Mischief's THESPIANS Will Embark on UK Tour

HOME Manchester, JPT Productions & Mercury Theatre Colchester, have announced the full UK premiere tour of Mischief's first musical comedy, THESPIANS. MISCHIEF, the team behind the multi award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong, rewrite ancient history with its first musical.

Thespians will open at Mercury Theatre Colchester (9-23 May) before embarking on a UK tour that takes in Theatre Royal Bath (26-30 May), Wyvern Theatre Swindon (2-6 June), Yvonne Arnaud Guildford (9-13 June), Everyman Theatre Cheltenham (16-20 June) and New Theatre Cardiff (30 June – 4 July), before rounding off at Home Manchester (7-18 July).

Written by Jonathan Sayer (co-writer of The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery) and Ed Zanders (musical director Mischief Movie Night), Thespians transports the audience back to 534 BC, where, on Greece's smallest island, a brave band of bards is battling to avoid defeat in a nationwide prayer competition set up by a thin-skinned tyrant. The odds couldn't be higher - the loser faces the death sentence and things are not looking good for the islanders... until… Thespis accidentally invents acting, leading to the world's first play and the birth of theatre as we know it!

The cast will include Allie Dart (Unfortunate; The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch - The Other Palace/The Lowry and UK Tour, The Comedy About Spies - Noël Coward Theatre, West End) as Rhapsodes/Dance Captain; Ashley Tucker (Christmas Carol Goes Wrong - UK tour, Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of) and Baskerville - Vienna's English Theatre) as part of the ensemble; Claire-Marie Hall (Operation Mincemeat - Broadway/West End, Les Misérables - West End) as Poly; Curtis Patrick (Young Frankenstein - Hope Mill Theatre, A Streetcar Named Desire - Noël Coward Theatre) as part of the ensemble; James Spence (Unfortunate; The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch - The Other Palace/The Lowry) as Thespis; Josh Patel-Foster (Oliver! - Gielgud Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre, Roman Holiday – Theatre Royal Bath) as part of the ensemble; Luke Latchman (Now That's What I Call A Musical - UK Tour; Sunset Boulevard - Savoy Theatre) as Atlas; Marc Pickering (The Play What I Wrote - Devonshire Park Theatre, Bleak Expectations - Criterion Theatre) as Adonis; Matt Cavendish (The Comedy About Spies - West End, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong - West End) as Bard; Mia Jerome (The Manningtree Witches - Mercury Theatre Colchester, Romeo & Juliet - Jamie Lloyd Company) as Melampus; and Rhys Taylor (Millennials - The Other Palace; Everybody's Talking About Jamie UK Tour) as The Tyrant.

Joining Jonathan Sayer and Ed Zanders, the creative team is completed by director - Robyn Grant (Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch - The Other Palace, The Battle - Birmingham Rep); designer - Jasmine Swan (Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula The Sea Witch - The Other Palace, The Mesmerist - Watford Palace Theatre); choreographer – Melody Sinclair-Marsh (Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch - The Other Palace, #50Days: A State Of The Nation Grime Musical - Birmingham Hippodrome/BYMT); lighting designer - David Howe (Christmas Carol Goes Wrong – West End, Private Lives – Broadway); sound designer - Nick Lodge (The Sound of Music - Leicester Curve, Dick Whittington - Plymouth Theatre Royal); musical director – Ben Smith (Operation Mincemeat – West End, Giant – Royal Opera House); associate director - Joe Allen (as an actor The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical – The Other Palace, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory – West End), casting directors Lucy Jenkins CDG and Sooki McShane CDG and executive producer Henry Lewis.

Tour Dates

9 - 23 May Colchester Mercury Theatre
https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

26 - 30 May Bath Theatre Royal
https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk

2 – 6 June Swindon Wyvern Theatre
https://booking.trafalgartickets.com

9 - 13 June Guildford Yvonne Arnaud
https://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

16 – 20 June Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
https://www.everymantheatre.org.uk

23 – 27 June Cardiff New Theatre
https://booking.trafalgartickets.com

30 June – 4 July Guildford Yvonne Arnaud
https://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

7 – 18 July Manchester Home
https://homemcr.org

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