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Warren Clarke in Three Days In May

Suranne Jones in Top Girls at the Trafalgar Studios

Max Stafford-Clark’s new production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls has transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End following its critically acclaimed, sell-out run at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester.

The play features a hugely talented cast including Stella Gonet, Suranne Jones, Catherine McCormack, Lucy Briers, Laura Elphinstone, Lisa Kerr and Olivia Poulet.

Caryl Churchill’s modern classic is set in Thatcher’s England where hard-nosed, go-getting businesswoman Marlene is hosting a dinner party to celebrate her promotion to MD of the Top Girls Employment Agency. Her guests – all powerful women from myth and history – make for an extraordinary gathering in this provocative study of success, and what happens to those who get left behind.

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Ellen Greene in Betwixt. Photo: Roy Tan

Legendary Broadway star Ellen Greene is currently performing in new British musical comedy Betwixt at the Trafalgar Studios in London.

Written and directed by Ian McFarlane, the show runs until 20 August at the venue and also stars Steven Webb, Ashleigh Gray, Benedict Salter and Peter Duncan.

In the show Greene, who is most famous for playing Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors in the West End, on Broadway and in the movie, plays multiple roles including identical triplets and Nymph Queen.

Photos by Roy Tan.

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Max Stafford-Clark’s new production of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls is to transfer to the Trafalgar Studios following its critically acclaimed, sell-out run at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Top Girls, produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, will run at the Trafalgar Studios from 5 August – 15 October 2011 with press night on 16 August 2011. Designs are by Tim Shortall with lighting by Jason Taylor, sound by Ian Dickinson and video design by Finn Ross. Stafford-Clark’s Out of Joint/ Chichester Festival Theatre co-production reunites him with producer Sonia Friedman, with whom he co-founded Out of Joint Theatre Company in 1993.

The cast is Stella Gonet, Suranne Jones, Catherine McCormack, Lucy Briers, Laura Elphinstone, Lisa Kerr and Olivia Poulet.
It’s Thatcher’s England and hard-nosed, go-getting businesswoman Marlene is hosting a dinner party to celebrate her promotion to MD of the Top Girls Employment Agency. Her guests – all powerful women from myth and history – make for an extraordinary gathering. A provocative study of success, and what happens to those who get left behind.

Stella Gonet plays Isabella Bird/Joyce/Mrs Kidd. Her television credits include the drama series The House of Eliott and Holby City as well as Mo Mowlam, and Persuasion. Her theatre credits include Racing Demon, Skylight, Hamlet and The Voysey Inheritance for the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Measure For Measure, Three Sisters and The Revenger’s Tragedy and Women, Power and Politics for the Tricycle Theatre.

Suranne Jones plays businesswoman Marlene. She has most recently been seen on television as DC Bailey in the new ITV1 detective series Scott and Bailey, playing opposite Lesley Sharp. Her other television credits include Vincent, Unforgiven, Five Days and Single Father as well as the role of Karen McDonald in Coronation Street which she played for over four years. Her stage credits include A Few Good Men in the West End, the touring production of Terms of Endearment and Blithe Spirit at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Catherine McCormack plays Lady Nijo/Win. McCormack’s screen credits include Braveheart, Dangerous Beauty, Spy Game and 28 Weeks Later. Her theatre credits include an Olivier Award nominated performance in All My Sons, Honor and Dinner all for the National Theatre, the West End production of The 39 Steps, The Lady from Dubuque at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and A Doll’s House and The Portrait of a Lady for the Theatre Royal Bath and the Rose Theatre Kingston.

Lucy Briers plays Pope Joan/Louise. Her theatre credits include Behud for Soho Theatre, Bedroom Farce and Miss Julie for the Rose Theatre, Kingston, Ivanov at the Donmar and Wyndham’s Theatres, Some Kind of Bliss at the Trafalgar Studios, The Voysey Inheritance for the National Theatre and Cloud Nine, Teeth ‘n’ Smiles and Don Juan for Sheffield Theatres. Her many television credits include the role of Mary Bennet in the adaptation of Pride and Prejudice as well as The Night Watch, Einstein and Eddington and Silent Witness.

Laura Elphinstone plays Patient Griselda/Nell. Elphinstone’s credits include A Month in the Country for Chichester Festival Theatre, Tom and Viv at the Almeida Theatre, Pains of Youth for the National Theatre, Breathing Corpses and Country Music for the Royal Court. Her film and television credits include The History Boys and Tess of the D’Urbevilles.

Lisa Kerr plays the Waitress/Kit/Shona. Her credits include the Out of Joint productions of The Big Fellah for the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour, Andersen’s English for Hampstead Theatre and Mixed Up North for the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Wilton’s Music Hall and on tour.

Olivia Poulet plays Dull Gret/Angie/Jeanine. Her credits include recent roles in the television comedy The Thick of It, as well as the film In The Loop.

As well as Top Girls, Caryl Churchill’s plays include Cloud Nine, Serious Money, Far Away and A Number.

Max Stafford-Clark returns to Top Girls having directed its world premiere at the Royal Court in 1982. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1979 – 1993 and of the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh from 1968 – 1970. He co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 and Out of Joint (with Sonia Friedman) in 1993. Among his directing credits are regular collaborations with writer Caryl Churchill, including Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud Nine, Serious Money and Blue Heart.

Top Girls opened at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester last month, where it runs until 16 July 2011 before its West End transfer.
Out of Joint is a theatre company acclaimed for producing and touring new writing. Under the directorship of Max Stafford-Clark it has premiered plays by David Hare, Caryl Churchill, Sebastian Barry, Timberlake Wertenbaker and many more, and launched the careers of such talents as Mark Ravenhill and Stella Feehily. The Out of Joint production of A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson will transfer to the West End in September.

Chichester Festival Theatre is one of this country’s leading producing theatres with a strong track record in commissioning and producing new plays and adaptations. Over the past five years, playwrights whose work has been premiered at Chichester include David Edgar, David Hare, Ronald Harwood, Mike Poulton, Ben Power, Lucy Prebble, Martin Sherman and Nicholas Wright.

Release issued by: Premier PR

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BEING SHAKESPEARE follows Simon Callow’s major international success with The Mystery of Charles Dickens (West End and Broadway) and his London sell-out hit Dr Marigold & Mr Chops. Simon’s many films include A Room with a View, Maurice, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love and Christmas Carol: The Movie, and television includes Rome, as Charles Dickens in an episode of Doctor Who and Tom Chance in the series Chance in a Million. His latest TV appearance was in the Channel 4 series Jamie’s Dream School. His most recent stage roles include a hailed performance as Sir Toby Belch in Peter Hall’s sold out production of Twelfth Night at the National Theatre, and Pozzo in Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Ronald Pickup. He has written biographies of Oscar Wilde, Charles Laughton and Orson Welles. His autobiography, My Life in Pieces, was published last year by Nick Hern Books and won the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography.

BEING SHAKESPEARE is a new play written by Jonathan Bate, the pre-eminent Shakespeare biographer and editor of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has just been elected Provost of Worcester College and Professor of English Literature at Oxford University and is a Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His book, The Genius of Shakespeare (1997), is widely held as the best modern book on Shakespeare, and his most recent book, Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare, was published last year.

BEING SHAKESPEARE is directed by Tom Cairns, whose theatre work includes Phaedra (Donmar), All About My Mother (Old Vic) and The Odyssey and Aristocrats (National), and produced by Ambassador Theatre Group and Act Productions.

Release issued by: Amanda Malpass Media

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Being Shakespeare website

Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow

The play by Peter Quilter will follow its London run with a UK tour before opening at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on 18 January 2012. The show will then transfer to Broadway.

Tracie Bennett will star in the show, with her acclaimed performance as Judy Garland already creating a significant buzz in New York.

End of the Rainbow, which opened at the Trafalgar Studios in November last year, is directed by Terry Johnson and also stars Hilton McRae as Anthony, Stephen Hagan as Mickey Denes and Robin Browne as Radio Interviewer, Porter and Stage Manager.

The show enjoyed rave reviews from the critics when it opened in London. End of the Rainbow is set in London in 1968 and follows the drama of Garland’s final performances in London and her controversial life off stage.

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More news on End of the Rainbow

End of the Rainbow, directed by Terry Johnson, stars Laurence Olivier award nominees Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland and Hilton McRae as Anthony. They are accompanied by Stephen Hagan as Mickey Denes and Robin Browne as Radio Interviewer, Porter and Stage Manager, and a six piece band.

The five star critically acclaimed End of the Rainbow opened in Northampton in February 2010 and transferred to the West End in November where it has received standing ovations at every performance since opening night.

Set in London in 1968 and featuring her most memorable songs including The Man That Got Away, Come Rain or Come Shine, The Trolley Song and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, End of the Rainbow combines humour and heartbreak to capture both the drama of Garland’s final performances in London and her controversial life off stage.

End of the Rainbow is designed by William Dudley with sound design by Gareth Owen, lighting by Simon Corder and musical direction by Gareth Valentine and is presented in the West End by Lee Dean, Jenny Topper, Laurence Myers, Charles Diamond and Hilary Williams in association with Royal & Derngate, Northampton.

Release issued by: Premier PR

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