St. James Theatre's THE THRILL OF LOVE Begins Tonight

Amanda Whittington's new play, The Thrill of Love, directed by James Dacre, will run at the newly opened St. James Theatre from tonight, 27 March to Saturday 4 May, with press night on Wednesday 3 April 2013. The production comes to the St. James Theatre following its world premiere at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme and a further run at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

Faye Castelow plays Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom, in 1955, after being convicted of murdering her lover, David Blakely. The rest of the cast comprises Robert Gwilym as Inspector Jack Gale, Hilary Tones as Sylvia Shaw, Maya Wasovicz as Vickie Martin and Katie West as Doris Judd. Associate Director is Will Wrightson, designs are by Jonathan Fensom, lighting by Daniella Beattie and sound by James Earls-Davis.

Stage seats are available at £15. These seats are located directly on the stage and offer a unique perspective on the production, plunging audience members into the underworld of 1950s London.

A divorcée with a young child to care for, Ruth works in the kind of nightclubs where there's more than just a drink on offer. The girls work hard, play hard and dream of a movie-star life. Then she meets the wealthy, womanising David, a racing driver with whom she becomes obsessed. Fame comes, but not in the way she imagines. Why does their relationship end in murder? Why does she plead not guilty but offer no defence? Why does she show no remorse? And just who is she trying to protect?

Amanda Whittington said 'I have always been interested in the stories of women and stories of injustice so naturally I was interested in the Ruth Ellis story. She was an East End hostess in a nightclub in the West End and this notorious criminal moment in her life changed everything. We know what she did; I wanted to know why she did it.'

Amanda Whittington was commissioned by the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme to write The Thrill of Love. Further works include Be My Baby, originally produced by Soho Theatre and subsequently staged at Salisbury Playhouse, Oldham Coliseum, Hull Truck, Dukes Theatre, Lancaster and the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme and widely studied for both GCSE and A-Level; Ladies Day and its sequel Ladies Down Under, for the Hull Truck and UK tour; a stage adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel Tipping the Velvet for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Amateur Girl for the Hull Truck and The Wills' Girls for the Tobacco Factory, Bristol. She writes regularly for BBC Radio 4, including adaptations of Ladies Day, The Wills' Girls and Be My Baby as well as original plays including The Nine Days Queen.

James Dacre's world premiere production of The Mountaintop, at Theatre503 and Trafalgar Studios, won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play and was nominated for a further five awards. His production of The Accrington Pals opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in January 2013. Further directing credits include As You Like It for Shakespeare's Globe, King James Bible for The National Theatre, Orpheus and Eurydice with the National Youth Theatre and Old Vic, The Unconquered for Stellar Quines, a UK Tour and an Off-Broadway transfer and Nightshifts at the Traverse Theatre. He was Artistic Associate of the New Vic Theatre where his directing credits included Desire Under the Elms, Copenhagen and Bus Stop at the New Vic Theatre.

Visit www.stjamestheatre.co.uk for more infomation and to buy tickets.

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