West End Star Emily Lane Joins Cast of BLESSINGS at Riverside Studios

Emily Lane will join the previously announced cast of the world premiere of Blessings, a darkly funny and moving new family drama by acclaimed playwright Sarah Shelton starring Gary Webster and Freddie Webster, at Riverside Studios from 30 September to 26 October 2025. 

Emily, who will shortly step into the spotlight playing the title roles in Anne Boleyn: The Musical at Hever Castle and this year's star-studded pantomime Sleeping Beauty at the London Palladium, has many West End credits including Frozen, Hello Dolly! and Les Misérables. Emily will take a break from musical theatre this autumn when she embraces a straight dramatic role in Blessings. 

Set in a small English town in the 1960s, Blessings is a blisteringly honest, darkly funny new play exploring faith, family and the lies we tell to keep everything from falling apart.

An emotionally charged observation of family dysfunction, Blessings made its acclaimed debut as a shortened piece at last year's Riverside Bitesize Festival. Bold, brilliant and blisteringly honest, this must-see new work explores faith, family, control and the lies we tell to keep everything from falling apart.

Emily Lane, who will play Sally, joins the previously announced cast which includes beloved screen and stage actor Gary Webster, best known for his leading roles in Minder, Family Affairs and numerous television shows over the past five decades, who plays the role of Frank. They are joined by television and radio favourite Jane Slavin (Call the Midwife) as Dorie, Hannah Traylen (Educating Rita) as Frances, Milly Roberts as Penny and rising talent Freddie Webster. Blessings marks Freddie's professional stage debut after graduating from Mountview, appearing opposite his father Gary Webster. 

Behind the polished front door of the Deacon household, tradition is crumbling, secrets are festering, and change is coming - whether they like it or not. In a small English town in the 1960s, formidable matriarch Dorie Deacon is determined to keep her Catholic family respectable while Frank, her husband, maintains a silence that suggests he sees more than he's ever let on. But as her children return home to celebrate their traditional family Easter, their carefully constructed image begins to crack. From smug eldest son Martin to razor-sharp Penny, rebellious Frances to watchful youngest daughter Sally, the Deacons are anything but united. And with a new boyfriend on the scene, a family priest who knows more than he's saying, and plenty of unspoken truths lying under the surface, the household is a pressure cooker ready to blow. As secrets inch toward the surface and confessions are avoided, tension mounts toward a devastating and unforgettable climax. Is truth always the best policy? And what would you do for love?