Cast Set For THE TAILOR-MADE MAN at the Stage Door Theatre in Drury Lane

Gwithian Evans, Hugo Pilcher, Peter Rae, Shelley Rivers, Olivia Ruggerio and Dereck Walker  will star in The Tailor-Made Man,  the inaugural play at the new Stage Door Theatre in Drury Lane, the first pub theatre in the West End.

The Tailor-Made Man will run on selected dates at the Stage Door Theatre from Thursday 9 May to Saturday 3 August.

Press Night is Thursday 16 May at 7.30pm.

The Tailor-Made Man, by Claudio Macor, is the powerful true story of the Hollywood studio system in its heyday, its hypocrisy and the star who gave up everything for the man he loved.  

William “Billy” Haines was a popular  MGM movie star in the 1920’s who was fired by studio boss Louis B. Mayer because he was gay and refused to give up his lifelong partner, Jimmie Shields, and marry the silent screen vamp Pola Negri in a sham lavender marriage. 

As punishment, his films were pulled from release and sealed in the MGM vaults never to be seen again, and his official studio photographs were destroyed. It was an attempt to erase him completely from movie history. But Billy and Jimmy’s turbulent, passionate love affair was to survive and lasted over 50 years. This is their story.

Gwithian Evans (Jimmie Shields) was recently in The Mousetrap in the West End and The Elephant Song at Park Theatre.

Hugo Pilcher (William ‘Billy’ Haines) is a recent graduate of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Peter Rae (Howard Strickling) recently appeared in the No.1 national tour of Dead Lies and is about to star in Don’t Take The Pith!, a sequel to his An Absolute Farce of a Murder Mystery (Best Comedy Finalist in the London Pub Theatres Magazine Awards) at Drayton Arms Theatre.

Shelley Rivers (Marion Davies) is currently playing Woman in Marry Me A Little at The Stage Door Theatre and has been OFFIE-nominated Lead performance in a musical 2024.

Olivia Ruggerio (Carole Lompard / Pola Negri) has spent the last two years touring and performing in her one-woman show Puppets (winner of the BroadwayWorld Award Sydney for Best New Performer and Best New Musical/Play) and the sell-out, 5 star hit Broadway Diva (Edinburgh Fringe, 2023).

Dereck Walker (Louis B. Mayer) was in Grindr the Opera (Union Theatre) and Twinkle (Drayton Arms).

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