Philip Franks News

Comedian Dom Joly, actress Beverley Callard, TV presenter Alison Hammond, comedian Steve Punt and actor Philip Franks will star as The Narrator in the 2018/9 UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show. The five stars will take to the stage to perform the iconic role at various moments during the new national tour of the show, which opens at Theatre Royal Brighton this December and then travels across the country until November 2019. More celebrity narrators will be announced over the coming months.

The Habit of Art is a wonderfully funny and deeply moving revival of Alan Bennett's fantastic 2009 follow up to The History Boys. The play focuses on a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten in 1972, when Britten seeks out his old friend to combat his loneliness and ask advice about his new composition of Death in Venice. This meeting is framed as a play within a play where rehearsals are taking place; aged thesps Fitz and Henry play Auden and Britten respectively, musing on life, ageing, sex and art.

Following a slew of four and five star reviews for performances in York, Brighton, Salisbury and Oxford, Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art comes to the Belgrade Theatre this November in a new production from Original Theatre Company.

After opening to critical acclaim in 2009, the Original Theatre Company in collaboration with York Theatre Royal are bringing back Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art in its first revival since the original sell-out run. Centred around a fictional meeting between two of the 20th century's most influential gay artists, poet WH Auden and composer Benjamin Britten, the production boasts a stellar ensemble cast including Matthew Kelly and David Yelland.

Get a first look at rehearsal images from the first revival of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART, which opens at York Theatre Royal on 30 August 2018. The National Tour will then continue through to 1 December 2018.

The Original Theatre Company, York Theatre Royal, and Ghost Light Productions are delighted to announce the full cast for the first ever revival of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART directed by Philip Franks and starring Matthew Kelly as Fitz (W. H. Auden) and David Yelland as Henry (Benjamin Britten). 

Brand new photographs are released today providing a first look at the new cast of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie at London County Hall. The production images mark the first week of performances featuring the new company, which began on Tuesday 27 March. Check them out below!

The Original Theatre Company and York Theatre Royal will present the first ever revival of Alan Bennett's THE HABIT OF ART directed by Philip Franks and starring Matthew Kelly as W. H. Auden/Fitz and David Yelland as Benjamin Britten/Henry. The tour begins on 30 August 2018 at York Theatre Royal.

Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions announce the new cast for Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, starring television actor Harry Reid as the accused, Leonard Vole. Reid is best known for most recently playing character Ben Mitchell for nearly four years on BBC1's EastEnders. Reid will be joined by Lucy Phelps (Call the Midwife, Anthony & Cleopatra, King Charles III) as Romaine, Richard Clothier (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Graduate) as Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Julian Curry (The Alchemist, Rumpole of the Bailey) will play Mr Justice Wainwright and Peter Moreton (The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare in Love) who will be playing Mr Mayhew.

The first photographs are released today from the brand new production of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie. The play begins previews on London's South Bank this Friday 6 October. Check out the photos below!

Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions today announced casting for their major new production of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, opening on London's South Bank this October.

After a record-breaking run only nine months ago, the world's greatest rock 'n' roll musical returns!! Back by popular demand, the non-stop party that is The Rocky Horror Show will thrill you once again with its frothy fun and naughty moments.

The Rocky Horror Show today announces a glittering cast for the autumn and winter legs of the 2016 UK tour.

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) has announced that a major new production of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, King Lear, will embark on a UK tour to nine regional venues from April to July in association with the Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton. 

James Dacre, Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate today announced the Spring and Summer programme for Made in Northampton 2016 in his third year at the Northampton venue.

James Dacre, Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, today announced the Spring and Summer programme for Made in Northampton 2016 in his third year at the Northampton venue - and spoke to BWW:UK about the line-up.

Steve Punt, Charlie Condou and Philip Franks are set to star as The Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show UK Tour 2015/2016. The three actors will take on the iconic role during the new national tour of the show, which opens at Brighton's Theatre Royal on 17 December 2015, and also stars Diana Vickers, Paul Cattermole, Ben Freeman and Liam Tamne.

Based on Rattigan's experiences as a tail gunner during World War II, Flare Path paints an evocative portrait of life in wartime Britain for the life-and-death existence of the RAF bomber crews, and their wives and sweethearts who were left waiting their return.  

The producers of the forthcoming UK tour of Terence Rattigan's FLARE PATH, directed by Justin Audibert, are delighted to announce the full cast, headed by the previously announced Leon Ockenden as Peter Kyle, Olivia Hallinan as Patricia Graham and Philip Franks as Squadron Leader Swanson. Check out a first look below!

The producers of the forthcoming UK tour of Terence Rattigan's FLARE PATH, directed by Justin Audibert, are delighted to announce the full cast, headed by the previously announced Leon Ockenden as Peter Kyle, Olivia Hallinan as Patricia Graham and Philip Franks as Squadron Leader Swanson.  Check out a first look at the trailer below!