andrewr

Three Tall Women

Posted on by andrewr
by Edward Albee
directed by Meg Nutt
Edward Albee’s multi-award-winning THREE TALL WOMEN is a startling and provocative portrayal of a wealthy widow looking back on her life in an  attempt to solve its riddles… a journey that transports her to a landscape of reflection where generations collide and time vanishes.
Albee’s dialogue is charged with wit, pain and laughter and his observations tell us about forgiveness, reconciliation and our own fates. But it is his probing portrait of the three women that reveal Albee’s genius.  They lay bare the truths of our lives – how we live, how we love, what we settle for and how we die.
Worthy of mention in the same breath as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Delicate
Balance, THREE TALL WOMEN earned Albee his third and most deserved Pulitzer Prize, as well as the Evening Standard and Critics Circle awards among others. In 2018, in her triumphant return to the Broadway stage, Glenda Jackson was awarded a Tony award for Best Actress.
Albee is at his best when he is pricking our complacency and poking a hole in the habit of
‘putting on a happy face’. THREE TALL WOMEN does both marvellously and is a ferociously compelling, towering work by a towering playwright… not to be missed!
 
Performances:
Tuesday 30th April– Saturday 4th May 2019 at 8pm
Matinees on Wednesday 1st May & Saturday 4th March 2019 at 2:30pm
andrewr

The 39 Steps

Posted on by andrewr
John Buchan and Alfred Hitchcock’s
mystery/thriller classic
adapted by Patrick Barlow
in this Olivier and Tony award-winning comedy
From an original concept by
Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
directed by Helen Thorpe
Performances:
Tuesday 26th February – Saturday 2nd March 2019 at 7.30pm
Matinees on Wednesday 27th February & Saturday 2nd March 2019 at 2:30pm
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a classic spy novel, add a dash of comedy and you get The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for 9 to 99 year olds!
This two-time Tony & Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs.
With over 140 characters (played by just a handful of ridiculously talented actors),
it boasts an onstage plane crash, rooftop train chase, stabbings, handcuffs, missing
fingers - and some good old-fashioned romance...
Richard Hannay, a man with a boring life, meets a woman with a thick foreign accent
who says she’s a spy. But he’s hardly got her home before she’s murdered. Soon, a
mysterious organisation called “The 39 Steps” is in hot pursuit in a nationwide manhunt
that climaxes in a death-defying finale!
With a riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps
amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure. Miss it at your peril!
Cast
Nick Wray             Hannay
Kate Marshall        Annabella/ Margaret/ Mrs Jordan
Nick Smith            Compere/ Crofter/Dunwoody
Larry Saunders      Mr Memory/ Chief Inspector
Louise Knapp         Radio Announcer/Pilot 1
Scott Willetts         Foley/Pilot 2/ Policeman 2/ McQuarrie
James Klech           Milkman/ Salesperson 1/ Heavy 1/ Professor
Darren Thomas      Salesperson 2/ Heavy 2/ Police
David Adams         Mrs Higgins/ Mr McGarrigle/ Sheriff/ Inspector Albright
Zac Nicholls           Paper boy/ Porter/ Policeman 1/ Mrs McGarrigle
Emmie Rhodes       Pamela
 
andrewr

Three Sisters

Posted on by andrewr
by Anton Chekhov
A new version by Sarah Ruhl
directed by Kirrie Wratten
 
Performances:
Tuesday 16th October – Saturday 20th October 2018 at 7.30pm
Matinees on Wednesday 17th October & Saturday 20th October 2018 at 2:30pm
Evenings £15; Conc. £14; Friends £13; Matinees £10
********  Opening Night Special Offer - TWO FOR £24  *****
Declarations of love, illicit sex, drunkenness, gambling, threats and violence; this can’t be the same Chekhov who writes plays where nothing much happens….
Three passionate women dream of a better life – and let the one they’re living slip through their fingers.   Performed in a vibrant new version by the award winning playwright Sarah Ruhl, this glittering, melancholic tragicomedy is Chekhov’s masterpiece.  So yes, it is the same Chekhov, who actually writes plays where everything happens, expressing somehow the core of what it is to be human.
Touching, clever, and unexpectedly funny, TTC’s production of Three Sisters is a must-see version of a modern classic.

Cast

Andrei          Mike Clarke

Natasha       Helen Cheales

Olga            Fiona Young

Masha         Bridget Collins

Irina             Louise Knapp

Kulygin        Kris Robertson

Vershinin      Ben Butler-Cole

Tuzenbach   Chris Woodward

Solyony        Josh Marks

Chebutykin    Ralph Miller

Fedotik         Nick Wray

Rode            Larry Saunders

Ferapont       Derek Hollweg

Anfisa          Carol Smith

 

andrewr

Outside Edge

Posted on by andrewr
by Richard Harris
directed by Jean Erxleben
 
Performances:Tuesday 10th July – Saturday 14th July 2018 

A summer afternoon. An amateur cricket club. A drastically undermanned cricket team gathers for the match of the season – bringing their grudges, their secrets and worst of all, their wives.
 
Roger, the captain of the cricket club, is having trouble assembling the team. Kevin is trying not to let Maggie distract him from his spin bowling. Bob and Alex hate each other. And Dennis’s cut-price equipment may not be what it seems... As revelation follows revelation and an afternoon’s cricket descends into chaos, the team’s loyalties blur.   Can they stand united against their opponents (British Railways Maintenance Division Yeading East)?
Will Sharon ever come out of the toilet? And... what if it rains?
Loved by fans of theatre (and cricket) ever since its premiere in 1979, this quintessentially British comedy dissects the politics of a tiny community with hilarious aplomb.
 
Roger:  Nick Smith
Miriam: Emmie Rhodes
Dennis: Neil Harris
Kevin: James Klech
Maggie: Vivienne Pattison
Bob: John Walker
Ginnie: Adriana Capadose
Alex: Patrick Moss
Sharon: Sophie Muggeridge

 
andrewr

Skylight

Posted on by andrewr
by David Hare
directed by Meg Nutt

Performances:Tuesday 1st May – Saturday 5th May 2018 at 7.30pm

Some plays dissolve with time but David Hare’s Skylight seems to have got richer since its 1995 premiere at the National Theatre. Revived at the Wyndhams Theatre in 2014 starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan, storming Broadway and achieving the 2015 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, Skylight is about the state of the nation and matters of the heart as two former lovers with differing political views are reunited years after their affair.
Hare’s play hits you straight between the eyes with its mixture of private pain and public rage at our profoundly polarised society. There is a bruising emotional truth and a fierce psychological sharpness in the writing and a zinging, stinging mixture of wit and anger.
Skylight is a complex, thought-provoking and remarkably timeless drama about power, politics and passion.
 
Cast
 
KYRA                  KATE DELLOW
EDWARD            HARRY WELLS
TOM                   GERALD BISHOP
  
andrewr

Murder on the Nile

Posted on by andrewr

by Agatha Christie

directed by Chris Howland

Moonlit nights on the Nile… ancient temples… young love, glamour, money – and murder…

The beautiful young heiress Kay Ridgeway and her newly-wed husband Simon board an Egyptian cruise-ship for their honeymoon. But among the other guests aboard is Simon’s ex-fiancee, determined to follow the couple everywhere they go, wreaking a silent, unnerving revenge.

When Kay is suddenly murdered, suspicion naturally falls on her rival – but what if she wasn’t the culprit?  Agatha Christie’s own adaptation of her novel Death on the Nile, this classic whodunnit is a masterpiece of the genre – a sparkling costume drama packed with twists and turns, set against a backdrop of exotic beauty. No one is what they seem, and as the cruise turns to a nightmare, everyone on board the ship is drawn inexorably into the web of deception, lust and greed – until
finally the noose tightens on the wrongdoer…

TTC’s must-see production of Murder on the Nile is a breathtaking tour-de- force that will keep you guessing until the very last moment.

Cast:

Capt. McNaught – Gary Russell

Miss ffoliot-ffoulkes – Carol Smith

Christina Grant – Kate Dellow

Steward – Dan Palmer

William Smith – Ashley Munson

Louise – Heather Poole

Dr Bessner – Ralph Miller

Kay Mostyn – Bizz Portlock

Simon Mostyn – Nick Wray

Canon Pennefather – Neil Harris

Jacqueline de Severac – Emmie Rhodes

Performances:

Tuesday 27th February – Saturday 3rd March 2018

andrewr

The Crucible

Posted on by andrewr

by Arthur Miller

directed by Helen Thorpe



Salem, 1692. A small, tight-knit community smoulders with repression and resentment. Dominated by church, pride and reputation, men and women hide their deepest desires. But a deadly mixture of lust, hatred and terror lurks beneath the surface, tinder-dry – until a spark of superstition sets it alight.




Based on the true story of the Salem Witch trials, but as timeless as humanity, The Crucible is a chilling dissection of mindless persecution, the “dark, dangerous hearts” of people living in fear, and the horrifying momentum of vengeance. Fuelled by grievances, betrayal and lies, the fire of false accusations rages out of control, an inferno of murder that not even honesty can quench…


At once a parable, a morality play of power and envy, and a breath-taking drama of human love and weakness, Miller’s masterpiece of twentieth-century theatre has been called ‘the most powerful central work of American drama’ – an unmissable, devastating portrait of a flawed community and the cost of tyranny.




 


Performances:


Tuesday 17th October 2017 till Saturday 21st October 2017






Cast:


Rev John Hale
– James Klech
Rev Samuel Parris
– Kris Robertson
Abigail Williams
– Amelia Zimmatore
Frances Nurse
– Bob Brown
Elizabeth Proctor
– Bridget Collins
John Proctor
– Nick Wray
Judge Hathorne
– Symon Hamer
Deputy-Governor Danforth
– Clyde Young
Mary Bradbury
– Carol Smith
Mary Warren
– Elise Verney
Susanna Walcott
– Nat O’Millervan
Sarah Good
– Fiona Young
Ezekiel Cheever
– Gareth Owen-Williams
Tituba
– Jess Fraser
Mercy Lewis
– Jess Horsley
Betty Parris
– Elizabeth Morgan
Rebecca Nurse
– Kate Robbins
Hopkins
– Marc Evans
Thomas Putnam
– Gareth Owen-Williams
Ann Putnam
– Emma Harrison
Giles Corey
– Nick Smith
Martha Corey
– Carol Smith
Sarah Bibber
– Nat O’Millervan
Marshal Herrick
– Zak Nicholls



	


		


							



	



	
andrewr
	

		
Sleuth

				

			Posted on  by andrewr		

			
 




	

		
Making its first appearance on the London stage in February 1970, Sleuth saw instant success. Moving to Broadway the following November, it won equal praise, even winning a Tony Award in 1971.  It was made into a movie in 1972 starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine who then swapped roles in Kenneth Branagh’s 2007 remake, working opposite Jude Law with a script by Harold Pinter.
Part of the success of Sleuth comes from Shaffer's misappropriation of the mechanics of the classic murder mystery. Working on the idea of a whodunit, Shaffer instead created the first of its kind: a whodunwhat.
Sleuth has twists and turns which are both breathtakingly audacious and fiendishly cunning; a perfect mix of suspense and excitement and a brilliant parody of the Agatha Christie country-house thriller.
The play is set in the Wiltshire manor house of Andrew Wyke, an immensely successful mystery writer. He lures his wife's lover, Milo Tindle, to his home and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewellery, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that blurs the lines between deception and reality.
After all….“It’s only a bloody game!”
		Directed by Derek Hollweg
Cast:
Matt Penfold as Andrew Wyke
James Klech as Milo Tindle 	



	


		


							



	



	
andrewr
	

		
Private Fears in Public Places

				

			Posted on  by andrewr		

			
 




	

		
By Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Kirrie Wratten
Six Londoners’ lives intersect. Can Imogen find love? What
is the secret of Dan’s past? And what on earth is going on
with Charlotte? Three couples struggle with their fears, their
futures, and themselves – and from every tiny action, ripples
spread, rocking other people in devastating ways…
Described as “one of the most significant Ayckbourn plays
of the 21st century”, and written with Ayckbourn’s trademark
blend of comedy and compassion, Private Fears in Public
Places is an intimate portrait of contemporary life that is
tender, true, and very funny.
“Private Fears in Public Places makes for a super night out.”
(Quentin Letts, Daily Mail)
“Funny, touching and altogether wonderful.”
(Charles Isherwood, New York Times)
Cast
Nicola              Bridget Collins
Stewart           Larry Saunders
Dan               Chris Woodward
Ambrose         Neil Harris
Charlotte        Emmie Rhodes
Imogen           Caroline Fenton
Arthur              Ralph Miller


 


Performance:  Tuesday 25th April – Saturday 29th April 2017



	


		


							



	



	
andrewr
	

		
Look Back in Anger

				

			Posted on  by andrewr		

			
 




	

		
by John Osborne
directed by Meg Nutt
Described as a ‘landmark of British Theatre’, John Osborne’s
iconic play catapulted Jimmy Porter, the first ‘Angry Young
Man’, onto the stage. A vicious indictment of middle-class
mediocrity, LOOK BACK IN ANGER is an enthralling and
disturbing work by a master British playwright.
Jimmy browbeats his flatmate, terrorises his wife and is not
above sleeping with her best friend. This working class Hamlet
is one of the most mesmerising characters ever to burst onto
the stage – he is the man you want to hate but can’t help loving
– a malevolently vital, volcanically articulate internal exile in a
dreary post-war England.
Still as shocking and relevant today as when it first premiered
in 1956, this sizzling, passionate, darkly humorous play
is a sharply funny, fiercely honest exploration of political
disillusionment and basic human yearning.
Cast
Jimmy – Ben Butler-Cole
Alison –  Bridget Collins
Cliff –      Mike Clarke
Helena – Emmie Rhodes
Colonel – Jonathan White