Full Casting Announced For Nuffield Southampton Theatres Workshop Production Of SON OF RAMBOW - THE MUSICAL

Full casting is today announced for Nuffield Southampton Theatres workshop production of Son of Rambow - The Musical, running at The Other Palace from 24 May - 2 June. Director of NST, Samuel Hodges, directs Gemma Goggin (Miss Smith), Scarlet Billham (Tina), Tom McCall (Barry), Jon Tarcy (Didier), Richard Dempsey (Brother Joshua), Cat Simmons (Sarah) and Felix Warren as Will and Aaron Gelkoff as Lee. Son of Rambow - The Musical is an adaptation of the hit cult film featuring an original 80s pop soundtrack by two of the UK's most successful pop writers Miranda Cooper and Nick Coler with the book by Richard Marsh. This marks Cooper and Coler's debut in writing for the stage.

Son of Rambow is a work in progress production working with feedback from the audience each day.

Winter 1982. Two boys are about to form an unlikely friendship.

Will Proudfoot is a member of the Plymouth Brethren, forbidden from watching TV or films. Lee Carter is the wild child, school trouble-maker. When Lee blows Will's mind with a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood, this unlikely pair collaborate on a homemade sequel.

Their movie changes the lives of all around them - Will's recently-widowed mum, Sarah and family friend Joshua. Lee's brother Barry fights for the love of his girlfriend Tina, who must choose between him, university or French exchange sexpot, Didier.

Based on the cult hit film, Son of Rambow is a heart-warming and hilarious story about two boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions.

Scarlet Billham plays Tina. Her credits for theatre include Morning (Lyric Theatre/Traverse Theatre), Super Skinny Bitches (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Take A Deep Breath, Breathe (Ovalhouse Theatre) and Alice By Heart (Lyric Theatre).

Richard Dempsey plays Brother Joshua. Rothschild and Sons (Park Theatre), Strictly Ballroom (WYP/Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto/Global Creatures), Damsel in Distress (Chichester Festival Theatre), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Just So/ Out of this world (Noel Coward Theatre), Victor/Victoria (Southwark Playhouse), Me And My Girl (Sheffield Crucible), The Merchant of Venice (BAM New York/World Tour), Citizenship (National Theatre), Dirty Dancing (Original West End Cast), A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC/Schubert Theatre, New Haven USA), Peepshow (Frantic Assembly), Honk! (National Theatre UK Tour), The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (RSC), The Dance Of Death (Tricycle Theatre), Into The Woods (Original West End Cast) and Fame (Original West End Cast). His television credits include, Downton Abbey, Dracula, Doc Martin, Ladies of Letters, Egypt, Island At War, Warlock, Cleopatra, Wives And Daughters, Aristocrats, Scarlet Pimpernel, Tilly Trotter, The Prince Of Hearts, Crimetraveller, Wycliffe, Inspector Alleyn, Anna Lee, Don't Leave Me This Way, Sherlock Holmes, The Chronicles of Narnia; and for film, Warlock, 24 Hours In London, The Barber Of Siberia and The Prince Of Jutland.

Gemma Goggin plays Miss Smith. Her theatre credits include Don Quixote, Dr Faustus (RSC), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Neuss Globe, Germany/Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Hobson's Choice (Basingstoke Theatre Royal), Wasted (Pleasance Theatre) and Piaf (Rose and Crowne, Walthamstow). In addition, she also works as a stand-up comic with works including Get Laid or Die Trying, Celebrity Sleepover and Gemma Goggin: Double G (Gilded Balloon/Leicester Square Theatre). Her film credits include Teeth and Pills, The Young Victoria and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Tom McCall plays Barry. His theatre credits include Queen of Carthage (RSC), Titus, Julius Caesar, Doctor Faustus (RSC, The Barbican), Don Quixote, The Alchemist (RSC, The Barbican), Oppenheimer (Vaudeville Theatre), Shoemakers Holiday, Oppenheimer (RSC), Hag (Soho Theatre and national tour), This Happy Breed (Peter Hall season, Theatre Royal Bath), Ragnarok (Eastern Angles - Hush House), Baba Yaga (Bristol Old Vic), Pants on Fire's Ovids Metamorphosis (Flea Theatre New York/UK tour), Freddie Hearts Freddie (Southwark Playhouse), The Gift (Old Vic), Smile (Arcola Theatre), Almost Near (Finborough Theatre), Potholes (Theatre 503) and Inches Apart (Theatre 503). His television credits include Black Mirror, Wallander, The Musketeers, The Intern; and for film, Death and Taxes and Bloodshot.

Jon Tarcy plays Didier. His theatre credits include Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus (RSC/Barbican), Tale Of Two Cities (Northampton UK tour), King John (Rose Theatre Kingston) and West Side Story (NYMT). His television credits include West Side Story, Sound of Music: Live!, Lucky Man and Life in Black.

Cat Simmons plays Sarah. Her theatre credits include Jesus Christ Superstar, Whistle Down The Wind (Aldwych Theatre), Fame! (Cambridge Theatre), Simply Heavenly, Been So Long (Young Vic), And I And Silence, America Visions Of Love, We Happy Few, Aladdin (Old Vic), Lady in the Van (Theatre Royal Bath), One Love (Birmingham Rep), Sweet Charity (Manchester Royal Exchange), Hopelessly Devoted (Paines Plough), Decade (Headlong Theatre), Oliver! (National tour), Macbeth (Shakespeare's Globe). Her television credits include series regular Emma in the hit BBC1 drama Ordinary Lies, series regular as DC Kezia Walker in The Bill and as Scarlett Anderson in Family Affairs. Other TV credits include Moving On, Midsomer Murders, Tubby and Enid Vera, Girl's Weekend, Big C, Holby City, No Angels and Children's Ward. Simmons also played Sista Twista in the feature film Life And Lyrics.

Nick Coler is a British songwriter. His credits alongside Miranda Cooper include 35 top 10 hits for acts such as Girls Aloud, The Sugababes, Gabriella Cilmi, Alesha Dixon and numerous other artists. In addition, he co-wrote a song with Alastair Lloyd Webber for Starlight Express as well as numerous films and TV shows including Wayne's World where he wrote Feed my Frankenstein. He has also been nominated three times for an Ivor Novello Award and has won producer of the year.

Miranda Cooper is a British songwriter who has worked in the music industry since 1996 when she signed an artist deal to Warner Records. In 1997, she began to collaborate with Brian Higgins, the founder of Kent-based songwriting and production team Xenomania. They struck instant and lasting commercial success and critical acclaim with their productions for Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Kylie Minogue, Alesha Dixon, Gabriella Cilmi and the Pet Shop Boys. She has penned four UK Number One hits - Round Round, Sound of the Underground, Hole in the Head and The Promise as well as 20 consecutive top 10 singles for Girls Aloud. Beginning a new chapter in her writing career, Cooper is currently writing and developing three musicals, including Son of Rambow (NST/The Other Palace) and the hugely popular Billionaire Boy by David Walliams (NST). As well as the musicals, Cooper continues to innovate with her pop songwriting, currently collaborating with the YouTube sensation and recent Atlantic Records signing Maisie Peters who is set for undoubted success.

Richard Marsh is a writer and performer. His one-man play Skittles was commissioned for Radio 4 as Love & Sweets and won Best Scripted Comedy in the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Dirty Great Love Story won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to Bristol Old Vic, Soho Theatre and 59E59 Theatres, NYC, and most recently to the Arts Theatre. Wingman played to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe before touring the UK and to LA and is in development for TV. He wrote the Radio 4 poetry comedy series Cardboard Heart and his poetry can currently be heard in the national tour of Tango Moderno. He is a former London poetry slam champion and was a member of Theatre503's 503/5 writers group.

Samuel Hodges is Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST). His productions for NST includes The Shadow Factory, Dedication - Shakespeare and Southampton, following The Glass Menagerie in 2015. Previously he founded the HighTide Festival Theatre in 2007 and was the Artistic Director for five years, during which time he produced over 25 new plays, co-producing with the National Theatre, The Old Vic and the Bush Theatre, amongst others. Between 2012 and 2014, he ran the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, for whom he curated a late-night programme and a one-off summer season of new work to celebrate the London Olympics.

Nuffield Southampton Theatres is one of the UK's leading professional theatre companies. The company is led by Samuel Hodges, supported by a team of associates: directors Blanche McIntyre, Natalie Abrahami and Michael Longhurst, designer Tom Scutt, playwright Adam Brace, choreographer Drew McOnie and poet Inua Ellams. NST develops and produces work with some of the UK's most exciting and dynamic regional theatres. In 2016/17 290,000 people saw an NST production across all 9 regions of the UK. NST won Best Director at UK Theatre Awards 2014 (The Seagull), Regional Theatre of the Year at The Stage Awards 2015, Best Design at UK Theatre Awards 2015 (The Hudsucker Proxy) and the 2017 Renee Stepham UK Theatre Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre (Fantastic Mr Fox).

NST City is Nuffield Southampton Theatres brand new venue just opened in Southampton's city centre. The new theatre will run alongside their existing theatre NST Campus situated on the Highfield Campus at the University of Southampton.

Nuffield Southampton Theatres is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and a registered charity, receiving additional core funding from the University of Southampton and Southampton City Council.

The Other Palace opened in February 2017 as a new home for musical theatre. The venue aims to discover, develop and reimagine musicals. The team want the spaces to be used to nurture the next generation of musicals, and the creatives behind them; celebrating the very best of the art form, from the established to the brand new.

'The Other Palace's Development Programme' has been created to identify, explore, encourage and support musicals at every stage of their journey. The venue will be offering creatives space, time and resources; enabling them to explore and test their work, both privately and with an audience.

For audience members, The Other Palace's Development Programme offers the opportunity to see new shows in their infancy and be part of the process, providing the creative team with invaluable feedback.

The Other Palace Work in Progress series offers productions a short residency at the venue which allows companies to create, develop and explore their work. These residencies will include a number of public sharings where audience feedback will be collected to inform the next stage of the project's development. The ambition is that these productions will have a future life either at The Other Palace or beyond.

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