Acclaimed One-Man Comedy By Jonathan Harvey Heads To Cumbria Prior To London Run

Following its critically acclaimed sell-out at Liverpool Theatre Festival and Northern tour, Swan Song, a revised comedy by acclaimed playwright Jonathan Harvey, is heading to The Coro in Ulverston prior to a London run.

Swan Song, a one-man play stars acclaimed stage and screen star Andrew Lancel, is directed by BAFTA award-winning director Noreen Kershaw and produced by Bill Elms.

The play will open at London's Turbine Theatre for seven performances from Monday 29 November to Saturday 4 December. The show also performs pre-London dates at The Coro in Ulverston for two performances on Friday 19 - Saturday 20 November, a perfect venue due to The Lakes playing an integral part within the play.

Beth Kennedy - Director of Ulverston Community Enterprises, the organisation that manages The Coro - said "We're delighted to be bringing this production to The Lake District. Following a difficult year and a half, we're gradually rebuilding towards a full programme of meaningful events for the people of Ulverston and the wider area and we have some great new talent in our organisation working on this. So marking the return of live theatre to our stage with a play in which our area plays such an integral part, with a writer-director-actor team such as Jonathan, Noreen and Andrew - and all before it heads to London - is a real coup."

Swan Song was first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1997, before transferring to Hampstead Theatre with award-winning comedy actress Rebecca Front in the lead role. Jonathan Harvey adapted the 70-minute play specially for Andrew Lancel at Liverpool Theatre Festival to play the solo role of Dave Titswell.

Producer and the artistic director of Liverpool Theatre Festival, Bill Elms said: "Swan Song is a funny, clever and inspiring production which opened the inaugural Liverpool Theatre Festival. Andrew Lancel, Jonathan Harvey, and Noreen Kershaw are an incredible blend of creative talent, and the play went down a storm in Liverpool and on its Northern tour. People are excited for the return of live theatre - and we're excited to give them that experience back after such a long time with a really special production."

Swan Song is a bittersweet comedy written by Jonathan Harvey. Set in Liverpool, it is 1997, the world is changing and in the staff room, gay forty-something, English teacher Dave Titswell finds that not all change is welcome. He has a crush, but life, love, and work are never straight forward for Dave. Will a school trip to The Lakes change things for the better, or make things decidedly worse? Swan Song will make audiences laugh, but equally pull at the heartstrings.

Andrew Lancel is well established on The National Theatre scene, he is also widely known for his television roles as DI Neil Manson in The Bill and super-villain Frank Foster in Coronation Street. He was three times nominated for a national TV award and won a British Soap Award in 2012 for Coronation Street. He has twice played Beatles' manager Brian Epstein on stage to great critical acclaim, first in Epstein - The Man Who Made The Beatles (also produced by Bill Elms) which premiered in Liverpool and went on to play London's West End, as well as playing Epstein in the national tour of Cilla The Musical, Bill Kenwright's stage adaptation of the TV series written by Jeff Pope. He recently appeared in the Royal Variety Show and Casualty for BBC and has just finished filming The Thief, His Wife And The Canoe for ITV.

Andrew Lancel commented: "I'm thrilled to be finally taking this wonderful play to London. We are a small team but this play just keeps growing and it's a constant buzz to do. It's funny, moving and strangely (and sadly) topical. I can't wait to see London's reaction to Dave Titswell."

Award-winning Jonathan Harvey's credits include Gimme Gimme Gimme; Murder Most Horrid; Coronation Street; Call The Midwife; and Tracey Ullman's Show. His plays include Beautiful Thing, Corrie, Canary, Hushabye Mountain, Babies, Boom Bang A Bang' and Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club. He also wrote the 2001 stage musical Closer to Heaven with the Pet Shop Boys and its sequel Muzik. He has won the John Whiting Award, the George Devine Award, two Manchester Evening News Awards, an Evening Standard Award, two British Soap Awards and a Writers Guild of Great Britain Award.

Jonathan added: "Swan Song is a comedy about a teacher who's trying to hold onto his dignity while the education system crumbles around him - and I'm thrilled Andrew is playing Dave. I'm delighted to also be working with Noreen again, she directed many of my Corrie scripts and Call The Midwife. As the original Shirley Valentine, Noreen definitely knows a thing or two about one person shows."

Noreen Kershaw's directing credits include Our Girl, Moving On, Scott & Bailey, Emmerdale, Shameless, Heartbeat and Coronation Street. She is also known for acting in Life On Mars, Brookside, and Watching. Noreen also originated the title role of Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre.

Learn more at www.thecoro.co.uk

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