THE ROVER Plays Hampton Court Palace, July 2-8

A bold new promenade production of the 17th century Restoration comedy The Rover, by the first female playwright Aphra Behn, will be presented at Hampton Court Palace from Monday July 2 - Sunday July 8. Press night is Monday 2 July at 7.30pm.

Presented in conjunction with the Palace’s The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned exhibition, and with a cast of 28, the action in The Rover moves through the majestic Baroque apartments and gardens, drawing the audience into a world of beauty, sensuality and danger.

Hugely popular in its day, The Rover depicts a shocking world of unimaginable pleasures, sometimes bought at a terrible price.

The Rover by Aphra Behn, adapted for Hampton Court Palace by Amy Hodge and directed by Hodge, features designer takis, lighting designer Lee Curran, sound and music by Tom Gibbons, choreographer Raquel Meseguer, associate director Elgivia Field, fight director Bret Yount, historical consultant Professor Thomas Betteridge and casting director Alison Chard.

The cast includes Chloe Pirrie, Clare Perkins, Beatriz Romilly, Daniel Weyman, Paul Albertson, Carl Prekopp, Nadia Cameron Blakey and David Ricardo-Pearce.

Director Hodge was recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award 2007. She directed a highly acclaimed production of Mules by Winsome Pinnock at The Young Vic. She was Associate Director at The Sherman, the main producing house in Cardiff, from 2008-11, where she radically reshaped the literary work and the artistic output - residing over a period of 18 months of site specific work while the building was redeveloped and directing six critically acclaimed productions.

Designer takis has worked on 80 productions worldwide in various indoor and outdoor venues. From 2007-2011 as Designer in Residence for HighTide, takis built the visual identity of the company, designing diverse productions to great acclaim including the very successful Stovepipe in collaboration with The National Theatre (Off West End Design nomination), Ditch with Old Vic and Lidless (Fringe First Award winner in Edinburgh Festival 2010). He is also the artistic director of his own company called ARTLUXE, which produces installation and performance art.

The Rover is produced by ARTLUXE.

Hampton Court Palace is located in East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AU. Tickets: £20.00 (£12.00 concs). Visit www.hrp.org.uk or phone the box office at 0844 482 7777.

How to get there...

BY TRAIN: South West Trains run services direct from London Waterloo to Hampton Court. The journey only takes 35 minutes and the palace is a 200 metre walk across the bridge from the station.

BY BUS: 111, 216, 411, 461, R68, 267, 513