Susie Blake Joins Tom Chambers in the UK and Ireland Tour of MURDER IN THE DARK; Full Casting and Extra Dates Revealed!

Original Theatre, Trafalgar Theatre Productions and JAS Theatricals have announced full casting and extra dates for the new Torben Betts thriller, Murder in the Dark, directed by Philip Franks.  The UK & Ireland Tour will open at Churchill Theatre, Bromley on 7 September 2023 and now runs through to March 2024.

Joining the previously announced Tom Chambers as Danny will be Susie Blake as Mrs Bateman, Rebecca Charles as Rebecca, Jonny Green as Jake, Owen Oakeshott as William and Laura White as Sarah.

New Year’s Eve.  A car crash on a lonely road brings famous but troubled singer Danny Sierra and his extended family to an isolated holiday cottage in rural England.  From the moment they arrive, a sequence of inexplicable events begins to occur… and then the lights go out.

This thrilling new ghost story by acclaimed writer Torben Betts will thrust you into darkness and have you on the edge of your seats until the final chilling twist.

Director Philip Franks said, “Horror films have been my guilty pleasure since I was a morbid child. Now is the time to find out whether many years’ worth of jump scares and terrible nightmares can be put to good use. We’ll also see whether my more adult theory – that horror often puts its finger on what worries us most as a society at any given time – will also hold true.“

Torben Betts’s previous work with Original Theatre includes Invincible, Caroline's Kitchen and the online play Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon.  Other work includes Get Carter, an adaptation of The Seagull for Regent’s Park Open Air, The Unconquered (Best New Play 2007 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland), The Company Man, A Listening Heaven (nominated for Best New Play at the 2001 TMA Awards) and Mummies and Daddies (shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award 2000).

Tom Chambers is known for his roles as Sam Strachan in Holby City and Casualty, Max Tyler in Waterloo Road and Inspector Sullivan in Father Brown. He also won the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing with his partner Camilla Dallerup.  In theatre, he most recently appeared in the West End in Elf the Musical.  He originated the role of Jerry Travers in Top Hat, which earned him an Olivier nomination.  He also starred in Original Theatre’s lockdown film of Torben Betts’s Apollo 13: The Dark Side of the Moon.

Susie Blake has recently delighted audience across the country with her highly acclaimed portrayal of Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d. She is perhaps best known for playing the Continuity Announcer in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, as well as her regular roles of Bev Anna |Unwin in ITV’s Coronation Street and Hillary Nicholson in BBC’s Mrs Brown’s Boys. She has recently appeared in series one and two of Kate & Koji (ITV), Not Going Out (BBC One) and The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC One). Her films include Fierce Creatures and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!. Her theatre credits include Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical (Hall for Cornwall), Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em (UK Tour), My Fair Lady (Grange Festival), Grumpy Old Women Live 2 & 3 (UK Tour), When We Are Married (West End), Pygmalion (Chichester Festival Theatre), Madame Morrible in Wicked (West End) and Belinda Blair in Noises Off (National Theatre).

Rebecca Charles’s recent theatre credits include The Dresser (Theatre Royal Bath), An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre), The Graduate (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Father (Duke of York’s/Wyndham’s/Tricycle/Theatre Royal Bath), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, (Salisbury Playhouse), The Old Country (English Touring Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), Julius Caesar, (Barbican and Tour) and Great Expectations (Manchester Royal Exchange).  Her film credits include The Heart of Me, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Shakespeare in Love and Mrs Brown.

Jonny Green can currently be seen as Charles in Count Abdulla on ITVX.  He was previously seen playing Jonathan Ellacott in Strike: Troubled Blood on BBC 1, Martin in Russell T Davies’s critically acclaimed series It’s A Sin for Channel 4, and Young David in the Netflix series White Lines, alongside Laura Haddock and Danny Mays.

Owen Oakeshott’s theatre credits include Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall); Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Guildford Shakespeare Company); A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Wars of the Roses (Rose Theatre Kingston); Market Boy, The Royal Hunt of the Sun (National Theatre); Roots (Manchester Royal Exchange); Way Upstream (Derby Playhouse); Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, The General from America, Henry VI parts 1, 2 and 3, Richard III (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Iceman Cometh (Almeida Theatre); An Inspector Calls (West End).  Recent television credits include House of the Dragon, Outlander and You Me & Them.

Laura White until recently played the regular role of Dr Princess Buchanan on BBC 1’s Doctors.  Other TV credits include Aysha in Silent Witness.  Film credits include Gladys in The Colour Room about the famous potter Clarice Cliff.  Her theatre credits include Nats/Ms Almi in Home Girl (Derby Theatre), Sandra in The Play That Goes Wrong (UK Tour), Sarah in the immersive promenade show C-O-N-T-A-C-T (London) and The Play That Goes Wrong (West End).

Murder in the Dark will be directed by Philip Franks (for Original Theatre: The Mirror Crack’d, The Habit of Art, The Haunting of Alice Bowles, The Croft and A Cold Supper Behind Harrods) and designed by Simon Kenny, with lighting design by Olivier Award-winner Paul Pyant, original music and sound design by Max Pappenheim, sound associate Johnny Edwards and assistant director Bethany West.

The UK & Ireland Tour will be produced by Alastair Whatley and Tom Hackney for Original Theatre with Trafalgar Theatre Productions and JAS Theatricals.

Tour Dates

2023

7- 9 September                       Bromley Churchill Theatre                         0343 310 0020

                                                churchilltheatre.co.uk                                 on sale

12-16 September                    Guildford Yvonne Arnaud                          01483 44 00 00

                                                www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk                         on sale

19-23 September                    York Theatre Royal                                    01904 623568

                                                www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk                       on sale

25-30 September                    Oxford Playhouse                                      01865 305305

                                                Oxfordplayhouse.com                                on sale

2-7 October                            Salisbury Playhouse                                  01722 320333                                                                               

                                                       www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk                       on sale

10-14 October                        Gaiety Theatre, Dublin                               00 353 1 646 8600

                                               www.gaietytheatre.ie                                  on sale

16-21 October                        Northampton Royal & Derngate                 01604 624811

                                               royalandderngate.co.uk                             on sale

24 – 28 October                      Orchard Theatre, Dartford                         0343 310 0033       

                                                        orchardtheatre.co.uk   on sale

                                              

31 October – 4 November       Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe              0343 310 0060

                                                wycombeswan.co.uk                                 on sale

7-11 November                       Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham                

                                               www.atgtickets.com/birmingham                 on sale

                                        

2024

15–20 January                        Derby Theatre                                           01332 593939

                                               derbytheatre.co.uk                                     on sale soon         

22– 27 January                       Salford The Lowry                                      0161 876 2015

                                               www.thelowry.com                                      on sale soon

29 January – 3 February        Southend Palace Theatre                          0343 310 0030

                                               palacetheatresouthend.co.uk                     on sale 21 July

27 February – 2 March           Cardiff New Theatre                                   0343 310 0041

                                               www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk                      on sale 21 July

4 – 9 March                             Cheltenham Everyman Theatre                 01242 572573

                                               everymantheatre.org.uk                              on sale soon

12– 16 March                          Floral Pavilion New Brighton                      0151 666 0000

                                               floralpavilion.com                                        on sale soon

19-23 March                           Richmond Theatre

                                               www.atgtickets.com/Richmond                   on sale

25- 30 March                          Pavilion Theatre Glasgow                          0141 332 1846

                                               paviliontheatre.co.uk                                  on sale 28 July

Further dates to be added

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