Sharp And Warren Announced As Vickers's Co-Stars In LITTLE VOICE

Lesley Sharp and Marc Warren have been announced as Diana Vickers's co-stars in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, coming back to the West End in an exciting new production to play a strictly limited season at the Vaudeville Theatre from Thursday October 8.

Producer Nica Burns said: "With this wonderful play, you have to find your Little Voice first. To find someone of the right age - just 18 - who is as special as Diana Vickers is a gift. Having found our perfect Little Voice, I was delighted that the outstanding actress Lesley Sharp agreed to play her mother Mari and the charismatic actor Marc Warren, Ray Say. When Marc and Lesley first walked on stage together, the chemistry between them was instant. This is a terrific play and a great night out."

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice premiered in 1992 at the Royal National Theatre and then transferred to the Aldwych. It was nominated for six Olivier Awards, and won both The Evening Standard and Olivier awards for Best Comedy of the Year.

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is a savage black comedy-drama about painfully shy, diminutive Little Voice (LV), who lives alone in the north of England with her mother, Mari. Mari's drunken, overbearing personality has driven LV?into seclusion in her bedroom, where she listens to her late father's records and has perfected faultless impersonations of the greatest divas, including Judy?Garland, Edith Piaf and Dame Shirley?Bassey. When Mari's latest boyfriend, small-time working men's club impresario Ray?Say, overhears LV?singing, he puts in place a tragic sequence of events as he pushes her?towards stardom she doesn't want and is literally terrified of.

Lesley Sharp is one of Britain's best loved and respected actresses with an extensive career in theatre, television and film. She has won numerous best actress awards as well as being nominated for two Baftas, two Oliviers and the Evening Standard Best Actress Award. Her starring television roles include Cranford, After Life, Rose in Bob and Rose, Trudy in Clocking Off and three series of Playing the Field. Film includes two films for Mike Leigh, Vera Drake?and Naked, Inkheart, The Full Monty, Rita, Sue and Bob Too. Onstage, she has had a number of leading roles at the National Theatre and Royal Court, most recently at the National Theatre in Harper Regan (Evening Standard Awards Best Actress nomination).

Marc Warren has enjoyed a distinguished 20-year career in television, best known as Danny Blue in four series of the BBC1 drama Hustle, starring in the comedy series Mutual Friends and as DCI Walker in Messiah. His other appearances include Dr Who, Tony Crane in Life on Mars, Mr Simpson in Ballet Shoes and Jonathan Teatime in Terry Pratchett's Hog Father. He won the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award in 2000. He has made a number of films, most recently Wanted with Angelina Jolie, and earlier this year appeared on stage as Katurian in Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman.

The cast also includes Rachel Lumbert as Sadie and James Cartwright as Billy.

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