Richard Bean’s new play The English Game will feature a cast with a wealth of West End experience when it plays at the Rose Theatre, Kingston in June.
Between them, Tony Bell, Peter Bourke, Rudi Dharmalingam, Robert East, Andy Frame, John Lightbody, Trevor Martin, Ifan Meredith, Sean Murray, Marcus Onilude, Fred Ridgeway, Jamie Samuels and Howard Ward, have a collection of credits working for companies including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida and Royal Court.
Of the cast’s recent London outings, Dharmalingam appeared in the National Theatre productions of Rafta Rafta and The History Boys, while East appeared in Stuff Happens, Murray in Buried Child, and Ward in War Horse, all at the South Bank venue. Frame starred in slavery drama Rough Crossings, which was seen at the Lyric Hammersmith, Lightbody played Richard III at the Southwark Playhouse late last year and Onilude was in the Laurence Olivier Award winning Gone Too Far! at the Royal Court.
Bean’s new play, an exploration of the modern British psyche, follows an amateur cricket team as the squad whiles away hours drinking gallons of tea, smoking cigarettes and discussing life, love, politics and the correct interpretation of the LBW rule.
Bean’s previous plays include Harvest, The God-Botherers, Toast and Under The Whaleback.
The English Game is co-produced by Headlong and the Yvonne Arnaud theatre. Touring company Headlong, which was formerly known as Oxford Stage Company, has a busy London schdule for the first half of the year, with The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot currently playing at the Almeida and …Sisters playing at the Gate in June.
The English Game is directed by Sean Holmes, who recently directed The Man Who Had All The Luck, with design by Anthony Lamble, lighting by Charles Balfour and sound by Gregory Clarke. It runs at the Rose Theatre, Kingston from 17-21 June as part of a tour that also includes stops in Guildford, Exeter, Leeds, Oxford, Malvern and Salford.
MA