George Bernard Shaw’s first play Widowers’ Houses is to be performed at Newcastle-under-Lyme’s New Vic in a “timely and relevant production of the social drama”.
The theatre-in-the-round’s artistic director Theresa Heskins who directs the production says, “It appeals to me when a play is about the world we live in and Widowers’ Houses is just that.
“It isn’t an idealistic piece of work; it’s about living in the real world. It was written in 1892 but housing concerns are still current—only last year there were plans to relieve affordable housing shortages in London by moving hundreds of deprived families to Stoke-on-Trent.
“Housing remains a burning issue, especially in the area the New Vic calls home.”
The cast includes Andonis James Anthony who played Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the New Vic in 2010; Rebecca Brewer whose New Vic appearances include Alecky Blythe’s Where Have I Been All My Life? and Bathsheba in Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd, both in 2012; Mark Donald who was in A Christmas Carol at the New Vic in 2012; William Ilkley (The Debt Collectors, John Godber Company); Katriona Perrett (She Stoops to Conquer, London Contemporary Theatre Company); and Leigh Symonds (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Oldham Coliseum Theatre).
Matthew Jones and Simon Woodcock complete the cast.
Widowers’ Houses runs at the New Vic from Friday (14 June) until Saturday 29 June.