Full Casts Announced for RULES FOR LIVING and THE WEIR
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 27, 2017
The full casts are today announced for English Touring Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Rose Theatre Kingston's production of Sam Holcroft's Rules for Living and English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester's production of Conor McPherson's The Weir, twenty years after its world première at the Royal Court.
Simon Godwin directs Jane Booker (Edith), Jolyon Coy (Matthew), Ed Hughes (Adam), Carlyss Peer (Carrie), Laura Rogers (Nicole) and Paul Shelley (Francis) in Rules for Living, which opens in Northampton before touring to Cambridge, Windsor, Brighton, Ipswich and Kingston. It reunites the award-winning co-producing team that produced The Herbal Bed in 2016.
Adele Thomas directs Louis Dempsey (Finbar), Sean Murray (Jack), John O'Dowd (Jim), Sean O'Mahony (Brendan) and Natalie Radmall-Quirke (Valerie) in The Weir, which opens in Colchester before touring to Harrogate, Cheltenham, Doncaster, Bristol, Exeter, Oldham, Poole, Huddersfield and Guildford.
English Touring Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Rose Theatre Kingston present
Rules for Living
By Sam Holcroft
Director: Simon Godwin; Designer: Lily Arnold; Lighting Designer: Matt Daw
Sound Designer and Composer: Mark Melville; Movement Director: Shelley Maxwell
Projection Designer: Andrzej Goulding; Associate Director: Spencer Noll
Casting Director: Hancock Stevenson Casting
8 - 30 September at Royal & Derngate, Northampton
Press night: 13 September
And then on tour
Edith must clean to keep calm. Matthew must sit to tell a lie.
Everyone creates their own rules for living. But what happens when an extended family gathers for a traditional Christmas dinner, and each of them rigidly follows those rules?
Christmas day will never be the same again. As the drinks flow and the obligatory games intensify, family resentments rise and relationships are pulled apart with a bang - like oh so many Christmas crackers.
The regional première of this darkly funny play is produced in collaboration with the producing team, English Touring Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Rose Theatre Kingston, who recently won the 2016 UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production for The Herbal Bed.
Sam Holcroft recently adapted Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox for Nuffield Southampton Theatres. She was the Writer-in-Residence at the National Theatre Studio from 2013-14 and was the Pearson Playwright in Residence at the Traverse Theatre in 2009-10. In 2014 she was a recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Literature in the Drama category and in 2009 she won the Tom Erhardt Award for up and coming writers. Her other plays include The Wardrobe, Edgar And Annabel, Dancing Bears, While You Lie, Pink, Vanya and Cockroach. She is currently under commission from The Royal Court Theatre.
Jane Booker plays Edith. She previously worked with Simon Godwin on The Beaux Strategem (National Theatre). In addition to seasons with the RSC, her other theatre work includes The Secret Rapture (Bristol Old Vic), The Memory of Water (Hampstead Theatre) and Sense & Sensibility (Watermill Theatre). Her television credits include Inspector Morse, Titmuss Regained, Murder Most Horrid, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Midsomer Murders, Jonathan Creek, Foyle's War, The Only Boy for Me, North & South and My Family. Her film work includes Neverland.
Jolyon Coy plays Matthew. His previous theatre work includes The Merchant of Venice, Holy Warriors, Anthony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare's Globe), Little Eylof (Almeida Theatre), Creditors (Young Vic), Wendy and Peter Pan (RSC), Our Boys (Duchess Theatre) and Posh (Royal Court and West End). For television, his work includes Peaky Blinders, The Windsors, War and Peace and Mr Selfridge; and for film, Beauty and the Beast, Testament of Youth, The Fifth Estate and The Deep blue Sea.
Ed Hughes plays Adam. His previous theatre credits include Dead Dog in a Suitcase (Kneehigh), Luna Gale (Hampstead Theatre), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Vault Festival), This House (National Theatre), Democracy (Sheffield Theatres), Enron (Headlong/Royal Court and West End), Rough Crossings (Headlong), The Canterbury Tales (RSC), Hamlet (Old Vic). His television work includes Ripper Street, Drifters, The Honourable Woman and Wallander.
Carlyss Peer plays Carrie. Her theatre credits include Groundhog Day (Old Vic), Jefferson's Garden (Watford Palace Theatre), Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe), The Rivals (Theatre Royal Bath and Theatre Royal Haymarket). For television, her work includes Pixies, Grantchester, Brief Encounters, Peter and Wendy, Holby City (series regular Bonnie Wallis), Eternal Law and Silent Witness.
Laura Rogers plays Nicole. Her recent theatre work includes A Lie of the Mind (Defibrillator/Southwark Playhouse), Winter Solstice (Orange Tree Theatre), A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (The Print Room), Private Lives (UK tour), Tipping The Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith), An Ideal Husband, Pressure (Chichester Festival Theatre), Masterpieces (Royal Court), 55 Days and Revelations (Hampstead Theatre). Her television credits include Dates, Dark Matters, Missing and Bad Girls.
Paul Shelley plays Francis. His theatre credits include Brideshead Revisited (English Touring Theatre), All My Sons (National Tour), The Secret Rapture, The Crucible, Hedda Gabler, Lady in The Dark (National Theatre), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Winter's Tale, The Twin Rivals, Dingo, Bingo (RSC), Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare's Globe), The House That Will Not Stand (Tricycle), Earthquakes in London (UK tour), Moonlight (Donmar Warehouse) and Macbeth (Chichester, West End, New York). His television credits include Paradise Postponed, Titmus Regained, A Tale of Two Cities, Morse, Secret Army, Revelations, Dr Who, Blake's 7. His film includes Oh! What a Lovely War, Polanski's Macbeth, Macbeth, Caught in the Act, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet.
Simon Godwin directs. He was previously Associate Director at Royal & Derngate, Northampton where his credits include Regeneration (also tour), The Seagull, Habeas Corpus, Relatively Speaking and The Quartermaine's Terms (with Salisbury Playhouse). He is an Associate Director at the National Theatre, where he has directed Twelfth Night, Sunset at the Villa Thalia, The Beaux Stratagem, Man and Superman and Strange Interlude. His work for the Royal Court includes Routes, If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test and Wanderlust. For Bristol Old Vic, he has directed The Little Mermaid, Krapp's Last Tape, A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer and Far Away. His other credits include Hamlet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC), The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout, New York), Richard II (Shakespeare's Globe), Candida (Theatre Royal Bath) and The Winter's Tale (Headlong with Nuffield Theatre & Schtanhaus/UK tour).
Opens at:
Royal & Derngate, Northampton
8 - 30 September
Box office: 01604 624811
Before touring to:
Cambridge Arts Theatre
3 - 7 October
Box office: 01223 503 333
Theatre Royal Windsor
10 - 14 October
Box office: 01753 853 888
http://www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/
Theatre Royal Brighton
17 - 21 October
Box office: 0844 871 7627
New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
31 October - 4 November
Box office: 01473 295900
Rose Theatre Kingston
7 - 18 November
Box office: 020 8174 0090
English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester present
The Weir
Director: Adele Thomas; Designer: Madeleine Girling; Lighting Design: Lee Curran
Composition and Sound Design: Richard Hammarton; Casting: Ginny Schiller
8 - 16 September at Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Press night: 14 September 7:30pm
And then on tour
Winner of the 1997 Olivier Award for Best New Play, Conor McPherson's chilling, modern classic The Weir embarks on a UK tour this autumn to mark its 20th Anniversary year.
In a small Irish town, the locals exchange stories round the crackling fire of Brendan's pub to while away the hours one stormy night. As the beer and whisky flows, the arrival of a young stranger, haunted by a secret from her past, turns the tales of folklore into something more unsettling. One story, however, is more chilling and more real than any of them could have ever imagined.
A shadowy tale delving into the dark corners of human lives, The Weir is a co-production between English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester.
The production is the second to be toured to the Regional Touring Network an Arts Council England Strategic Touring consortium of 9 regional venues with whom ETT produce and tour high quality drama to venues looking to develop their drama audience. It follows the success of English Touring Theatre and Orange Tree Theatre's production of Terence Rattigan's French Without Tears which toured in autumn 2016.
Conor McPherson is a playwright and screenwriter. He has won several awards including the George Devine Award, Stewart Parker Award and an Olivier Award. His credits for theatre include The Veil (National Theatre), The Dance of Death (Trafalgar Studios), The Night Alive (Donmar Warehouse, Atlantic Theater, New York) and The Girl from the North Country (Old Vic). For film, his credits include The Eclipse and Strangers and his television work includes Paula. He is currently working on the screenplay Double Cross.
Louis Dempsey plays Finbar. His theatre credits include Stones in His Pockets (Vienna's English Theatre), The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe), Juno and the Paycock (Liverpool Everyman/Bristol Old Vic Co-Production), The Seafarer (Perth Theatre and Lyric Belfast), Some Voices (Young Vic), Wing And A Prayer (BAC), Last Apache Reunion (The Tobacco Factory) and Brothers Of The Brush (Liverpool Everyman). Television credits include Dream Team, Sea Of Souls, Omagh and The Bench. For film, his credits include Us and Them, Legend, Cloud Atlas, Grabbers, Six Bullets, Revolver, The Last Drop, Spivs, Troy and Shooters.
Sean Murray plays Jack. Credits for theatre include, A Tale of Two Cities (Royal & Derngate, Northampton and UK tour), The Hook (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), The Armour (Defibrillator at the Langham Hotel), Holy Warriors (Shakespeare's Globe), The Double and The Tempest (Theatre Royal, Bath), Romeo and Juliet and The Importance of Being Earnest (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), Othello, The Comedy of Errors, Tartuffe, School for Scandal, The Rivals and The Life of Galileo (Bristol Old Vic), A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Phoenician Women, Romeo and Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Cherry Orchard (RSC), Jane Eyre (The Ambassadors Theatre, Trafalgar Studios 1), The Terrible Voice of Satan (Royal Court), The Crucible (UK tour) and Buried Child (National Theatre). Television credits include Robin Hood, Dunkirk, Without Motive and Berkeley Square. Film credits include Hamlet, A Rather English Marriage and Finding Mallory. Regular appearances on BBC Radio 4.
John O'Dowd plays Jim. His theatre credits include Common (National Theatre), Stonebreaker (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith), The Head of Red O Brien (Truewest), For The Birds (New York Fringe). Television credits include Moone Boy 1,2 & 3, Don't You Know Who I Am, Capturing Santa, The Rahilly, Single Handed, Maru and Mobs Mheiricea. Film credits include Jimmys Hall and Don't You Know Who I Am.
Sam O'Mahony plays Brendan. His theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice and The Mariner (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Silver Tassie (National Theatre), Oh What A Lovely War (Northern Stage), The Good Soul Of Szechuan (Young Vic), Monged (Belgrade Coventry), King John, Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet (RSC). Television credits include Guilt and X Company.
Natalie Radmall-Quirke plays Valerie. Her theatre credits include The Winter's Tale (Cheek by Jowl), Martyr (Actors Touring Company), The Playboy of the Western World (Southwark Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet, Celebration and Jane Eyre (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Twelfth Night, No Romance, The Plough and the Stars, The Comedy of Errors, An Ideal Husband (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), =Steel Magnolias (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin), Mud (Gate Theatre, London), I Witness (Finborough Theatre), Footfalls (Players Theatre) and Crave (Samuel Beckett Centre and Studiobühne, Cologne). Film credits include Davin and The Canal.
Adele Thomas directs. Her previous directing credits include Thomas Tallis, The Oresteia and The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Shakespeare's Globe), Unusual Unions (Royal Court), The Bloody Ballad of Mary Maid (Soho Theatre, UK tour), Apparitions of Spirits - With The Forsyte Sisters (Gagglebabble, Theatr Iolo), Write Here (Traverse Theatre), My People (National Theatre of Wales), The Blue Lenses and Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Cityscape: Deluge/No Vacancies, The Push and the Pull and An Enemy For The People (Sherman Cymru). Her opera work includes Cosi Fan Tutte (Northern Ireland Opera) and Senendd (Welsh National Opera).
Opens at:
Mercury Theatre Colchester
8 - 16 September
Box office: 01206 573 948
Before touring to:
19 - 23 September
Box Office: 01423 50116
Cheltenham Everyman
26 - 30 September
Box Office: 01242 572573
Cast, Doncaster
3 - 7 October
Box Office: 01302 340422
Bristol Old Vic
10 - 14 October
Box Office: 0117 987 7877
Exeter Northcott Theatre
17 - 21 October
Box Office: 01392 726363
Oldham Coliseum Theatre
24 - 28 October
Box Office: 0161 624 2829
Lighthouse Poole
7 - 11 November
Box Office: 0844 406 8666
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
15 - 18 November
Box office: 01484 430528
www.thelbt.org
Yvonne Arnaud Guildford
21 - 25 November
Box office: 01483 440000
ENGLISH TOURING THEATRE
English Touring Theatre is one of the UK's most successful and influential touring companies, winning the UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production in 2014, 2015 & 2016. The company works with leading artists to stage an eclectic mix of new and classic work for audiences throughout the UK and overseas; theatre that is thrilling, popular and engaged in the contemporary world. At the heart of everything ETT does is the passionately held belief that everyone, wherever they are in the country, deserves to have access to the very best work. In 2017 ETT will tour to 40 venues throughout the UK. The company's co-production of Othello, with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, ran at Wilton's Music Hall in May and this September the company will produce new versions of Sam Holcroft's Rules for Living and Conor McPherson's The Weir.
www.ett.org.uk
@ETTtweet
ROSE THEATRE KINGSTON
Founded by Sir Peter Hall, and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London's Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in South West London. Since opening in 2008, the Rose has collaborated with a range of directors, playwrights and producing partners to create vibrant, engaging and inspiring productions. Recent works include Zach Helm's Good Canary directed by John Malkovich, Shakespeare's trilogy The Wars of the Roses directed by Trevor Nunn, David Hare's The Absence of War directed by Jeremy Herrin and Jacqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather (West End transfer and Olivier Award nominee) directed by Sally Cookson. With over 150,000 visitors a year, the Rose enjoys artistic and critical acclaim from its own productions and co-productions as well as from hosting the work of renowned theatre companies including Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Propeller and Northern Broadsides. With an auditorium that lends itself to both intimate and epic scale productions, the Rose has established itself as one of the most exciting theatres in the UK.
@rosetheatre
ROYAL & DERNGATE, NORTHAMPTON
Royal & Derngate, Northampton, is the main venue for arts and entertainment in Northamptonshire, with audience members and participants last year numbering more than 474,000 in Northampton and beyond. As one of the major producing venues in the country, Royal & Derngate was named Regional Theatre of the Year by the inaugural Stage 100 Awards in 2011, an accolade for which it was nominated again in 2016. The theatre also won the Management Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre in the 2015 UK Theatre Awards for its Made in Northampton work. The Herbal Bed (a co-production with English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston) won the 2016 UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production. Other recent highlights include a nationwide tour of Death of a Salesman, a major tour of King Lear, starring Michael Pennington and Soul, a new play by Roy Williams about Marvin Gaye. Previous acclaimed touring productions have included Shakespeare's King John, world premieres of Arthur Miller's The Hook and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Young America (Northampton and National Theatre, London) and End of the Rainbow (Northampton and West End). The theatre also runs a wide-ranging Get Involved participatory programme which reached over 26,000 people last year, through projects in schools, within the community and at the theatre.
@royalderngate
MERCURY THEATRE COLCHESTER
The Mercury Theatre Colchester is the most active producing theatre in East Anglia, and is a vital centre of excellence in the East's growing creative economy. The Mercury exists to put theatre at the heart of the community it serves and to make work in Colchester that reaches audiences and generates critical attention regionally and nationally.
@mercurytheatre
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