Egg to play Mrs Jackson. Other theatre credits include Babette’s Feast (The Print Room), The Crucible (Manchester Royal Exchange), This is My Family(Sheffield Theatres), Untold Stories (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Honeymoon Suite (Royal Court Theatre), Star Quality (Apollo Theatre), The Daughter-in-Law, All My Sons (Young Vic), An Inspector Calls (Garrick Theatre), Death of a Salesman, Stages (National Theatre) and Electra (Donmar Warehouse). Yates played Carol Fisher in Channel 4’s Shameless and has also appeared as a series regular in Annie’s Bar and Couples. Her film credits include Edge, The Long Day Closes and Wetherby.
Lindsay Posner’s directing credits include The Lie, The Truth, Dinner with Saddam, Communicating Doors (Menier Chocolate Factory), Abigail’s Party (Menier Chocolate Factory, Theatre Royal Bath, Wyndham’s Theatre, UK tour), The End of Longing, Speed the Plow (Playhouse Theatre), Hay Fever (Duke of York’s Theatre), Harvey (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Relatively Speaking (Wyndham’s Theatre), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Other Desert Cities, The Winslow Boy and Noises Off (The Old Vic), The Turn of the Screw (Almeida Theatre) and Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre). He was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1987-1992 where his productions included Death and the Maiden (which transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre and won two Olivier Awards), Colquhoun and McBryde and The Treatment.
ABOUT ROSE THEATRE KINGSTON
Founded by Sir Peter Hall, and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London’s Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in South West London.
Since opening in 2008, the Rose has collaborated with a range of directors, playwrights and producing partners to create vibrant, engaging and inspiring productions. Recent works include the first stage adaptation and world première of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend directed by Melly Still; Zach Helm’s Good Canarydirected by John Malkovich; John Barton and Peter Hall’s Shakespeare adaptation The Wars of the Roses directed by Trevor Nunn; David Hare’s The Absence of War directed by Jeremy Herrin and Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather (West End transfer and Olivier Award nominee) directed by Sally Cookson. To celebrate Rose Theatre Kingston’s 10th birthday, plans include a production of Much Ado About Nothing starring Mel Giedroyc, in co-production with Granville & Parham Productions and Antic Face, and Don Carlos, a co-production with Exeter Northcott and Nuffield Southampton Theatres starring Tom Burke.
With over 150,000 visitors a year, the Rose enjoys artistic and critical acclaim from its own productions and co-productions as well as from hosting the work of renowned theatre companies including Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Headlong, Peter Brook, Sheffield Theatres, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, and Theatre Royal Bath. With an auditorium that lends itself to both intimate and epic scale productions, the Rose has established itself as one of the most exciting theatres in the UK.
Curtains Listings
Rose Theatre Kingston
24-26 High Street, Kingston, KT1 1HL
22 February – 17 March 2018
Press night: Wednesday 28 February, 7pm
Twitter: @Rosetheatre
Facebook: /RoseTheatreKingston
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Box Office: 020 8174 0090
Monday – Saturday: 10am – 8pm (6pm non-performance days)
Sun: one hour before the performance
Concessions: Only one discount per ticket, subject to availability
Terms and conditions apply – no discounts on Pit Cushion prices.
Over 60, unwaged, entertainment union, children under 16 and Students: £5 off.
Under 26: £8 tickets on Mon – Thu performances & matinees. Valid on selected productions; limited availability (exclusions apply). Please note, a valid photo ID is required when collecting your tickets from Box Office.
Access: Patrons with disabilities enjoy half price tickets.
The Rose is a fully accessible organisation and we welcome everyone.
There is Blue Badge parking in High Street and Rose car park.
Sensory Access: A digital hearing system is available for patrons with a hearing aid, and Sennheiser headsets for patrons without a hearing aid. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome. Please let us know in advance so we can provide a dog-sitter and water bowl.
Learning Disabilities: Please contact us in advance to discuss how we can help make your visit as comfortable as possible, on 0208 174 0090 or email [email protected].