Anthony Andrews heads the cast in Royal and Derngate’s Made In Northampton production of Bully Boy which starts this week.
Written by broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, the “sensitive and thought-provoking play” follows Falklands War veteran Major Oscar Hadley who’s sent to a combat zone to probe allegations of severe misconduct against Eddie Clark, part of a self-styled “bully boy” unit of the British army.
As the interrogation develops, the two men bond as they try to come to terms with the horrors they have both experienced in war.
Anthony Andrews, who gained national recognition for his role as Sebastian Flyte in the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and was recently seen as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in the film The King’s Speech, plays the Major. Joshua Miles plays Eddie.
Bully Boy will be directed by David Gilmore and Patrick Sandford. David Gilmore is artistic director of the new St James Theatre which opens in the autumn in central London. Bully Boy will be the theatre’s first production.
David Gilmore has directed more than a dozen West End productions, including Beyond Reasonable Doubt and The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, and Olivier Award-winning productions of Defending The Caveman and Daisy Pulls It Off, along with the long-running production of the musical Grease.
Patrick Sandford, artistic director of the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, won the TMA award for best director for his productions of The Winter Wife and Much Ado About Nothing.
Bully Boy takes to the Royal stage from Friday (24 August) until Saturday, 15 September.