Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, the comedy from The Goodale Brothers, based on the works of P G Wodehouse, is the first Main House play to open Theatre By The Lake’s season in Keswick from May 24.
A cast of just three take on a variety of roles in this slapstick send-up: Thomas Richardson, Theo Fraser Steele and James Duke. Both James and Thomas will be known to audiences at TBTL, James having performed in the 2012 and 2014 seasons, and Thomas in the 2016 season.
The three also perform in the two other Main House productions this summer: Single Spies by Alan Bennett, the Olivier award-winning comedy based on the story of the men behind the infamous Cambridge Spies (from June 14), and Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (from August 9).
The venue’s Studio production of Rails has also just started rehearsals. Written by Simon Longman, the play was shortlisted for the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. The world première production features Toby Vaughan, Lydea Perkins, Oliver Mott and Christine Entwisle. Set in a quiet rural town, the play tells the story of three young people over the course of a long hot summer when boredom and hormones are running high. As temperatures rise, their lives collide. Rails plays from May 24.
The second Studio show of the season is Bold Girls by Scottish playwright Rona Munro (who wrote 2016’s Studio hit, Iron). Set in Belfast during The Troubles, the play tells the story of four women, quietly getting on with their lives, despite the mayhem around them.
The final show of the season, The Other Place, is the UK première of Sharr White’s play.
Co-produced with Park Theatre in London, The Other Place will play in the Main House from November 1 to 10 following its London run. Karen Archer plays the central character of Juliana, a highly successful neurologist whose life starts unravelling as details of a ten-year-old mystery begin to emerge.