Suranne Jones to star in the 20th anniversary production of Jonathan Harvey's BEAUTIFUL THING
THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION OF
JONATHAN HARVEY’S CLASSIC PLAY
BEAUTIFUL THING
RETURNS TO THE WEST END IN APRIL 2013
STARRING SURANNE JONES
DIRECTED BY NIKOLAI FOSTER
Jonathan Harvey’s classic play, Beautiful
Thing, will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year with a
brand new production at the Arts Theatre
in the West End from 13 April – 25 May, with a press night on Wednesday 17
April, followed by a short UK tour visiting Liverpool, Leeds and Brighton.
Directed by Nikolai Foster, and
designed by Colin Richmond, the
production will star Suranne Jones,
with further casting to be announced.
Beautiful Thing is a glorious
urban love story between two young men set on an inner city housing estate. It
tells the story of teenager Jamie’s relationship with classmate and neighbour
Ste. Together the two boys find comedy, warmth and the music of Mama Cass
through their loud-mouthed next door neighbour Leah. The play exquisitely
depicts what it is to be sixteen, in the first flush of love, and full of
optimism.
Jonathan Harvey wrote
beautiful thing when he was just 24. It premiered at the Bush Theatre in 1993
and sold out its five-week run before transferring to the Donmar Warehouse, and
then the Duke of York’s, eventually winning its author an Olivier Award nomination
and the John Whiting Award. A screen adaptation of the play was released in
1996 by Channel 4 films, which went on to be a cult hit. Jonathan is a regular writer for Coronation Street
and wrote the TV hit series Gimme, Gimme,
Gimme, as well as the best-selling 2012 novel All She Wants. His
plays include Canary and Corrie!
Suranne Jones will star as
Sandra, Jamie’s mother. Suranne is best known for her role as ‘Karen McDonald’
in Coronation Street (where she
worked closely with Jonathan Harvey), and ‘DC Rachel Bailey’ in Scott & Bailey. Her recent television credits include
the human tardis in Dr Who, A Touch of
Cloth and The Secret of Crickley Hall
(BBC One). Her stage work includes Top
Girls (Trafalgar Studios & CFT), A
Few Good Men with Jon Barrowman and Rob Lowe (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and
Noel Coward’s Blythe Spirit.
Nikolai Foster is an Associate
Director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse. His work has been seen in most of the
UK’s leading regional theatres, touring houses and internationally, and recent
productions include Flashdance (West
End), Hayfever (CFT), Merrily We Roll Along (Clwyd Theatr
Cymru), The Diary of Anne Frank (York
Theatre Royal & The Touring Consortium), and Annie (WYP, Leeds).
Over its 20 year history play has featured in the careers of many famous
actors including Jonny Lee Miller, Hugh Bonneville, Philip Glennister, Andrew
Garfield, and Rhys Ifans, and
has been produced over 25 times worldwide, with international dates in China,
France, Canada, Australia and Holland.
The production
will be produced by Tom O'Connell for QNQ Ltd, who recently co-produced Blake
Harrison's West End debut in Step 9 of 12 (Trafalgar Studios)
LISTINGS INFO
Arts Theatre
6-7 Great Newport Street
London WC2H 7JB
Nearest tube Leicester Square
Box Office: 0207 836 8463
Performance schedule
Monday – Saturday at 8.00pm
Matinees Thursday and Saturday at 3.00pm
Tickets
from £20.00 - £35.00 top price (£45.00 premium)
UK tour – 2013 dates
28 May - 1 June Liverpool
Playhouse
Box office: 0151 709 4776 http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/
3 June - 8 June West
Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
Box office: 0113 213 7700 http://www.wyp.org.uk/
10 June - 15 June Brighton
Theatre Royal
Box office: 0844 871 7627 www.atgtickets/brighton
Labels
Theatre