Royal & Derngate Presents MY ZINC BED and HONEST, 2/26-3/13

Following  End of the Rainbow, Royal & Derngate's Addicted to You season continues with the stage premiere of a new version of My Zinc Bed created by David Hare especially for the Royal & Derngate, which takes to the Royal stage from Friday 26 February to Saturday 13 and Honest by Northampton playwright DC Moore, which will be performed in the Mailcoach pub, adjacent to the theatre, at 6.30pm, before each evening's performance of My Zinc Bed.

In My Zinc Bed, written by renowned contemporary playwright David Hare, a love triangle is bonded and warped by alcohol and obsessive desire. Over one long summer, Paul, a recovering alcoholic and young poet, is drawn into the orbit of billionaire internet businessman, Victor and his beautiful wife Elsa, who has her own dark past. With wit, passion and intensity, they fight to hold their lives together in the face of growing temptation. This is an intimate portrait of three people addicted to alcohol, their work and each other, which examines the meaning of friendship, faith and obsession.

Playing the part of businessman Victor Quinn is Robert Gwilym, perhaps best known as Dr Max in BBC TV's Casualty. Jamie Parker, an exciting young actor most recently seen in the film Valkyrie alongside Tom Cruise, takes the role of the poet Paul Peplow. Jamie was also in the film version of Alan Bennett's The History Boys as well as featuring in the cast of the original stage play of that name, both at the National Theatre and on Broadway. Leanne Best (Drowning on Dry Land at Salisbury Playhouse and The May Queen, Our Country's Good, Popcorn, The Flint Street Nativity at All Liverpool Playhouse), completes the line up as Elsa Quinn.

My Zinc Bed is directed by Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director Laurie Sansom, fresh from the success of his critically acclaimed productions of Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon and Tennessee William's Spring Storm. Design is by Jess Curtis, lighting by Anna Watson and sound design by Adrienne Quartly.

The Addicted to You season also sees the world premiere of the one man play Honest by one of the hottest young writers around, Northampton's own DC Moore. It will be staged in the Mailcoach pub next door to the theatre - a most appropriate setting for a performance delivered by a young man eager to share his story over a pint.

Honest is about an unusual addiction; a man whose addiction to truth-telling leads to a night that spirals out of control. This darkly comic play explores the lies we tell each other, and the fall-out when the truth is revealed. DC Moore's Alaska earned him the inaugural Tom Erhardt Award for promising new playwrights in 2007 and his new play Empire, premieres at the Royal Court in March. Honest is performed by Thomas Morrison (The History Boys, NT & Wyndham's Theatre, Alaska at the Royal Court) and directed by Mike Bartlett, one of the country's most exciting and provocative writers, whose play c*ckstarring Ben Whishaw, recently ended a sell out run at the Royal Court.

My Zinc Bed begins performances on Friday 26 February and runs until Saturday 13 March 2010. Evening performances begin at 7.45pm, and matinees take place on Thursdays and Saturdays 2.30pm (excluding Saturday 27 February). Tickets are £26 to £11.

Honest begins performances on Friday 26 February and runs until Saturday 13 March 2010. Performances begin at 6.30pm in the Mailcoach. Tickets are £8.

Tickets for both My Zinc Bed and Honest can be booked at Box Office on 01604 624811 or online at www.royalandderngate.co.uk.

 

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