Ken Stott, Reece Shearsmith and Griff Rhys Jones in West End Productions of THE DRESSER and THE MISER

Director Sean Foley, who has recently enjoyed sell-out success adapting and directing The Painkiller in the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company season of Plays at the Garrick will, starting this autumn, under producer Mark Goucher, direct two new productions in the West End.

First will be a revival of Ronald Harwood's much-loved play THE DRESSER. Starring Ken Stott and Reece Shearsmith, the play tells the heart-breaking story of an ageing actor-manager and his long-suffering dresser as they struggle to keep the show on the road against the backdrop of a down-at-heel regional theatre in wartime. First performed in 1980 in the West End and on Broadway, the play was in 1983 made into a multi award-winning film starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. This new production of The Dresser will play at The Duke of York's Theatre previewing from 5th October with a press night on Wednesday 12th October following performances in Richmond, Brighton and Cheltenham.

In early 2017, Griff Rhys Jones will return to the London stage to lead an ensemble cast in a revival of Molière's classic play THE MISER, which has been newly adapted by Sean Foley and Phil Porter. Best known for his television work, Rhys Jones is making his return to the London stage after five years where he is widely recognised as one of the country's great comedic performers. The Miser will be presented at Bath Theatre Royal and Richmond Theatre, prior to opening at the Garrick Theatre on Wednesday 1st March 2017, with an opening night on Monday 13th March 2017.

Sean Foley is an award-winning actor, writer and director. He co-founded The Right Size, creating over 10 original comedies for the theatre including the Olivier Award-winning and Tony-nominated production of The Play What I Wrote, Do You Come Here Often? and Ducktastic! (Albery Theatre). As director his work includes The Painkiller, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, The Walworth Farce (The Olympia Theatre, Dublin), the multi Olivier-nominated The Ladykillers (Liverpool Everyman, Gielgud Theatre, UK Tour), A Mad World My Masters (Royal Shakespeare Company & Barbican), What The Butler Saw (Vaudeville Theatre), The Painkiller (The Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Arturo Brachetti - Change (Garrick) , The Critic/The Real Inspector Hound (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Armstrong and Miller Show Live UK Tour and I Can't Sing! (London Palladium). Foley's first film Mindhorn will be released this autumn.

Mark Goucher has previously collaborated with Sean Foley on the hugely successful production of Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, which played in the West End and on tour and is currently under option for a Broadway season.

The Dresser is to be co-produced with Mark Rubinstein Ltd and Jonathan Church Productions in the first production for Church's new company after leaving Chichester Festival Theatre.

The Miser will be produced with long term producing partner Mark Rubinstein Ltd.

Listings information

The Dresser

Richmond Theatre, Thu 8 - Sat 17 Sep, www.atgtickets.com/richmond Tickets on sale soon
Brighton Theatre Royal, Tue 20 - Sat 24 Sep, www.atgtickets.com/brighton Tickets on sale soon
Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, Tue 27 Sep - Sat 1 Oct, www.everymantheatre.org.uk Tickets on sale June 10th.

Followed by
Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4BG
First preview: Wednesday 5th October
Press night: Wednesday 12th October
Final performance: Saturday 14th January 2017
Box Office: 0844 871 7623
TheDresserThePlay.com
Tickets from £25, with £10 off all price bands in preview performances

The Miser

Bath Theatre Royal, Wed 8 - Sat 18 Feb www.theatreroyal.org.uk Tickets on sale June 27th
Richmond Theatre, Tue 21 - Sat 25 Feb www.atgtickets.com/richmond Tickets on sale soon

Followed by
Garrick Theatre, 2 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0HH
First preview: Wednesday 1st March 2017
Opening night: Monday 13th March 2017
Final performance: Saturday 10th June 2017
Box Office: 0330 333 4811
TheMiserThePlay.com
Tickets from: £25, with £10 off all price bands during preview performances

Ken Stott has received four Best Actor Olivier Award Nominations for his work at the National Theatre and the West End in The Recruiting Officer, Broken Glass (for which he won Best Actor in a Supporting Role), Art with Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay and A View from the Bridge. Ken has also appeared at the National Theatre and West End in plays such as The Princes Play, Three Men on a Horse, The Tempest, Heroes, The Winter's Tale, God of Carnage and Uncle Vanya.

Ken's work in Film and Television is vast and varied. His Film credits include the Oscar Nominated Tolkien trilogy The Hobbitdirected by Peter Jackson, James Marsh's next feature The Knot in which he stars alongside Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz and David Thewlis, Independent Feature A Hundred Streets alongside Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton and Big Talk comedy Feature Man Updirected by Ben Palmer with Simon Pegg, Harriet Walter and Rory Kinnear. Ken is also known for his performances in Mike Nichols' Feature for Universal - Charlie Wilson's War alongside Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Chronicles Of Narnia, The Boxer, Shallow Grave, The Debt Collector and Plunkett And Maclean to name but a few.

Ken's Television credits range from Sky Atlantic's British crime thriller Fortitude, the new one-off BBC TV adaptation of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls directed by Aisling Walsh, the Tom Shankland directed BBC Series The Missing for which Ken received a BAFTA nomination, Martina Cole East End underworld adaptation The Runaway for Sky, BBC Films' Toast alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Freddie Highmore and Victoria Hamilton, his BAFTA winning performance in the BBC's biographicalHancock & Joan which he starred in alongside Maxine Peake, his series lead role in Ian Rankin penned Scottish crime drama Rebus, his lead role in multiple mini-series' of BBC's Messiah and his BAFTA nominated performance as lead character DI Pat Chappel in ITV police drama The Vice.

Reece Shearsmith's theatre credits include Absent Friends (Harold Pinter), Betty Blue Eyes (Novello -- for which he was nominated for an Olivier award for Best Actor In A Musical), Ghost Stories (Duke of York's), Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith), The Common Pursuit (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Producers (Theatre Royal), As You Like It (Wyndams), Art (Whitehall) and A Local Show for Local People (Tour).

Reece's television credits include two series of Inside Number 9, The Widower, Stag, Hunderby, Galavant, Doctor Who, Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, Chasing Shadows, An Adventure in Space and Time, The Hollow Crown - Henry IV Part 2,Bad Sugar, Psychoville, Eric & Ernie, Chekhov Shorts - 'The Bear', The First Men in the Moon, Coming Up, New Tricks, Christmas at the Riviera, Ladies and Gentlemen, Marple: Ordeal by Innocence, The Abbey, Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere, Catterick, Tic,The League of Gentlemen, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and Spaced.

Film credits include High Rise, A Field in England, The World's End, Burke & Hare, The Cottage, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, Shaun of the Dead and Birthday Girl.

Griff Rhys Jones is a two-time Olivier award-winning actor, writer, presenter and comedian. On stage, Griff has appeared as Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! (West End), the title role in Charley's Aunt (West End) and in Feydeau's An Absolute Turkey (The Globe). In a long-lasting comedy partnership with Mel Smith, Griff's television credits include Not the Nine O'Clock News (BBC), Alas Smith and Jones (BBC), The World According to Smith and Jones (ITV), Smith and Jones in Small Doses (BBC) and Smith and Jones (BBC). The duo's films include Morons From Outer Space and Wilt.

In addition to his work with Smith, Jones has also appeared on television in Porterhouse Blue (Channel 4), Mine All Mine (ITV) andRiot at the Rite (BBC) and It'll Be Alright on the Night (ITV). His films include Staggered, Up 'n' Under and Puckoon.

Ronald Harwood's many plays include The Dresser, Taking Sides, Quartet, Mahler's Conversion, An English Tragedy andCollaboration and Degenerate Art which premiered in Berlin in October 2015. His films include The Dresser (Academy Award Nomination for Best Screenplay), Taking Sides (XXIX Flaiano Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay), The Pianist (Palme d'Or, 2002 Cannes Film Festival and 2003 BAFTA for Best Film), Being Julia Oliver Twist, and most recently The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (winner of the 2008 BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and Humanitas Prize 2008, Writers' Guild Award for Best Screenplay, Prix Jacques Prevert du Scenario 2008), and Love in the Time of Cholera. His latest film, Quartet, released on 1st January 2013, is adapted from his play and is directed by Dustin Hoffman, and a TV film of his play The Dresser adapted and directed by Richard Eyre, screened on BBC1 in October 2015

He was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974 and was Visitor in Theatre at Balliol College, Oxford in 1985. He was President of English PEN, 1989-1993, President of International PEN, 1993-97, and Chairman of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1996 he was appointed Chevalier de l'ordre National des Arts et des Lettres. In 1999, he was appointed a CBE. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Keele University in 2002 and Aberdeen University in 2013. He is President of the Royal Literary Fund 2005-present. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Central School of Speech and Drama in 2006. He was knighted for Services to Drama in the 2010 Queen's Birthday honours list. He received the National Jewish Theatre Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014.

Photo credit: Vincenzo Photography

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