A BETTER WOMAN Coming to Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

A TOUCHING new comedy comes to The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, later this year.

Written by Simon Mendes da Costa (author of the West End and Broadway hit, Losing Louis), A Better Woman is the second play the venue has produced and has been supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and The Marlowe Theatre Development Trust.

A Better Woman asks what it's like to have to start again ... and again. Tom is searching for the one. In fact, now in his forties, he has been searching for the one for quite a long time. After a few romantic near misses, he turns to the world of online dating to find someone to grow old with.

With the help of his despairing neighbours, he embarks upon a series of eventful dates with a series of very different women in search of the perfect companion. But is he even sure what he is looking for?

Simon is an experienced, produced playwright, best known for Losing Louis, which premiered at The Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2005 and starred Lynda Bellingham and Alison Steadman. It went on to a West End run, UK and international tours and also had a separate production on Broadway.

Simon's first play, Table For One, earned him a nomination for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards.

Simon, who lives in Whitstable, was commissioned by The Marlowe to write A Better Woman. He is the theatre's Literary Associate.

A Better Woman will be directed by Tilly Vosburgh, who combines being a stage, TV and radio actor with a developing career as a director of stage plays.

This is the second time the Arts Council have supported The Marlowe Theatre and Director Mark Everett said: "This grant, under the Grants for the Arts scheme, follows on from last year's support for our production of Beached in The Marlowe Studio, which subsequently transferred to London's Soho Theatre."

The grant will also support The Marlowe's project to help new theatre writing, particularly amongst those living in Kent.

Casting for A Better Woman will be announced in the next few weeks.

A Better Woman is at The Marlowe Studio from Tuesday 1 December to Saturday 19 December, with performances at 2.30pm on Thursdays (except 3 December) and Saturdays, and 7.30pm. The first three dates are preview performances and tickets for these are £10. All other ticket prices are £14 (concessions available; booking fee applies).

A Better Woman sees the first accessible performances in The Marlowe Studio. These are a British Sign Language-interpreted performance at 7.30pm on Thursday 10 December and an audio-described performance at 2.30pm on Saturday 12 December.

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