Following the opening of the UK première of Buyer and Cellar, The Menier Chocolate Factory announces the cast for the first London revival of Alan Ayckbourn's comedy thriller Communicating Doors. Lindsay Posner directs a cast including David Bamber - who is currently appearing in Posner's production of Harvey at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, following a national tour; Lucy Briggs-Owen - who originated the role of Viola in the stage version of Shakespeare in Love; Matthew Cottle - most recently seen in A Small Family Business at the National Theatre; Imogen Stubbs - was last seen in the West End in Strangers on a Train, and Rachel Tucker - in her first role back in the UK following her recent Broadway debut in Sting's The Last Ship. The production opens on 13 May, with previews from 7 May, and runs until 27 June. Further cast will be announced shortly.
A hired dominatrix flees for her life through a hotel communicating door only to find herself 20 years in the past....
Communicating Doors won Ayckbourn the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best West End Play Award and the prestigious Molière Award in France. It was also nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Comedy.
David Bamber returns to the Menier to play Julian - he previously appeared in Travels with My Aunt. His other theatre work includes Harvey (Theatre Royal Haymarket and national tour), Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre), Absurd Person Singular (Garrick Theatre), Otherwise Engaged (Criterion Theatre) and My Night With Reg (Royal Court, West End and also for television). His extensive television work includes Death in Paradise, Doctor Who, Father Brown, What Remains, The Hollow Crown and The Borgias; and for film, Stuck, Valkyrie, Miss Potter, The Railway Children and Neville's Island.
Lucy Briggs-Owen plays Jessica. Her theatre work includes Viola in Shakespeare in Love (Noel Coward Theatre), Fortune's Fool (Old Vic), Boris Godunov, The Orphan of Zhao (RSC), Noises Off (West End) and Troilus and Cressida (
Cheek by Jowl).
Matthew Cottle plays Harold. His theatre credits include A Small Family Business (National Theatre)< What Women Did (Southwark Playhouse),Quartermaine's Terms (Wyndham's Theatre), A Chorus of Disapproval (
Harold Pinter Theatre), Dear Uncle (
Stephen Joseph Theatre) and Racing Demon (Sheffield Crucible). For television, his work includes The Dresser, Man Down, Fried, Hoff the Record, Citizen Khan, The Job Lot, Pram Face, Life Begins and Game On; and for film, Blessed and Bright Young Things.
Imogen Stubbs plays Ruella. Her theatre work includes Elephants (Hampstead Theatre), Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre), The Hypochondriac(Theatre Royal Bath), Strangers on a Train (Gielgud Theatre), Orpheus Descending, Private Lives (Royal Exchange Theatre), Salt, Root and Roe (Donmar Trafalgar), The Glass Menagerie (Shared Experience), The Duchess of Malfi (
West Yorkshire Playhouse), Hamlet (Old Vic), and Betrayal (National Theatre). For television, her work includes Switch, Parents, Injustice, After the Dance and The Browning Version; and for film, Twelfth Night, Sense and Sensibility, Jack and Sarah and True Colours.
Rachel Tucker plays Poopay. Her theatre work includes The Last Ship (Broadway), Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse), Wicked (Apollo Victoria), We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre) and Dusty (Leicester Square Theatre).
Alan Ayckbourn is an Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright who has written 78 plays, more than half of which have been produced in London's West End as well as around the world. Some of his best known work includes Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Season's Greetings, Bedroom Farce and A Chorus of Disapproval.
Lindsay Posner returns to the
Menier Chocolate Factory having previously directed Abigail's Party for the theatre (also Theatre Royal Bath, Wyndham's Theatre and UK tour). This will be his second time directing an Ayckbourn play, following Relatively Speaking at Wyndham's Theatre. He has two shows currently in the West End - Harvey at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Hay Fever at the Duke of York's. His recent productions includeSpeed the Plow (Playhouse Theatre), A Little Hotel on the Side (Theatre Royal Bath), Other Desert Cities, The Winslow Boy and Noises Off (The Old Vic), The Turn of the Screw (Almeida Theatre) and Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre). He was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1987-1992 where his productions included Death and the Maiden (which transferred to the Duke of York's and won two Olivier Awards), Colquhoun and McBrydeand The Treatment.
Comments
To post a comment, you must
register and
login.
