A month after the death of Victoria Wood, Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre is to produce her first play Talent.
Abbey Wright, who directs Talent at the Newcastle-under-Lyme theatre-in-the-round, said, “I first met Victoria Wood nearly ten years ago. I love Talent for its daftness, sadness and heart.
“We were all very sad to hear the recent news of Victoria’s passing. And we’re very much looking forward to staging this wonderful play which was her first success.”
Drawing on her own experiences of the talent show circuit, Victoria Wood, who won the television show New Faces in 1973, wrote Talent five years later when she was 25. The play was commissioned by Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre before transferring to London and earning her the Evening Standard award for most promising playwright.
It hit the small screen the same year in an ITV adaptation starring Victoria Wood and her friend Julie Walters.
The cast of Talent comprises five actors, four of whom appeared in the New Vic’s production of Cicely Hamilton’s Diana of Dobson’s which has just finished its run in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Adam Buchanan, Brendan Charleson, Claire Greenway and Andrew Pollard will be joined by Tala Gouveia who has appeared at the National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe.
Talent runs at the New Vic from Friday 20 May until Saturday 4 June.