Gwen Taylor & Susan Penhaligon to Bring THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST to Manchester

Gwen Taylor will star as Lady Bracknell in the 2018 UK tour of Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, alongside Susan Penhaligon as Miss Prism. The tour will begin on 24 January at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, ending on 28 April in Eastbourne. Further casting is to be announced.

The show stops off at Manchester Opera House from 13-17 March 2018 with tickets going on sale on Friday 13th October.

Gwen Taylor is best known for playing the title role in the ITV sitcom Barbara, as well as Anne Foster in Coronation Street, Peggy Armstrong in Heartbeat, Rita Simcock in A Bit of A Do, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA TV Best Actress Award, and Amy in Duty Free. Her film appearances include The Lady in the Van and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Gwen most recently played Mrs Bramson in Luke Sheppard's critically acclaimed touring production of Emlyn Williams's Night Must Fall and Daisy Worthen in Driving Miss Daisy at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Other theatre credits include Calendar Girls (UK Tour), the title role in the national tour of Shirley Valentine, Top Girls (Royal Court and New York), and Gertrude in Sir Peter Hall's production of Hamlet (London's Gielgud Theatre and national tour).

Susan Penhaligon is currently appearing in Rufus Norris's production of Cabaret alongside Will Young and Louise Redknapp. She has a wide range of TV credits to her name, including Upstairs Downstairs, Tales of the Unexpected, Bergerac and A Bouquet of Barbed Wire. She played Judi Dench's sister Helen in four series of the award-winning BBC sitcom A Fine Romance, and the regular role of Jean Hope in ITV's Emmerdale. Susan also played Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew for the BBC's Shakespeare season. Susan has toured the UK extensively, having previously worked with The Original Theatre Company, playing Queen Charlotte in their 2010 production of Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III. She has also appeared in productions of George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, Agatha Christie's Verdict and Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Saville's Crime.

Oscar Wilde's greatly admired and much loved comedy THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST follows Jack Worthing's endeavours to marry Algernon's cousin, the beautiful Gwendolen. But first he must convince the fearsome Lady Bracknell of his respectability. Wilde's classic play looks at the clash of town and country in a story of romance, identity, perambulators and capacious handbags.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST will be directed by The Original Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Alastair Whatley, with set and costume designs by Gabriella Slade, sound and music by GiLes Thomas and lighting by Alan Valentine. The UK tour is produced by Tom Hackney for The Original Theatre Company.

For more information, visit www.originaltheatre.com. The production will stop 13 - 17 March 2018 at Manchester Opera House. Box office: 0844 871 3018 | www.atgtickets.com/manchester. On sale 13 October.

The Original Theatre Company was formed in 2004 by Artistic Director Alastair Whatley. The company now stages at least three productions each year, playing in 2016 alone over 250 performances to an estimated 150,000 people, as well as operating accompanying outreach and education programmes. Past productions include Torben Betts' Invincible which transferred to New York earlier this year, the sell-out 2016 tour of Night Must Fall (a co-production with Salisbury Playhouse), Terence Rattigan's Flare Path, Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong, Three Men In A Boat (a co-production with the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, the 50th anniversary production of Sir Peter Shaffer's The Private Ear and The Public Eye and national tours of Our Country's Good, See How They Run, Twelfth Night, Dancing at Lughnasa, Shakespeare's R&J, Vincent in Brixton, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, The Madness of George III, Journey's End and The Importance of Being Oscar.

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