NORTHERN Broadsides and York Theatre Royal are teaming up for a second time to mount a touring production of J B Priestley’s 1938 northern comedy When We Are Married.
Directed by Broadsides artistic director Barrie Rutter, this autumn's cast will feature Sue Devaney as Annie Parker, after her roles as Jane in Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies and Debbie Webster in Coronation Street, while Steve Huison, who starred as Lomper, the guard, in the most successful British film of all time, The Full Monty, will be Herbert Soppitt.
Selby actor Luke Adamson, last seen in York in 2013 in Slung Low, Pilot Theatre and York Theatre Royal's Blood + Chocolate, will play Gerald Forbes, joined by fellow familiar faces from the northern stage Adrian Hood, as Albert Parker; Matthew Booth, as Fred Dyson; Lisa Howard, as Mrs Northrop, and Rutter himself as Henry Ormonroyd.
Sue Devaney, who will play Annie Parker
In the company too are Kate Anthony, who appeared in Broadsides' Rutherford And Son, as Clara Soppitt; Geraldine Fitzgerald, from the British tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, as Maria Helliwell; John Gully and Mark Stratton, from Broadsides' The Merry Wives, as the Reverend Clement Mercer and Joe Helliwell respectively; and Sophia Hatfield, from Broadsides' An August Bank Holiday Lark, as Nancy Holmes.
Zoe Lambert, as Lottie Grady, Kat Louise-Martin, as Ruby Birtle, and Andy Hall, as the Mayor of Cleckleywyke, complete the cast for Bradford playwright J B Priestley's tale of the Helliwells, the Parkers and the Soppitts, pillars of their community in their West Riding town of Cleckleywyke, but not for much longer.
Married on the same day in the same chapel, they gather to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, but the celebrations are cut short when they discover the vicar was not licensed and they are not married after all.
In fact they have been living in sin for 25 years. Cue pandemonium but gradually horrified social embarrassment makes way for the realisation that they are free from the shackles of long, tedious marriages. Home truths are meted out; bullies receive their retribution and the henpecked are liberated.
Adrian Hood, Hull Truck Theatre and John Godber Company regular, now to play Albert Parker for Northern Broadsides
Rutter's allies in the production team will be designer Jessica Worrall, who designed Broadsides' She Stoops to Conquer, and lighting designer Tim Skelly, from Broadsides' We Are Three Sisters.
Northern Broadsides and York Theatre Royal first worked together on Blake Morrison’s adaptation of Goldoni’s Italian farce The Man With Two Gaffers in 2006 in York.
Looking forward to the new collaboration, Rutter says: "When We Are Married is the quintessential Yorkshire comedy with an absurd plot overflowing with authentic attitudes of the day; fun for the cast as well as the audience. Having wanted to stage this classic comedy for many years and to have the opportunity to once again co-produce with York Theatre Royal, especially in its beautifully refurbished building, makes for a goodly double.”
When We Are Married will open at York Theatre Royal from September 9 to 24 and then tour around Yorkshire to Hull Truck Theatre, September 27 to October 1; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, October 18 to 22, and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, October 25 to 29, finishing up at the Viaduct Theatre in Northern Broadsides' home town of Halifax from November 29 to December 10.
Tickets for the York run are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 213 7700 or wyp.org.uk; Scarborough, 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com
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