Maureen Lipman and Katie Brayben Cast in MY MOTHER SAID I NEVER SHOULD

National treasure Maureen Lipman (Oklahoma, Outside Edge, See How They Run) and Olivier-award winning Katie Brayben (Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, King Charles III, American Psycho) will lead the cast in Charlotte Keatley's My Mother Said I Never Should. They will be joined by Caroline Faber (The Taming of the Shrew, The Heiress, Hangover Square) and Serena Manteghi (The Railway Children). Presented by Tiny Fires Ltd. this is the first London revival of the play in over 25 years.

On this exciting casting, Director Paul Robinson says, "I am delighted to be working with Maureen for the first time. I am, of course, well-aware of her huge body of work and have been thrilled by her performances on various occasions. We have really enjoyed talking about the play and role and I'm so excited by her approach to it. Be ready for a highly original take on the part of Doris with humour, humanity and huge depth."

MY MOTHER SAID I NEVER SHOULD is a non-linear play where, at times, all four generations of women appear together, timeless and ageless. The visual language of this production embraces this expressionism in a radical, contemporary and explosive new production.

Robinson treats the piece as a memory play looking at how our recollections of the same events in our own families differ so wildly. My Mother Said I Never Should is a moving exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters and the consequences of breaking the most sacred taboo of motherhood.

Keatley comments, "I wrote this play to explore how to live, work, love and raise children - and the dilemmas are exactly the same we are wrestling with now. 25 years later it is still incredibly unusual to see women protagonists like these. What moves me most is that teenagers today love this play as much as older audiences. Above all I wanted to make people laugh, cry and be inspired. I get letters from people across the world saying how the play changed their lives."

My Mother Said is about the choices we make which determine the course of our lives and how it is never too late to change. Looking at the social and professional place of women, it explores the belief that being a mother is at odds with being a professional success. This is a powerful story of love and jealously between mothers and daughters told through the stories of four generations of women.

With a running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes (including an interval) performance dates are fromWednesday 13th April to Saturday 21st May 2016, 7.30pm with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.There will be no Wednesday matinee on 13th April and there are no performances on Sundays.

Located at St. James Theatre, 12 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JA, tickets are available from www.stjamestheatre.co.uk or 0844 264 2140 from £15.

Tiny Fires Ltd is an independent production company set up by director Paul Robinson and producer Tara Finney, the award-nominated team behind the critically acclaimed Land of Our Fathers (Time Out's Fringe Show of the Year 2013) which transferred to Trafalgar Studios in September 2014 and tours nationally this year. Paul and Tara set up Tiny Fires Ltd. to create high quality, unique and innovative theatre in the Off West End and West End spheres. For Tiny Fires' first production they will present their favourite modern classic My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley. Not seen in London since its Royal Court debut in 1989 this dynamic new version can be seen at St. James' Theatre in spring 2016.

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