The 'First Lady of the World' Crosses the English Channel with MRS ROOSEVELT FLIES TO LONDON

Following a near sell out season at Assembly at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe, critically acclaimed actress Alison Skilbeck crosses the English Channel to France with her one-woman play Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London, with a performance at Le Colombier Theatre, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Tarn on 3 June for Friends of English Theatre. The tour continues in Britain at Bridport Arts Centre, 10 June, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, 16-17 June, and Rotunda Theatre, Buxton 20-22 July. With special permission from the Roosevelt Estate to use Eleanor's diary and writings, the play captures the spirit, humour, and passion of one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century, on her daring visit to Britain in 1942.

Directed by Lucy Skilbeck (39 Steps, Spring Awakening), with Sound Design by Emma Laxton (War Horse), and Lighting Design by Mark Dymock (The Hired Man), Alison Skilbeck's one-woman show explores Roosevelt's public, and hidden life. Described by The Guardian as "always a moving and bravura performance", the play looks back from 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, while Eleanor is on her death bed. Roosevelt relives her visit to war torn Britain, and pivotal experiences from throughout her long life, including the extra-marital affairs of her husband, President Roosevelt, and her own close relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok, to establishing herself as, in President Truman's words, "the First Lady of the World". Alison Skilbeck plays all of the colourful characters that Eleanor meets on her travels.

On a tour of Ireland in 2014, Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London received 5 star reviews from the Irish Mail on Sunday, "a captivating performance", and Ireland Sunday Independent, and during a four week residency at the King's Head Theatre in Islington in 2015, Alison Skilbeck, was nominated for a Best Female Performance Award in the Off West End (Offie) Awards. Her performance received 4 star reviews from several critics including the Islington Gazette, Plays To See and LondonTheatre1.com . Fringe Review stated of her recent successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe, "Outstanding Show! You will leave smiling - and feeling that you have just had a private audience with an extraordinary woman."

Meticulously researched from Eleanor's wartime diary, newspaper columns and vast correspondence, and inspired by many notable biographical works, Skilbeck portrays a woman beset by deep personal insecurities and tragedy, but one who never lost her passionate belief in the strength of the human spirit. Playwright Alan Ayckbourn said of her, "A consummate performer weaving her way effortlessly through her own finely woven web of fascinating material."

Alison Skilbeck's enormously varied stage career has taken her to the West End and all over the UK, and on tour to the USA and Europe: early on she created roles in six Ayckbourn premieres at Scarborough. Her solo play Are There More of You? received 5 star reviews, and has been acclaimed in Ireland, Sri Lanka and the US. Alison's television work includes Sherlock Homes, The Beiderbecke Affair, Miss Marple, Head Over Heels, Doctor Who, Soldier Soldier, New Tricks, and Midsomer Murders. On radio she has worked with Simon Brett, the late Don Taylor, and Ellen Dryden. She was also Polly Perks in The Archers, until the character was killed off! Two recent projects have been Wimpole Street, an award winning web series, and the pod cast sitcom series Wooden Overcoats. Her latest play The Power Behind the Crone opened the 2016 RADA Festival and played at the Bloomsbury Festival last October. She was invited to bring the show to the open-air Willow Globe, mid-Wales, as part of their Shakespeare's birthday celebrations on 23rd April.

Director Lucy Skilbeck has worked in the West End, on Broadway, the National Theatre, off-West End, and London's Fringe as well as directing in the USA and Australia.

7pm, Saturday 3 June

Théâtre le Colombier, 9 rue des Tanneries, 81170 Cordes-sur-Ciel, Tarn, France

Friends of English Theatre

Tickets: €15 member / €20 non-member

Box office: fetatlecolombier@gmail.com

8pm, Saturday 10 June

Bridport Arts Centre, South Street, Bridport, Dorset. DT6 3NR

Tickets: £12 / £10 conc.

Box office: 01308 424 204

7.45pm, Friday 16 - Saturday 17 June

Everyman Theatre, Regent St, Cheltenham, GL50 1HQ

Tickets: £10.50 / £9 conc.

Box office: 01242 572 573 / everymantheatre.org.uk

7.30pm, Thursday 20 - Saturday 22 July, 3pm Friday 21 July

The Rotunda Theatre, Venue 33k, Pavilion Gardens, Buxton

Tickets: £10/£8 conc.

Box Office: 07487 228993 / rotundatheatre.com

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