Rebecca Brierley will make her professional debut as LV (Little Voice) in Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at Derby Theatre.
A graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, she has already been a backing vocalist for Katie Melua and Alfie Boe as well as performing as a soloist in a concert at the London Palladium.
Tracy Brabin will play LV’s brash mother Mari. She can be seen regularly as Carole in Emmerdale and was in Simon Beaufoy’s stage adaptation of The Full Monty at Sheffield Crucible in 2013.
Kevin McGowan plays Mari’s shrewd yet slippery boyfriend Ray Say. His television appearances include Silent Witness, Coronation Street, Jonathan Creek and Waterloo Road.
Sue Vincent, who was Derilee in Channel 4’s Shameless and Aunty Margaret in Sky TV’s Mount Pleasant will play neighbour Sadie.
Tom Meredith is Billy, the friendly phone installer who LV confides in. He has appeared in Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse at the National Theatre.
Ged McKenna is Mr Boo, the seedy nightclub owner where LV is encouraged to sing. His theatre credits include Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee’s Inherit the Wind at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Cosmic for Hull Truck Theatre.
Derby Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham will direct The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Design is by Dawn Allsopp, with musical direction by George Dyer.
Sarah Brigham said, “I'm really excited by the cast. We have a real mixture of experience and new talent - from Tracy Brabin, who many people will recognise from her current role in Emmerdale to Rebecca Brierley who makes her professional debut after graduating from drama school.
“I’m pretty confident that audiences will enjoy and be charmed by this heart-warming comedy and, at times, feel as though they’re in the presence of musical legends from Judy Garland to Marilyn Monroe.”
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice runs at Derby Theatre from Friday, 13 October until Saturday, 22 November.