Judgement In Stone, Preacher Man, Real Thing, Private Lives
A Judgement In Stone – tour starts 4 September
The stage adaptation of Ruth Rendell’s novel A Judgement In Stone continues to tour with Chris Ellison and Robert Duncan joining the continuing cast made up of Sophie Ward, Deborah Grant, Shirley Anne Field, Antony Costa and Ben Nealon.
Ellison and Duncan will both be known to television viewers: Ellison for playing Frank Burnside in ITV’s The Bill and Duncan for playing Gus Hedges in Drop The Dead Donkey.
Roy Marsden directs this classic thriller; he will be known to many for his acting working, not least as P D James's hero Adam Dalgliesh on Anglia TV.
A Judgement In Stone has been adapted for the stage by Simon Brett and Antony Lampard and is presented by The Classic Thriller Theatre Company produced by Bill Kenwright.
The tour visits Oxford Playhouse Oxford, Princess Theatre Torquay, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Orchard Theatre Dartford, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Grand Theatre Blackpool, Grand Opera House Oct York, Queen’s Theatre Barnstaple, Windsor Theatre Royal Windsor, Floral Pavilion New Brighton, Opera House Manchester, Theatre Royal Bath and Theatre Royal Brighton.
Son Of A Preacher Man – tour starts 5 September
1960s Soho set musical Son Of A Preacher Man has a book by Warner Brown and features the songs of Dusty Springfield such as "The Look Of Love", "I Only Want To Be With You", and "Son Of A Preacher Man".
Brown's stage writing credits include the arena production Walking With Dinosaurs, which received the ultimate accolade of being parodied on The Simpsons, Half A Sixpence, the London Palladium's Cinderella and The Prospero Suite.
Current projects include The Thomas Crown Affair with composer Michael Feinstein and A Little Danger with composer Michael Reed.
X Factor finalist Diana Vickers and Coronation Street's Debra Stephenson are joined by Ian Reddington, Michael Howe, Michelle Long, Kate Hardisty, Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong, Lewis Kidd, Liam Vincent-Kilbride, Jon Bonner, Rachael McAllister, Ellie-Jane Goddard, Gary Mitchinson and Jess Barker. Casting for the 2018 tour to be announced.
X Factor semi-finalist Vickers has stage credits that include the title role of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Duck House, Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched and The Rocky Horror Show.
Stephenson will be known to those with alert hearing for BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers and BBC 1’s The Impressions Show. Other credits include running roles in Coronation Street and Bad Girls and Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Ian Reddington is best known for EastEnders and Coronation Street, with other television roles including Outlander and The Dumping Ground. On stage credits include Bouncers, Dead Funny and Oh What a Lovely War.
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood directs and choreographs, which he has also done for the recent tour of Sister Act and Chess. The associate director and choreographer is David James Hulston, the musical supervisor / arranger is Paul Herbert and the musical director is Brady Mould.
Son Of A Preacher Man opens at Bromley Churchill Theatre, and visits New Alexandra Theatre Birmingham, Sunderland Empire Theatre Sunderland, Palace Theatre Manchester, Grand Opera House York, Regent Theatre Stoke, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, New Theatre Oxford, Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells, Hull New Theatre Hull, New Wimbledon Theatre, Grand Opera House Belfast, Wycombe Swan High Wycombe, Cliffs Pavilion Southend, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Darlington Hippodrome, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Festival Theatre Malvern, Kings Theatre Portsmouth, Waterside Theatre Aylesbury, Theatre Severn Shrewsbury, Grand Theatre Blackpool, Storyhouse Chester, Regents Theatre Ipswich, Princess Theatre Torquay, Theatre Royal Brighton, New Victoria Theatre Woking, The Pavilion Theatre Bournemouth, King’s Theatre Glasgow, New Theatre Cardiff, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin, Venue Cymru Llandudno, King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, The Alhambra Theatre Bradford, His Majesty's Theatre Aberdeen, The Orchard Theatre Dartford and Liverpool Empire Theatre.
The Real Thing – tours starts 6 September
Laurence Fox stars in a new production of Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play, The Real Thing, directed by Stephen Unwin.
He plays Henry, a playwright married to an actress who has been appearing in a play of his about a marriage on the verge of collapse. Her leading man's wife is having an affair with Henry and as life imitates art the question arises is it the real thing?
Fox will be joined by Adam Jackson-Smith, Rebecca Johnson, Santino Smith, Flora Spencer-Longhurst, Venice Van Someren and Kit Young.
Fox will be known to television viewers for seven series of Lewis; his theatre credits include Strangers on a Train and Our Boys.
Adam Jackson-Smith has credits that include The Dresser and The First Man. Johnson’s extensive theatre credits include All Our Children, Present Laughter and Twelfth Night.
Spencer-Longhurst’s stage credits include A Christmas Truce, Much Ado About Nothing, Once and Titus Andronicus. Van Someren most recently starred in the tour of Gabriel; other credits include Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down and The Cherry Orchard.
Smith and Young trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and RADA respectiviely.
Multi-award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard has a significant cannon of work which include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, The Hard Problem, The Invention of Love and the screenplay for Shakespeare in Love (co-writer).
The Real Thing is presented by Theatre Royal Bath Productions, Cambridge Arts Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston. It will open at Cambridge Arts Theatre then visit Theatre Royal Bath, Rose Theatre Kingston, Malvern Festival Theatre, Edinburgh King’s Theatre, Brighton Theatre Royal and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.
Private Lives – tour starts 6 September
London Classic Theatre tours Private Lives by Noël Coward.
Directed by Michael Cabot, Olivia Beardsley plays Sibyl, Kieran Buckeridge plays Victor, Jack Hardwick plays Elyot and Helen Keeley plays Amanda.
Set in 1930s France, this classic comedy has two honey-mooning couples in adjoining hotel suites. All goes well until Amanda hears a familiar voice singing a forgotten song.
Coward also wrote Hay Fever, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit.
Private Lives visits Malvern Festival Theatre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Greenwich Theatre, Queen’s Hall Hexham, Gala Theatre Durham, Octagon Theatre Yeovil, Wyvern Theatre Swindon, Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne, Hexagon Theatre Reading, Harlow Playhouse, Alban Arena St Albans, Civic Theatre Chelmsford, Theatre Royal Winchester, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Key Theatre Peterborough, New Theatre Royal Lincoln and Theatre Royal Plymouth.