Cast Announced For THE GIFT OF GAB World Premiere At White Bear Theatre

1979. The bitter Winter of Discontent. The whole nation is at war with itself, battling industrial strikes, severe unemployment, crippling inflation and fears over immigration and home-grown terrorism. But that's not going to cramp the style of a den of thieves in Brighton.

Unreconstructed, old-school grifters, they live by their wits and some very shady mores and morals. But even they know the end of an era is nigh and their days are numbered, so each is after one last big score before the law and society's shifting sands catch up to them. And if that score should happen to contain a priceless lost memoir and a beguiling young waitress from Naples, so much the better!

The Gift of the Gab, written and directed by Simon David Eden, is a satire that uses humour to expose the ignorance that fosters casual bigotry, and the fallout for any group or culture when greed drives individuals to put themselves before all others.

It will get its world premiere at the White Bear, Kennington from Tuesday 15 May to Saturday 9 June.

Press night: Thursday 17 May at 7.30pm

Cast: Ross Boatman is best known on TV as Derek in Mum, his stage credits include Great Britain (National Theatre in the West End) and Dealers Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory/Trafalgar Studios).

Madalina Bellariu was Elena in HBO's The Young Pope and Marianne in Suicide Platoon.

Michael Roberts appeared in the West End as Mr Paravicini in The Mousetrap, Lucky, Waiting for Godot (Arcola Theatre), Cole, The White House Murder Case (Orange Tree).

Charlie Allen was Ricky 'Spider' Rano in Simon David Eden's acclaimed The Albatross 3rd & Main and Seth Gekko in From Dusk Till Dawn
(The Kings Head Theatre).

Ivanhoe Norona was Island King in the acclaimed Netflix series The Crown, and Michael in Childhood Memories (Finborough Theatre).

Harold Addo was Nkrumah in Womb (Black Lives, Black Words) at Bush Theatre and Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island (Iris Theatre).

Lewis Bruniges is a recent LAMDA graduate and former member of the National Youth Theatre.

Creative team: Director Simon David Eden. Lighting and Sound Designer Chuma Emembolu. Set Design Sim E Sigh. Costume Designer
Devon Opp. Producer Helena Michell.

Produced by Shiny Pin Productions.

Simon David Eden (Playwright /Director)

Born and raised in Brighton, Simon David Eden ditched a career in performance art & rock 'n' roll to study filmmaking at the Royal College of Art. Not a bad call as it happens, as he cut loose from the RCA with a MA Distinction, having produced a raft of award-winning student films, including La Boule (Dir: Simon Shore) winner of BAFTA Best Short Film in 1987.Encouraged by the legendary film-maker Fred Zinnemann, he signed with ICM and pursued a career as a screenwriter. Commissions from numerous British television companies and Hollywood studios followed - including Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and the BBC - and he wrote medical-science drama All Fall Down (for producer Jane Tranter at Carlton TV) which won Best Feature Length Drama at the Quebec International Film Festival. In 2009 he was commissioned by Point Theatre, to write an original stage play to mark and celebrate 100 years of aviation in Southampton (where the Spitfire was designed and built) and that experience reminded himhow much he loved and missed creating work for live performance, and he began to focus on writing for the stage. In 2015 he also penned a fantasy novel, The Savage Kingdom, published in the UK by Simon & Schuster, and in translation in Brazil by Editora Planeta and Znak in Poland. The Gift of the Gab is the first of a'Brighton Trilogy', and other writing for the theatre includes: When the Saintz Go Marching In (Point Theatre),The Little Match Girl - book musical (Point Theatre & Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), The Albatross 3rd & Main (Emporium Theatre/Park90, Park Theatre, London).

Shiny Pin Productions (Producers)

Previous productions: The Albatross 3rd & Main stage play. Written, designed & directed by Simon David Eden, Emporium,
Brighton February 2016 & Park90, Park Theatre, London January 2017

'THE SAVAGE KINGDOM' Book Trailer. Writer/Producer Simon David Eden, Dir: Isaac H. Madge, April 2015

'THE GIFT OF THE GAB' rehearsed reading at The Cockpit Theatre, London. Playwright: SDE. Director: Matt Lipsey (2014)
'THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL' Book Musical - Book & Lyrics by SDE & Music by Francesca Rogerson, The Point Theatre
Eastleigh Dir: Daniel Hill Dec 2013 & Yvonne Arnaud Theatre , Dir: Lucy Betts Dec 2015
'VAGINA MONOLOGUES' stage production of Eve Ensler's groundbreaking play for Chichester Festival 2013 in aid of Helen Bamber Foundation & Rape Crisis. Producer Helena Michell
Cast: Helena Michell, Amanda Waring, Nimmy March, Serena Gordon, Julia Goodman.
Dir: Matt Lloyd Davies (June 2013)
'ME & MOLLY MALONE' music documentary trailer featuring singer/songwriter Herbie Armstrong. Wri/Pro: SDE Dir: Matt Lipsey (May 2012)
'WHEN THE SAINTZ GO MARCHING IN' stage play by SDE. Dir: Daniel Hill, Point Theatre 2010

www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk

Box Office: 0333 012 4963 (Local rate)

10% off food with every ticket sold

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