Casting Announced for Chichester Festival Theatre's THE HOUSE THEY GREW UP IN

A new play by Deborah Bruce, THE HOUSE THEY GREW UP IN, will premiere at Chichester's Minerva Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin in a co-production with Headlong. Running from 14 July - 5 August, the press night will be on 21 July. The cast includes Daniel Ryan and Samantha Spiro.

The present day. A residential street in South East London. The house where reclusive siblings Peppy and Daniel were born is now stuffed full of everything they have ever owned.

This hoard, their eccentric appearance and rampant garden hedge, set them conspicuously apart from others on their road.

When young Ben visits from next door he is simply looking for friendship; but what happens next challenges everyone's idea of neighbourliness.

The House They Grew Up In is a tender, dark and funny look at a co-dependent relationship between a brother and a sister, and how they cope when the world bursts in on them. It explores how, in an age of anxiety, we live alongside those different to us.

Deborah Bruce's first play was Godchild (Hampstead 2013); her second, The Distance, premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre and was revived there and in Sheffield in 2015 and nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Samantha Spiro returns to Chichester where she played Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in 2008; her award-winning theatre roles also include Di and Viv and Rose (West End), Chicken Soup with Barley (Royal Court) and Hello, Dolly! (Regent's Park), while her extensive television work includes Grandma's House, The Tracey Ullman Show and Barbara Windsor in the forthcoming Babs.

Daniel Ryan makes his Chichester debut; his many television series include Mount Pleasant, Home Fires and Doc Martin, and theatre includes Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse), Posh (Royal Court) and Gethsemane (National Theatre).

Artistic Director of Headlong Jeremy Herrin returns to Chichester where his recent work includes This House, South Downs and Another Country.

The production will be designed by Max Jones, with lighting by Natasha Chivers.

The House They Grew Up In is sponsored by Bishops Printers.

EVENTS

Pre-Show Talk with Deborah Bruce & Jeremy Herrin Wednesday 19 July, 6pm

Free but booking essential.

Post-Show Talk Monday 31 July

Stay after the performance to ask questions, meet company members and discover more. Free.

For more information, visit cft.org.uk.

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