BARKING IN ESSEX Opens to Over £1.5million in Advanced Sales

Clive Exton's comedy, BARKING IN ESSEX, starring Lee Evans, Sheila Hancock and Keeley Hawes, opened last night, Monday 16 September, at London's Wyndham's Theatre to advance box office sales of over £1.5 million and climbing, with Lee Evans attracting a whole new audience of first-time theatregoers.

Freedom finally beckons for lowlife con man Algie Packer. He's done seven years inside and now he's coming home to spend his carefully stashed cash - £3.5million in untraceable notes. But there's something Algie's family has forgotten to mention... The Packers are your average dysfunctional Essex crime family with a big problem. Are they going to be able to cover their tracks before Algie arrives home?

Lee Evans (The Producers, Endgame, The Dumb Waiter) is hapless, dim-witted Darnley, Sheila Hancock (The Last of the Duchess, Sister Act, The Birthday Party) is Emmie, his mother and very much the boss of the family, and Keeley Hawes (Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Upstairs Downstairs) is Chrissie, Darnley's perma-tanned wife. Karl Johnson (Lark Rise to Candleford, Noises Off and a long career at The National Theatre) plays their neighbour and friend Rocco, and Montserrat Lombard (St Trinian's 2, Ashes to Ashes, Love Soup) plays Allegra, Algie's high-class lawyer and girlfriend, whom he's sent on ahead to retrieve the money.

Clive Exton's writing credits include the highly-acclaimed film 10 Rillington Place, Poirot, and Jeeves and Wooster. BARKING IN ESSEX is directed by Harry Burton (The Dumb Waiter, The Leisure Society), with design by Simon Higlett, lighting by James Farncombe, sound by Gareth Owen and casting by Anne Vosser. It is produced in London by MJE Productions, Theatre Royal Haymarket Productions and James Quaife Productions.

Tickets: 6-19 September: £22.50 - £42.50; from Friday 20 September: £22.50 - £52.50. To order, call the box office at 0844 482 5120 or visit www.barkinginessex.com.

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