Cast Set For RUTH at Wilton's Music Hall

Ruth Theatre Productions has announced the casting of RUTH, which is to receive its World premiere at Wilton's Music Hall this March.  The ensemble cast for the world premiere of this musical comprises Garth Bardsley (A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Pacific Overtures - Leicester Haymarket, Assassins - Derby Playhouse) as Arthur and the judge, Paddy Duff (The Taming of the Shrew - Shakespeare in the Squares, The Mousetrap - St Martin's Theatre) as   Howard, Roy & Policeman, John Faal (Sense and Sensibility :The Musical – Arcola Theatre and UK Tour, The Boys From Syracuse - Upstairs at The Gatehouse) as Desmond Cussen, Sarah Lawn (Noises Off, Woman in Mind,  Blithe Spirit - West End, Princess Caraboo - Finborough Theatre) as Berta and Jean, Connor Payne (Assassins, A Man of No Importance, The Seagull - Royal Academy of Music) as David Blakely, Alice Redmond (Cats - UK and European Tour,  Oklahoma! - Gordon CraigTheatre,  Sweeney Todd - Emporium Theatre) as Conner and Susan, Bibi Simpson, in her professional debut since graduating from Guildford School of Acting, as Ruth Ellis, Hannah Traylen (Boiling Point – feature film, Educating Rita – Frinton Summer Theatre, The Kneebone Cadillac –Theatre Royal Plymouth) also as Ruth Ellis, Freddy  Williams (Julius Caesar – tour, Twelfth Night – tour, Snakes and Ladders – Southwark Playhouse) as Saunders, John and Joe and Mei-Li Yap, in her professional debut since graduating from Rose Bruford, as Young Ruth and Mary. Ian Puleston-Davies (I Love You, Now What? - Park Theatre, A Passionate Woman - Harold Pinter Theatre, Everybody Loves A Winner Royal Exchange Theatre) will take the role of Albert Pierrepoint.

It was a sensational case that shook conventional 1950s Britain to its core – the peroxide blonde nightclub hostess who shot and killed her violent upper-class lover and was sentenced to hang for the crime, making her the last woman to be executed in Britain.  

Told with noir visuals and an emotive score and set against the tawdry glamour of London's vice clubs, the thrill of the racetrack and in the chilling finality of the condemned cell, RUTH traces Ellis's relationships with the men who shaped her tragically short life – her abusive father Arthur, devoted Desmond, the volatile David, who was her obsession and her undoing, and finally one more man who was to play a key role in the 28 year-old's fate.  A mysterious stranger who visits her cell as the clock ticks ever closer to her end.  

With music by John Cameron, Francis Rockliff & James Reader and lyrics by Caroline Slocock and John Cameron, RUTH tells a compelling story that echoes loudly down the decades. Seventy-one years have passed since Ruth's controversial hanging, but her experience still holds a powerful presence in many people's minds. Her fateful tale, with themes of domestic violence, the sex industry and class divide, feels as relevant today as it ever did.