RELAX, by Robert Farrar, directed by Phil Setren, designed by Martin Thomas, opens at The Warehouse Theatre, Croydon, on 12 March running till 4 April 2010.
RELAX is set in the Gemini Lodge Guesthouse, near Weston super Mare, where the kinky guest house owner has a habit of seducing his unsuspecting male guests, but the next morning blaming it on his supposed identical twin brother. Mix in a tarot-reading fifty-something stoned houseboy and a metrosexual mechanic and the scene is set for a hilarious tale concerning post-coital guilt, sexual compulsion and mistaken identity.
RELAX has its roots in the classic French farces of
Georges Feydeau and the anarchic gay humour of
Joe Orton. It takes a light-hearted look at the difficulties provincial and suburban men face in being honest about their sexuality. The development of Relax was supported by The Peggy Ramsay Foundation.
The cast includes James Holmes, who is best known for playing the character Clive in the BBC sitcom Miranda. He most recently starred in Derby's Guildhall production of The Dumb Waiter and has appeared in various off-West End and regional theatre productions, including Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest for the New Players Theatre and various roles in Catherine Tate's theatre comedy show.
It also includes Tony Bluton, whose credits include Truly Madly Deeply, Nightbreed, 102 Dalmatians and Black Books; Nadia Kamil, who is also part of the double-act The Behometh; Dominic Cazenove, whose film credits include Lady Godiva, Badinage and Take Three Girls; and Mark Leeson, whose credits include Crappy Christmas at the Bridewell and Arthur Smith's Swan Lake at the Pleasance.
Robert Farrar has had a successful career as a screenwriter both in America and the UK. His two filmed screenplays are The Man Who Knew Too Little, based on his novel Watch That Man, starring
Bill Murray (Warner Bros, 1997). A Hollywood movie shot in London. The award-winning Bedrooms and Hallways (1998), a British film on a gay theme starring
Simon Callow as a hilarious sex therapist. He wrote the novel State of Independence and two short films Sunday Morning and Donut, which he also directed.
Robert's grandfather was the successful West End playwright Kenneth Horne who wrote thirteen West End comedies between 1934 and 1965. RELAX contains references to his grandfather's 1942 comedy hit Love In A Mist. Robert began collaborating with director/dramaturg Phil Setren in 2004. Together they presented Lovers From Hell, ("
John Inman doing Pinter." Time Out) which played at Oval House Theatre in 2004. After a sell-out success it transferred to Oval House's main stage for a second run in 2005. In 2006 Phil directed Robert's first full-length play Wild Fruit, also at Oval House ("An interesting comedy of gay sexual mores and manners."- Nicholas de Jongh)
Phil Setren's production of the
Christopher Durang play Beyond Therapy won the Charrington Theatre Award for Best Comedy. He has directed a range of new work, from the US premiere of
Ben Elton's Popcorn, starring
Kelly McGillis, to the progressive mixed-media comedy Temporary Girl at Edinburgh, which toured internationally. Phil is author of the play Three Minute Hero, which is in development for film. Phil is Founder/Artistic Director of the Time Out Award-winning London New Play Festival.
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