Trevor Nunn to Direct Patricia Hodge, Caroline Quentin and Rory Bremner in Bath's 2013 Summer Season

The Theatre Royal Bath Summer Season 2013 offers a season of new in-house productions including Noel Coward's Relative Values, directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Patricia Hodge, Caroline Quentin and Rory Bremner; Candida by Bernard Shaw, directed by Simon Godwin; King Lear directed by Lucy Bailey and starring David Haig; and Feydeau's A Little Hotel on the Side, adapted by John Mortimer and directed by Lindsay Posner and Cal McCrystal.

RELATIVE VALUES by Noel Coward
Wednesday 12 June - Saturday 29 June
Directed by Trevor Nunn

A stellar cast launches the Summer Season 2013 in one of Noel Coward's most successful comedies, including Patricia Hodge as Felicity, Caroline Quentin as Moxie and Rory Bremner as Crestwell, the butler. Set in the early 1950's, Relative Values is about the uproarious Culture Clash between the glittering world of Hollywood and the stiff upper lip of the English aristocracy.

There is consternation at Marshwood House when the young Earl announces he is to marry a Hollywood film actress...but the family is well and truly flummoxed when it comes to light that the starlet's sister is none other than Moxie, the Earl's mother's maid. In an attempt to cope with this deeply embarrassing situation, Moxie is dressed up in her ladyship's cast-offs as the family endeavours to pass her off as one of their own.

Patricia Hodge's extensive stage work ranges from Dandy Dick to His Dark Materials. She won the Olivier Award for Money at The National Theatre. Her television credits include The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Jemima Shore Investigates, Rumpole of the Bailey and plays Miranda's mother in Miranda.

Caroline Quentin's many television roles have ranged from Blue Murder, Life of Riley, Life Begins, Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek to Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge. Amongst her numerous awards are two British Comedy Awards for Best TV Comedy Actress.

Rory Bremner is one of the UK's leading impressionists and comedians, known for the award-winning Rory Bremner...Who Else? and Bremner, Bird and Fortune. This will be his drama debut.

Trevor Nunn is one of the UK's leading theatre, film and television directors. He has been Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre. His extensive repertoire includes the musicals Cats and LES MISERABLES, for which he won Tony Awards, and the Olivier Award-winning Summerfolk, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

Press Night: Wednesday 19 June, 7pm

CANDIDA by Bernard Shaw
Wednesday 3 July - Saturday 20 July
Directed by Simon Godwin

The Reverend James Morell is a genial, popular man of forty, robust and good-looking. He is a first rate clergyman and worshipped by the young curate and secretary who work for him. His rousing sermons muster an enthusiastic congregation and he is in demand as a speaker.

Reverend Morell is most blessed in his wife. Candida is quite in her prime, with the double charm of youth and motherhood and just clever enough to make the most of her attractions for trivially selfish ends. A woman of many talents, her husband has his wife to thank for much of his success.

But his life is thrown into turmoil when a beautiful eighteen year-old poet, Eugene Marchbanks, enters the family home one day, and declares that not only is he in love with Candida, but that he has reason to believe that his feelings are reciprocated...

In this exuberant romantic comedy, Shaw's own favourite, questions of love and loyalty are explored in a brilliant fusion of wit, passion and politics.

Simon Godwin is an Associate Director of the Royal Court. In 2010 he was nominated for an Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer for Nick Payne's Wanderlust at The Royal Court Theatre.

Press Night: Wednesday 10 July, 7pm

KING LEAR by William Shakespeare
Thursday 25 July - Saturday 10 August
Directed by Lucy Bailey; designed by William Dudley

Following ecstatic reviews for his towering performance as George III in The Madness of George III in 2011, David Haig returns to Bath to take on the greatest role in Shakespeare's canon.

The ageing King Lear rewards his two oldest daughters with his kingdom when they flatter him with false praise. But his youngest daughter, Cordelia, confesses simply to love him and is banished. Too late to realise his mistake, and forced from power by his offspring, an increasingly impotent and frail Lear descends into madness.

Lucy Bailey is one of the UK's most exciting directors who has worked extensively with Shakespeare's Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company for whom her recent productions have include The Taming of the Shrew and The Winter's Tale.

The production is designed by William Dudley, whose awards include the 2002 Critics' Circle Best Designer for The Coast of Utopia and the 2004 Olivier Award for Best Set Design for Hitchcock Blonde.

Press Night: Wednesday 31 July, 7pm

A LITTLE HOTEL ON THE SIDE by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Désvallières
Thursday 15 August - Saturday 31 August
Translated by John Mortimer
Directed by Lindsay Posner and Cal McCrystal; Designed by Michael Taylor

This side-splitting work from the supreme master of traditional farce, contains all the classic ingredients - thwarted passion, spiralling panic and a seedy hotel where the corridors see more action than the beds.

Set in Paris, at the turn of the 19th century, Monsieur Pinglet lusts after his neighbour's wife, Marcel. Marcel is apathetic about her amorous admirer but thinks an affair might teach her husband a lesson. The two discreetly take a room at an obscure hotel where they are sure that they will manage to avoid bumping into anyone they know. But everyone they know seems to have had the same idea! Far from a quiet evening of amour, they encounter half of Paris, including most of their relatives and the Inspector of Public Morality! What ensues is a completely hilarious evening of shenanigans, mistaken identities and sexual innuendo.

John Mortimer's witty, ribald and stylish translation remains true to the Feydeau spirit. The creator of Rumpole and author of A Voyage Round My Father, his version of Feydeau's There's a Flea in her Ear was performed at The National Theatre in 1966 and A Little Hotel On The Side played there in 1984 to great acclaim.

A Little Hotel on the Side will be directed by one of the UK's greatest directors of comedy, Lindsay Posner, whose productions of Abigail's Party and Noises Off were huge West End successes in 2012 and by Cal McCrystal who was responsible for directing the glorious physical comedy in One Man, Two Guvnors in the West End and on Broadway. The production is designed by Michael Taylor, whose extraordinary set for the West End production of The Ladykillers received an Olivier Award nomination.

Press Night: Wednesday 21 August, 7pm

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

Relative Values
Wednesday 12 - Saturday 29 June
Monday - Wednesday, 7.30pm (except 19 June, 7pm)
Thursday - Saturday, 8pm
Matinees Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm
No matinee Thursday 13 June

Candida
Wednesday 3 - Saturday 20 July
Monday - Wednesday, 7pm (except 10 July, 7pm)
Thursday - Saturday, 8pm
Matinees Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm
No matinee Thursday 4 July

King Lear
Thursday 25 July - Saturday 10 August
Monday - Wednesday, 7.30pm (except 31 July, 7pm)
Thursday - Saturday, 8pm
Matinees Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm

A Little Hotel on the Side
Thursday 15 - Saturday 31 August (except 21 August, 7pm)
Monday - Wednesday, 7.30pm
Thursday - Saturday, 8pm
Matinees Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm

Venue: Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET
Dates: Wednesday 12 June - Saturday 31 August
Box Office: 01225 448844
Tickets: £17.50 - £36.50

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