The Great Escape – senior citizen style!
English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston present the world premiere of
Silver Lining
by Sandi Toksvig
Director Rebecca Gatward. Designer Michael Taylor. Sound and Projection Designer Mic Pool.
Lighting Designer Mark Doubleday. Associate Director Spencer Noll
York Theatre Royal, 28 March to 1 April
Press performance Tues 28 March, 7.30pm
Silver Lining is the new comedy by writer, actor, presenter and political activist Sandi Toksvig which tells the tale of five extraordinary yet forgotten women, who come together one treacherous night to recreate The Great Escape – senior citizen style.
On one dark and stormy night in the upper day room of the Silver Retirement Home, five elderly ladies are trading stories of their remarkable lives. With the storm floods rising and no rescue team in sight, the ladies are faced with the sudden realisation that in order to survive they are going to have to do what they have done for their entire lives – do it themselves.
The cast features Rachel Davies, Keziah Josephs, Maggie McCarthy, Joanna Monro, Sheila Reid and Amanda Walker. Completing the cast is Theo Toksvig-Stewart in his professional stage debut.
Sandi Toksvig’s previous writing for the stage includes the musical Big Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace and The Pocket Dream. Until last year she was the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz and in October 2016 took over from Stephen Fry as the host of BBC television quiz show QI. She is the joint founder of the Women’s Equality Party which was established in March 2015.
Sheila Reid, who plays Gloria, is perhaps best known on television for her role as Madge in ITV’s Benidorm. Her theatre credits include Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe), Othello and The Three Sisters (The Old Vic), Romeo and Juliet, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Richard III (RSC), When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout and My Mother Said I Never Should (Royal Court Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Pornography (Tricycle Theatre), Into The Woods (Donmar Warehouse), Filomena (Almeida Theatre), Hedda Gabler (National Theatre) and at Edinburgh Festival, Love Among the Butterflies, Terrible with Raisons In It (both of which she wrote) and Maurice’s Jubilee (also UK tour). Her other television credits include Call the Midwife, Doctor Who, Father Brown and Psychobitches.
Rachel Davies plays Maureen. Her theatre credits include Ecstasy (Hampstead Theatre), The Party and The Bacchae (National Theatre), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (New Theatre and Old Vic). For television her credits include Emmerdale, A Passionate Woman, New Tricks, Best Friends, Bodies, Cutting it, The Chase, Dalziel & Pascoe and Linda Green.
Keziah Joseph trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and Silver Lining marks her professional debut as Hope.
Maggie McCarthy plays May. Her theatre credits include We Wait in Joyful Hope (Theatre 503), The Absence of War (Headlong/Sheffield Theatres/Rose Theatre Kingston), Juno and the Paycock (Bristol Old Vic/Liverpool Theatres), Gaslight (Salisbury Playhouse), Children of the Sun, Cocktail Sticks, Doctor’s Dilemma, Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, Philistines, The Rose Tattoo, Mother Clap’s Molly House (National Theatre), Private Lives and Uncle Vanya (Chichester Festival Theatre). Her work for television includes Dancing On the Edge, Feather Boy and She’s Out. Her work for film includes Attack the Block, Leap Year and Hilary And Jackie.
Joanna Monro plays June. Her theatre credits include Jack and the Beanstalk (Hall for Cornwall), Mamma Mia (West End and international tour), Breeze Block Park (Liverpool Playhouse), Habeus Corpus (Exeter Northcott), Women On The Verge Of HRT, Golden Leaf Strut and The Master Builder (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Blood Brothers (West End), Prisoner Cell Block H, Baby Love, Rough Crossing, All’s Well That Ends Well, Dead White Males, The Price Of Meat and The Taming Of The Shrew (Nuffield Theatre) and Dreams Of San Francisco (Bush Theatre). For television her work includes Confessions of a Diary Secretary, Angels, People Like Us, The Cazelet Chronicles, Doctor Who, Fast Forward, The Life and Death of Philip Knight and Dream Team. She is currently a recurring character in the BBC Radio 4 series Homefront.
Amanda Walker plays St Michael. Her theatre credits include Orpheus Descending (Haymarket Theatre), Waiting in September: The War On Terror (Southbank Centre) and Superior Donuts (Southwark Playhouse). Her television work includes The Missing, Murphy’s Law, My Family, Daylight Robbery, Fish and The New Adventures of Robin Hood; and for film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Captain America: The First Avenger and Cloud Atlas.
Director Rebecca Gatward’s theatre credits include The Night Watch (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester), for West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Accrington Pals and Beryl (also Rose Theatre Kingston), The Trial Of Dennis The Menace (Southbank Centre), The Comedy Of Errors, The Merchant Of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Pandas (Traverse Theatre), The Indian Boy (RSC Complete Works Festival), The Canterbury Tales, directed in partnership with Greg Doran and Jonathan Munby and Thyestes (RSC), Touched (Salisbury Playhouse) and Cancer Tales (New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich). She was Company Director on This Is Our Youth with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck at the Garrick Theatre. Her work for television includes EastEnders (winner Broadcast award and soap award nominations for best episode and scene), Casualty, Doctors and Sadie J.
SILVER LINING
York Theatre Royal
28 March – 1 April
Evening 7.30pm.
Matinees Thurs 2pm, Sat 2.30pm
Tickets £30-£14
Post-show discussion 29 March
AD performance Sat 1 April 2.30pm