HANDBAGGED Tour to Play The Marlowe Theatre

Exploring the relationship between The Queen and Margaret Thatcher, the production opens in Canterbury on Wednesday 9 September - the day Queen Elizabeth II becomes our longest-serving monarch.

Handbagged focuses on two giants of the 20th Century: the monarch - Liz; her most powerful subject - Maggie. Two enduring icons born in the same year. One destined to rule, the other elected to lead. But when the stiff upper lip softened and the gloves came off, which one had the upper hand? Moira Buffini's celebrated comedy speculates on that most provocative of questions: what did the world's most powerful women really talk about behind closed palace doors?

Handbagged first premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in 2013 where it enjoyed a sell-out seven-week run, winning the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre (2014) and nominations for Best New Comedy and Best Ensemble Performance at the WhatsOnStage Awards (2014). The production transferred to the West End in April 2014 where it ran for a limited 17-week season and received an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Comedy 2015.

Susie Blake (Q) will lead a cast of six, including Kate Fahy (T), Emma Handy (Liz), Asif Khan (Actor 1), Sanchia McCormack (Mags) and Richard Teverson (Actor 2).

Blake's many West End theatre credits include When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre), Grumpy Old Women Live 2: Chin Up Britain (Novello Theatre and on tour), Madame Morrible in Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Noises Off (National Theatre, Piccadilly Theatre and UK tour); The Shakespeare Revue for the RSC (Barbican, Vaudeville Theatre and UK tour); The Merry Wives Of Windsor and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park London). Her best known television credits include Mrs Brown's Boys, Beverley Unwin in Coronation Street, Parents, Singles, Born And Bred, Russ Abbott's Madhouse and The Victoria Wood Show.

Kate Fahy plays 'T'. Her theatre credits include After Electra (Tricycle Theatre); The Goat (Almeida/Apollo Theatres); Grace, Goucho (Hampstead Theatre); Old Flames (Arts Theatre); Othello (Young Vic); Seduced (Royal Court); and two years at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Recent television credits include The Marriage of Reason And Squalor, The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher, and film credits include Archipelago, The Living And The Dead - for which she received best actress and best supporting actress awards.

Writer Moira Buffini has many plays to her credit (including Wonder.land, a musical with Damon Albarn; Women, Power And Politics for the Tricycle Theatre, Welcome To Thebes and Dinner for the National Theatre), along with screenplays (including Tamara Drewe directed by Stephen Frears, Jane Eyre directed by Cary Fukanaga, and Byzantium directed by Neil Jordan). She recently directed her first short film, Father.

Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, directs. For the Tricycle, her work includes Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, and Red Velvet (Tricycle/ St Ann's Warehouse, New York, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Award). She has worked for other theatres (most notably the National - The Motherf**ker With The Hat). In 2012 Rubasingham was awarded the Arts And Culture Award at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards for "astounding achievements in theatre"

She also received the Carlton Multi-Cultural Achievement Award for Performing Arts and in 2010 she jointly received the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award for The Great Game: Afghanistan. She was previously Associate Director of the Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic.

Handbagged is at The Marlowe Theatre from Wednesday 9 to Saturday 12 September (7.30pm evenings, plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday). Tickets, priced £14.50 to £35 (concessions available; booking fees apply) are from the Box Office on 01227 787787 or marlowetheatre.com. There will be signed, captioned and audio-described performance.

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