Diane Fletcher and Rachel Pickup, will lead the cast in Tom Littler's production of Somerset Maugham's For Services Rendered, the opening play of Jermyn Street Theatre's Memories Season. Diane Fletcher, who plays Charlotte Ardsley, is best known for creating the role of Elizabeth Urquhart opposite Ian Richardson in the BBC series House of Cards. Her career includes leading roles at The National Theatre, The RSC, The Royal Court and on the West End stage as well as numerous television and film appearances. Rachel Pickup will play Eva. Her career encompasses roles in the West End, the RSC, On Broadway and Off Broadway, leading roles on film and television as well as many regional theatres throughout the UK and in the US. Her stage highlights include: The Merchant of Venice at The Globe Theatre and Stephen Unwin's production of Miss Julie at The Rose Theatre Kingston for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Critics' Circle Award.
A warm September afternoon in an idyllic English village. Tea is served on the terrace. Sounds of a tennis party float across the lawn. But this England has no place for the heroes of the First World War. No jobs to sustain them, no mantelpieces for their medals, and no money for their debts. Against the odds, three sisters must carve new paths in an uncertain world.
Exploring the themes of desire, frustration and hope,
Somerset Maugham's sharply observed 1932 Chekhovian masterpiece, For Services Rendered launches Jermyn Street Theatre's Memories Season this September. This is the play's first London revival since it was seen at the
Old Vic in 1993, and
The National Theatre in 1979.
Diane Fletcher is joined in the cast by Richard Derrington (Mrs Warren's Profession - Cheltenham Everyman, Spanish Wives - The Bridge Company) as Leonard Ardsley,
Michael Lumsden (Alistair Lloyd - The Archers - BBC Radio 4, While The Sun Shines - The Orange Tree) as Wilfred Cedar, Richard Keightley (Of Mice and Men - national tour, Twelfth Night -
National Theatre) as Sydney,
Rachel Pickup (The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare's Globe and World tour, 39 Steps - Criterion Theatre) as Eva, Sally Cheng (Shadowlands -
Chichester Festival Theatre, Macbeth -
Watermill Theatre) as Lois, Leah Whitaker (Alligators -
Hampstead Theatre, Love's Labour's Lost - RSC,
Chichester Festival Theatre, West End) as Ethel Bartlett,
Burt Caesar (King Lear - Shakespeare's Globe, The Plague - Arcola Theatre) as Howard Bartlett, Jotham Annan (The Fairy Queen - Glyndebourne, The Bacchae - Manchester Royal Exchange) as Wilfred Cedar, Viss Elliott Safavi (The Taming of The Shrew - Shakespeare's Globe, The Gift (Criterion Theatre) as Gwen,
Jim Findley (Our Town - Regents Park Open Air Theatre, The Lady From The Sea - Donmar Warehouse) as Dr Prentice and recent LAMDA graduate Aoife Kennan as Gertrude.
Somerset Maugham was among the most successful novelists and playwrights of the inter-war years. Many of his novels, including The Painted Veil, Up at the Villa and Of Human Bondage, have been adapted for screen. His theatre works include: The Circle, The Letter, and Sheppey.
Tom Littler is Artistic Director of Jermyn Street Theatre, where his recent productions have included Pictures of Dorian Gray, Creditors, Miss Julie, The Blinding Light and Tonight at 8.30.
Throughout the run of For Services Rendered the usual front row of Jermyn Street Theatre will be transformed into cushioned garden benches that surround the stage. For just £15 audience members will be right at the forefront of the action, immersed into the world of the 1930's and receive a complimentary beverage.
The casting announcement comes at the same time as the appointment of Cat Robey as Jermyn Street Theatre's Carne Deputy Director. Robey, who has wide directorial and production experience, trained on the Birkbeck directors' course, spending a year on attachment at the pioneering venue Home in Manchester. She will begin her year-long appointment by working as Associate Director on For Services Rendered.
Jermyn Street Theatre is an art-house theatre in the heart of London's West End. The 70-seat studio opened in 1994, and has since won numerous awards and transferred many productions to the West End and Broadway. In summer 2017
Tom Littler became Artistic Director. Littler relaunched the venue as a producing house. Since then it has forged partnerships with theatres in New York, Munich, Frankfurt, Newbury, York, Guildford, Oxford, Cumbria and York, producing over fifteen world premieres alongside several rediscoveries. Jermyn Street Theatre is a signatory to the Equity Fringe Agreement and committed to equal gender representation. In its first two years as a producing house, over 53% of actors and 60% of production teams have been female.
Jermyn Street Theatre's Memories Season which runs from September 2019 to January 2020. In addition to the revival of
Somerset Maugham's For Services Rendered, it comprises the world premiere of Ice Cream Boys by Gail Louw (9th October - 2nd November), Artistic Director
Tom Littler's production of Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well (6th November to 30th November) and the London premiere of the acclaimed
Watermill Theatre's production of One Million Plays About Britain by
Craig Taylor (2nd December to 11th January).
BOX OFFICE: 0207 287 2875 and online at www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk
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