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Home , Green Wing (series 2), Mark Rylance, Sean Foley (director), Stephen Mangan, Theatre by the Lake, The Play What I Wrote

PRESS RELEASE – Friday 12 April 2019

NEW IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE

@whitesuitcomedy maninthewhitesuit.co.uk

Jenny King, Jonathan Church, Matthew Gale and Mark Goucher present

STEPHEN MANGAN

and

KARA TOINTON

in The Man in the White Suit

Adapted for by

Based on the play “The Flower Within the Bud” by Roger MacDougall and Screenplay by Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick.

By special arrangement with STUDIO CANAL

Directed by Sean Foley

Designed by Michael Taylor

 SEAN FOLEY ADAPTS AND DIRECTS THE EALING COMEDY CLASSIC FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE STAGE PRODUCTION WHICH WILL STAR AND

 THE PRODUCTION WILL PLAY A LIMITED SEASON AT THEATRE ROYAL BATH AS PART OF ITS 2019 SUMMER SEASON FROM SEPTEMBER 5TH – 21ST, PRIOR TO OPENING AT WYNDHAMS THEATRE IN PREVIEW FROM SEPTEMBER 26TH WITH AN OPENING NIGHT OF OCTOBER 8TH

 TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE

Producers today announced that a stage adaptation by Sean Foley of the classic Ealing Studios comedy The Man in the White Suit, will play a three week season at Theatre Royal Bath, prior to receiving its world premiere at Wyndhams Theatre in preview from September 26th with an opening night of October 8th. The production will be directed by Sean Foley and will star Stephen Mangan as Sidney Stratton and Kara Tointon as Daphne Birnley. Set and costume design will be by Michael Taylor.

The 1951 iconic EALING comedy starred , Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Screenplay).

When Sidney Stratton, played by Stephen Mangan, develops a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out, manufacturers and trades unions are terrified by the threat it poses to their industry and their jobs. Only Daphne (Kara Tointon) the mill owner’s daughter, shows Stratton any sympathy as his world gradually falls apart before he finally finds love and a new idea.

This world premiere production will reunite Stephen Mangan and Sean Foley who created the Olivier Award winning comedy and Wooster together. Foley also teams up again with Michael Taylor with whom he created the five times Olivier Award nominated The Ladykillers. Foley’s production will feature a cast of fourteen including actor musicians and a specially written score.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 Hannah Barnett Leveson [email protected] or Ben Chamberlain [email protected]

LISTINGS

THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT

Theatre Royal Bath Saw Cl, Bath BA1 1ET September 5th – 21st Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ 01225 448844

Wyndham’s Theatre Charing Cross Rd, Covent Garden, WC2H 0DA First preview: September 26th at 7.30pm Opening night: October 8th at 7pm Final performance January 11th at 7.30pm Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/theatres/wyndhams-theatre/

Images can be downloaded here

@whitesuitcomedy maninthewhitesuit.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

Stephen Mangan Sidney Stratton

Stephen Mangan is a stage, film, television and voice actor.

After graduating from Cambridge University and then RADA, Stephen began his acting career in the theatre. In 2008 he played in title role in at and then on Broadway. Stephen was nominated for a Tony Award and the play won Best Revival. Other theatre credits include, Birthday and The People Are Friendly (), Jeeves and Wooster (Duke of York’s Theatre), Hayfever (), Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC) and Rules For Living (National Theatre).

Stephen has an extensive list of television credits, he plays the lead role of Sean Lincoln in the comedy series Episodes, opposite and Matt LeBlanc, and season 5 is due for release this year. This year he can also been seen starring the new comedy series Bliss for Sky Atlantic. Previous TV credits include the BAFTA-winning British , Free Agents, Dirk Gently, in which he played the title role, and Houdini & Doyle.

Stephen’s film credits include , Birthday, : The Movie (Voice), Rush, Beyond The Pole, Confetti and Festival.

Kara Tointon Daphne Birnley

Kara Tointon’s stage appearances include: in (RSC); Bella Manningham in Gaslight (UK Tour); Ginny in Relatively Speaking (Wyndham’s Theatre); Evelyn in Absent Friends ( Theatre) and Eliza in Pygmalion (). Her film work includes appearances in Let’s Be Evil, The Last Passenger, The Sweeney, Warrior Queen, Never Play With The Dead, The Football Factory and Just My Luck. On television Kars has appeared in The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, Henry IX, The Halcyon, The Sound of Music Live, Mr Selfridge, Suntrap, Lewis, Bedlam, The Bill, Dream Team, Keen Eddie , Harry and Cosh and Eastenders.

SEAN FOLEY is a British actor, writer, and director. He was recently appointed as the next Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Foley is a double Olivier Award winner for plays he co-wrote and starred in: Do You Come Here Often? (Vaudeville - Winner, Best Entertainment), and (Wyndhams - Winner Best New Comedy), directed by . He also received a further Olivier nomination for Best Actor for The Play What I Wrote, and the show received Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards nominations when it was presented at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre in 2003.

He directed the Olivier Award winning comedy, Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, (Duke of York’s: starring Stephen Mangan and ); and The Ladykillers (The Gielgud: starring Peter Capaldi - five Olivier nominations including Best Director and Best New Play); directed and co-adapted The Miser, (Garrick: starring Griff Rhys Jones and Lee Mack - Olivier nomination Best New Comedy); wrote and directed Arturo Brachetti: Change (Garrick: Olivier nomination Best Entertainment); co-wrote and starred in Ducktastic, (Albery: Olivier nomination Best Entertainment); directed and co-adapted A Mad World My Masters for the RSC (Swan and Barbican); and adapted and directed The Painkiller (Garrick: starring Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon). He also directed: Pinter’s People (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), The Critic (Chichester Festival), Ben Hur (Watermill),

What the Butler Saw (Vaudeville), I Can’t Sing (London Palladium: starring Cynthia Erivo), The Walworth Farce (Olympia, Dublin: starring Domhnall, Briain and ), The Dresser (Duke of York’s: starring Ken Stott and Reece Sheersmith), and . (Chichester). Foley has also directed live shows for leading comedians, including : A Work In Progress, Armstrong and Miller - Live, and The Catherine Tate Show - Live.

As a stage actor, as well as creating and starring in 10 original comedies for his own company, The Right Size - touring worldwide and appearing in many Festivals - Foley appeared in Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (Almeida/Albery), (as ), The Critic, The Real Inspector Hound, I Am Shakespeare, (with ), and Kenneth Branagh’s RADA production of (as Polonius).

Foley directed the feature film MINDHORN, starring Julian Barrett and Steve Coogan, which was shown at the London Film Festival in 2016, and won the LOCO Discovery Award for Best First Feature. He also directed and (starring Gemma Arterton and James Purefoy in the title roles) and Diana & Freddie for the TV series .

His screen acting credits include Samuel Beckett’s Act Without Words I, directed by Karel Riesz (starring in single role), Foley and McColl: This Way Up, Brass Eye, Happiness, Comedy Lab, Wild West, Twisted Tales and Urban Myths. His film acting credits include Gabriel & Me, The Harry Hill Movie, Mindhorn and All Is True.

MICHAEL TAYLOR DESIGNER

Theatre credits include: White Christmas (Curve, Leicester & Dominion, West End); Ballyturk and The Lonesome West (Tron Theatre); An Officer and a Gentleman (Curve, Leicester & UK Tour); The Winslow Boy (Birmingham Rep & UK Tour); The Best Man (Playhouse Theatre, West End & UK Tour); The Clean House; Dead Simple (UK Tour); Scrooge The Musical; A Streetcar Named Desire (Curve, Leicester); Silver Lining; Eternal Love: The Story of Abelard and Heloise (ETT, UK Tour); Two Way Mirror (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); What The Butler Saw (Curve, Leicester & Theatre Royal Bath); The Dresser (Duke of York’s, West End, dir. Sean Foley); A Christmas Carol (Corby Cube Theatre); All My Sons (Rose Theatre Kingston & Hong Kong); Lawrence After Arabia; Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme; Clever Dick; Out In The Open; Keepers, The Awakening and My Boy Jack (Hampstead Theatre); The Crucible; Waiting For Godot; Faith Healer; ; The Price; The Cherry Orchard; The Man Who Had All The Luck; All My Sons; Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Death of A Salesman (Edinburgh Lyceum); The Ladykillers (Vaudeville Theatre, West End; Olivier Award nomination for Best Designer); Ben Hur; The Shadow of A Gunman and John Bull’s Other Island (Tricycle); The Heresy of Love; Doctor Scroggy’s War; Blue Stockings; Anne Boleyn; All’s Well That Ends Well; The Winter’s Tale and In Extremis/Eternal Love (Shakespeare’s Globe & UK Tours); After Electra (Plymouth Theatre Royal, Tricycle); Chin Chin(Bill Kenwright UK Tour); A Little Hotel On The Side (Theatre Royal Bath); Sherlock Holmes: The Best Kept Secret (West Yorkshire Playhouse & UK Tour); The Misanthrope (Liverpool Playhouse & UK Tour); A Christmas Carol (Royal & Derngate); Amphibians (RSC); Mountain Language (written and directed by Harold Pinter, ); Rafts and Dreams (Royal Court Theatre); Nova Scotia; The Road To Nirvana (Traverse); Darwin in Malibu (Birmingham Rep); Winding The Ball (Royal Exchange); ; Present Laughter (Theatre Royal Bath & Tour); Vita and Virginia (Altes Schauspielhaus, Stuttgart); The Fatherland; Millfire (Riverside Studios); Time And The Conways ().

He won the Drama Magazine Best Designer Award for Tony Marchant’s The Attractions. For The Ladykillers, he has received nominations for Best Set Design at the Olivier Awards and the Whatsonstage.com Awards 2012/2013.

Michael trained as a designer at RADA.