English Touring Theatre Announces Casting Update for SILVER LINING

English Touring Theatre today announces a casting update for the world première of Sandi Toksvig's new comedy Silver Lining, a co-production with Rose Theatre Kingston. SheiLA Reid plays Gloria, with Rachel Davies as Maureen, Keziah Joseph as Hope, Maggie McCarthy as May, Joanna Munro as June and Amanda Walker as St Michael in the production directed by Rebecca Gatward. It opens at Rose Theatre Kingston on 8 February, before touring to Portsmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Ipswich, Keswick, York and Salford.

On one dark and stormy night in the upper day room of the Silver Retirement Home, five elderly ladies are trading stories of their remarkable lives. With the storm floods rising and no rescue team in sight, the ladies are faced with the sudden realisation that in order to survive they are going to have to do what they have done for their entire lives - do it themselves!

Silver Lining tells the tale of five extraordinary yet forgotten women, who come together one treacherous night to recreate The Great Escape - senior citizen style.

Sandi Toksvig is a writer, actor, presenter and political activist. Her previous writing for the stage includes the musicalBig Night Out at the Little Sands Picture Palace and The Pocket Dream. Until last year she was the presenter of BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz and in October 2016 she takes over from Stephen Fry as the host of BBC television quiz showQI. She is the joint founder of the Women's Equality Party which was established in March 2015.

SheiLA Reid plays Gloria. Her theatre credits include Pericles (Shakespeare's Globe), Othello and The Three Sisters(The Old Vic), Romeo and Juliet, Tis Pity She's a Whore and Richard III (RSC), When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout and My Mother Said I Never Should (Royal Court Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Pornography (Tricycle Theatre), Into The Woods (Donmar Warehouse), Filomena (Almeida Theatre), Hedda Gabler (National Theatre) and at Edinburgh Festival, Love Among the Butterflies, Terrible with Raisons In It (both of which she wrote) and Maurice's Jubilee (also UK tour). For television, she is perhaps best known for her role as Madge in ITV comedy Benidorm; her other television credits include Call the Midwife, Doctor Who, Father Brown and Psychobitches.

Rachel Davies plays Maureen. Her theatre credits include Ecstasy (Hampstead Theatre), The Party and The Bacchae(National Theatre), Long Day's Journey Into Night (New Theatre and Old Vic). For television her credits includeEmmerdale, A Passionate Woman, New Tricks, Best Friends, Bodies, Cutting it, The Chase, Dalziel & Pascoe and Linda Green.

Keziah Joseph as Hope. Keziah trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama this marks her professional debut.

Maggie McCarthy plays May. Her theatre credits include We Wait in Joyful Hope (Theatre 503), The Absence of War(Headlong/Sheffield Theatres/Rose Theatre Kingston), Juno and the Paycock (Bristol Old Vic/Liverpool Theatres), Gaslight (Salisbury Playhouse), Children of the Sun, Cocktail Sticks, Doctor's Dilemma, Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, Philistines, The Rose Tattoo, Mother Clap's Molly House (National Theatre), Private Lives and Uncle Vanya(Chichester Festival Theatre). Her work for television includes Dancing On The Edge, Feather Boy and She's Out. Her work for film includes Attack the Block, Leap Year and Hilary And Jackie.

Joanna Munro plays June. Her theatre credits include Jack and the Beanstalk (Hall for Cornwall), Mamma Mia (West End and international tour), Breeze Block Park (Liverpool Playhouse), Habeus Corpus (Exeter Northcott), Women On The Verge Of HRT, Golden Leaf Strut and The Master Builder (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Blood Brothers (West End), Prisoner Cell Block H, Baby Love, Rough Crossing, All's Well That Ends Well, Dead White Males, The Price Of Meat and The Taming Of The Shrew (Nuffield Theatre) and Dreams Of San Francisco (Bush Theatre). For television her work includes Confessions of a Diary Secretary, Angels, People Like Us, The Cazelet Chronicles, Doctor Who, Fast Forward,The Life and Death of Philip Knight and Dream Team. She is currently a recurring character in the BBC Radio 4 seriesHomefront.

Amanda Walker plays St Michael. Her theatre credits include Orpheus Descending (Haymarket Theatre), Waiting in September: The War On Terror (Southbank Centre) and Superior Donuts (Southwark Playhouse). Her television work includes The Missing, Murphy's Law, My Family, Daylight Robbery, Fish and The New Adventures of Robin Hood; and for film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Captain America: The First Avenger and Cloud Atlas.

Rebecca Gatward directs. Her theatre credits include The Night Watch (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester), for West Yorkshire Playhouse; The Accrington Palsand Beryl (also Rose Theatre Kingston), The Trial Of Dennis The Menace (Southbank Centre), The Comedy Of Errors, The Merchant Of Venice (Shakespeare's Globe), Pandas (Traverse Theatre), The Indian Boy (RSC Complete Works Festival), The Canterbury Tales directed in partnership with Greg Doran and Jonathan Munby and Thyestes for The Other Place (RSC), Touched (Salisbury Playhouse), Cancer Tales (New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich). She was Company Director on This Is Our Youth with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck at the Garrick Theatre. Her work for television includes EastEnders (winner Broadcast award and soap award nominations for best episode and scene),Casualty, Doctors and Sadie J.

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