KENNY MORGAN to Return to the Arcola with Original Cast

Arcola Theatre's production of Kenny Morgan will return for just four weeks this September after a sold-out premiere earlier this year. This critically-acclaimed new play is the latest drama by Mike Poulton (Tony nominated for his Broadway versions of Fortune's Fool, Wolf Hall, and Bring up The Bodies).

London, 1949. Terence Rattigan is one of the best-known playwrights in town, but his relationship with the actor Kenneth Morgan is a closely-guarded secret. When Kenny falls into the arms of a younger man, emotions reach fever pitch. Behind the closed doors of a flat in Camden Town, the unspeakable is spoken - and the consequences are tragic. A gripping tale of destructive passions, Kenny Morgan exposes the limits to which people will go for love, and the extraordinary real-life events behind Rattigan's most famous play, The Deep Blue Sea.

Director Lucy Bailey (Fortune's Fool, Old Vic; Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's Globe) revives her atmospheric production - nominated for two Off West End Awards (Best Director and Best Male) - with two-time Olivier award nominee Paul Keating and the complete original cast.

Also on the creative team are Designer Robert Innes Hopkins; Lighting Designer Jack Knowles; and Sound Designer Neil McKeown.

Kenny Morgan, produced by Arcola Theatre, runs from Tuesday 20 September - Saturday 15 October. Press night is Friday 23 September.

ABOUT THE CAST:

Paul Keating (Kenny Morgan) Paul has twice been nominated for an Olivier Award, for the West End premieres of Tommy and Closer to Heaven. His other West End shows include Don Carlos, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Full Monty, The Wizard of Oz.

Simon Dutton (Terence Rattigan) Simon is best known on TV for playing the title role of Simon Templar (alias the Saint) and Guy in Not Going Out. In a long and distinguished stage career, his starring roles at the NT, RSC and in the West End have included: Brief Encounter, Plague Over England, The Winslow Boy, Another Country, Not About Heroes, Much Ado About Nothing and Lady Windermere's Fan.

Matthew Bulgo (Dafydd Lloyd) Mathew's previous credits include: The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion, Praxis Makes Perfect (National Theatre Wales); All My Sons (Theatr Clwyd); I'm With the Band (Traverse); Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate).

George Irving (Mr Ritter) George's previous credits include: Antony Unbound (Buenos Aires & Uruguay Shakespeare festivals); The Oresteia, Julius Caesar (Globe Theatre); Tyne (Live Theatre); Gibraltar/TheDying of Today (Arcola Theatre). On TV he played consultant Anton Meyer in Holby City and Casualty.

Lowenna Melrose (Norma Hastings) Lowenna's previous credits include: Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Bath); Dr Faustus (Royal Exchange Manchester); Witness for the Prosecution (Theatre Mill, York).

Pierro Niel-Mee (Alec Lennox) Pierro's previous credits include: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies at the RSC, West End and on Broadway. He was also in Spring Tide (Old Red Lion Theatre). He is currently starring in Liam Williams' debut play Travesty at Assembly, Edinburgh Fringe

Marlene Sidaway (Mrs Simpson) Marlene's previous credits include: The Ladykillers (Watermill), Enjoy and The Crucible (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Uncle Vanya (The Print Room), The Lady in the Van (Salisbury), The Enchantment, A Prayer for Owen Meany (NT).

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM:

Lucy Bailey (Director) Lucy is co-founder of The Print Room Theatre in Notting Hill, and the music theatre company, the gogmagogs. Her acclaimed Shakespeare productions include Titus Andronicus, Macbeth and Timon of Athens at the Globe and The Winters Tale, The Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar at the RSC. Lucy has worked with Mike Poulton on three previous occasions, directing his adaptations of The Lady from the Sea for Birmingham Rep; Uncle Vanya for the Print Room and Fortune's Fool for the Old Vic, both starring Iain Glen.

Mike Poulton (Playwright) Mike began writing for the theatre in 1995. His first adaptations of Turgenev's Fortune's Fool, with Alan Bates, and of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, with Derek Jacobi, were both staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and on Broadway. Fortune's Fool receiving a Tony Nomination for Best Play, Tony awards for Alan Bates as Best Actor and Frank Langella as Best Featured Actor, and five other major awards. His work for the Royal Shakespeare Company includes St Erkenwald, The Canterbury Tales, Morte d'Arthur, Anjin (Tokyo, Osaka, London) and most recently Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (Stratford, London, Broadway), which received 8 Tony Nominations including Best Plays. Recent work includes a new production of Fortune's Fool at the Old Vic, directed by Lucy Bailey, Luise Miller at The Donmar directed by Michael Grandage, A Tale of Two Cities at Northampton, directed by James Dacre, to be revived for a national tour Autumn 2016. Other work in London's West End, and at Chichester, Cymru Theatr Clwyd, Colchester, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, America and Ireland, includes adaptations of Schiller, Chekhov, Strindberg, Ibsen, Euripides, De Filippo. Mike's version of The York Mysteries were staged in May in York Minster. He is currently under contract to The Royal Shakespeare Company.

IF YOU GO:

Arcola Theatre presents

KENNY MORGAN

Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL

Tuesday 20 September - Saturday 15 October
Press night: Friday 23 September at 7.30pm

Monday - Saturday evenings at 7.30pm
Matinees at 3.00pm

Wednesday matinees on 28 Sep, 5 Oct and 12 Oct.
Saturday matinees on 24 Sep, 1 Oct and 15 Oct.

Tickets: £10.00 - £19.00; 1,000 TICKETS AT JUST £10
Opening performances (22 - 23 September): All tickets £12.00
Pay What You Can Tuesdays (tickets in person from 6pm - limited and subject to availability)
Tickets are £10 or less with Arcola Passport

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