PRESS RELEASE – 17th December 2019

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Northern Broadsides presents

QUALITY STREET By J. M. Barrie

 CASTING ANNOUNCED TODAY FOR LAURIE SANSOM’S INAUGURAL PRODUCTION AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF NORTHERN BROADSIDES

 RARE REVIVAL OF J.M. BARRIE’S QUALITY STREET, OPENING IN HALIFAX, THE TOWN WHERE THE CHOCOLATES NAMED AFTER THE PLAY ARE MADE, AND ON A NATIONAL TOUR

 THE FULL CAST INCLUDES JESSICA BAGLOW, DARIO COATES, JIM ENGLISH, JOHN GULLY, CLAIRE HACKETT, LOUISA MAY PARKER, ALICIA MCKENZIE, SOPHIE MERCELL AND GABRIEL PAUL

 FULL TOUR DATES AND BOOKING INFORMATION AT WWW.NORTHERN-BROADSIDES.CO.UK

Casting is today announced for Quality Street, Laurie Sansom’s debut production as Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides. The production, a rare revival of J.M. Barrie’s farce, will open in February 2020 in Halifax, the home of Quality Street™ the UK’s most popular brand of chocolates. Barrie’s play was so popular in its day that it gave the chocolates their name.

Jessica Baglow will play the title role of Phoebe Throssel and Dario Coates as love interest, Valentine Brown. Further cast features Jim English as Fanny Willoughby/Arthur, John Gully as Recruiting Sergeant/Spicer/Georgy, Claire Hackett as Patty, Louisa May Parker as Susan Throssel, Alicia McKenzie as Mary Willoughby, Sophie Mercell as Charlotte Parratt and Gabriel Paul as Ensign Blades/Isabella.

The show marks the beginning of a new producing model for Broadsides, with each production co-created with “creation squads” formed from the local community. For this production, the actors will collaborate with workers from the Quality Street™ factory, developing contemporary tales of hapless love and a live commentary that will frame the action of Barrie’s regency rom-com. As well as providing a modern lens through which to view Barrie’s story, Broadsides also aims to build long-lasting relationships between the employees and their local theatre company.

Jessica Baglow’s recent stage credits include: Macbeth (RBL), The Big Corner (Bolton Octagon), Hamlet (Bolton Octagon), Jane Eyre (Bolton Octagon), First Words: Blue (Bolton Octagon), (Bolton Octagon/Derby Theatre), Pericles (Shakespeare's Globe), The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe), The Family Way (Bolton Octagon) and (Bolton Octagon). Film & TV include: Vera, Gentleman Jack, Apostasy, , Doctors, Salvage, Waterloo Road and .

Dario Coates’s stage credits include: The Rubenstein Kiss (Southwark Playhouse), Country Music (Omnibus Theatre Clapham), one man show Sid (Camden Fringe), Another Country (Trafalgar Studios & Chichester Festival), (Rose Theatre), Posh (Nottingham/Salisbury), Penthouse (Edinburgh Fringe 2017) and Electra (Bunker Theatre). Television includes: Damned, The Coroner, Doctors, Drifters and , ITV’s Endeavour.

Jim English’s stage credits include: This Space is Occupied (Bent Architect), For Love Or Money, Richard III (Northern Broadsides), The Northern School (Bent Architect), Darknet (Southwark Playhouse), Dancing Through The Shadows (Hull Truck Theatre), Hurling Rubble At The Moon (Park Theatre), Death At Dawn (Cloud Nine), Solid Air (Theatre Royal Plymouth), What You Will (Shakespeare's Globe). Television and film includes: Peterloo, Coronation Street, Holby City, New Blood and Doctors.

John Gully’s recent stage credits for Northern Broadsides include: , The Merry Wives, King Lear, Wars of the Roses and A Woman Killed With Kindness. Other recent theatre include: Herding Cats (Play With Fire Productions), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Salt of the Earth (Hull Truck Theatre), Spending Frank (SJT Scarborough) and The Hired Man (Salisbury Playhouse). TV includes: Home Fires, Happy Valley, Coronation Street, Coming Down The Mountain, Emmerdale, Strictly Confidential, Jane Hall’s Big Bad Bus Ride, Sparkhouse, Fat Friends, , Doctors, Elizabeth, Castles, Criminal, Today, Heartbeat and .

Claire Hackett’s recent stage credits include: East is East (Bolton Octagon) and All My Sons (Apollo Theatre, West End). TV appearances include: Holby City, Coronation Street, Line of Duty, Wallander and Poirot. Film work includes: Apostasy, Harry Brown, Liam and Linda in ’s Dancin’ thru the Dark.

Louisa May Parker’s stage credits include: Sitcom Stories (Edinburgh Fringe), If I Should Fall (RedBobble Theatre - Regional Tour), To Walk In Your Shoes (RedBobble Theatre - Regional Tour), Five Kinds of Silence (Arcola), The Iliad Live (Almeida), The Academy of Melancholy (Old Operating Theatre London Bridge), Three Sisters (Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute Moscow), Orestes (Imalis Theatre Greece), A Good Day: Love, Death & Virginia Woolf (RNCM). Film/TV credits include: Hollyoaks, Support, The Limehouse Golem, Metronome and Death Comes to Pemberley.

Alicia McKenzie’s recent stage credits include: The Crucible and Blonde Bombshells (Pitlochry 2019 Season), Wind in in the Willows (New Vic), Whisky Galore (Oldham Coliseum, Hull Truck, New Vic and UK tour), A Christmas Carol (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Tinkerbell in Peter Pan (Mercury Theatre) Cinderella (Octagon, Bolton) and Fuse (Crucible, Sheffield).

Sophie Mercell’s stage credits include: Jack and The Beanstalk (Oldham Coliseum), One Hundred Trillion (The Dot Collective - Old Vic Workrooms), Barbican Openfest (Told By An Idiot - The Barbican), The Ugly Duckling Christmas Special (The Herd - Hull Truck Theatre), All You Need is LSD (Told By An Idiot - Birmingham Rep), Bread and Roses (Oldham Coliseum), Let Me Play the Lion Too (Told By An Idiot - The Barbican), The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack Studio Theatre - David Ball Productions), Passing (The Bunker Theatre), Fémage à Trois (Loquitur Theatre - Theatre 503), Autumn (The Pensive Federation - Tristan Bates Theatre), Random (StoneCrabs - The Albany) and The Roaring Girl (The Sam Wanamaker Festival - The Globe).

Gabriel Paul’s stage credits include: (West End and UK Tour), Queen of Chapletown (Leeds Playhouse), Bouncers (Esk Valley Theatre), Othello (Demi- Paradise Productions), Street Voices 3 (Freedom Studios). Television and film include: Safe, Snatch, From Darkness, The Syndicate, Doctors and The Hybrid.

Phoebe Throssel lives on Quality Street, the bustling hub of a quaint northern town where she runs a school for unruly children.

Ten years since a tearful goodbye, an old flame returns from fighting Napoleon. But the look of disappointment on Captain Valentine’s face when he greets a more mature, less glamorous Phoebe, spurs our determined heroine to action.

She becomes the wild and sparkling Miss Livy, a younger alter-ego who soon entraps the clueless Captain. As their romance is rekindled, can she juggle both personas? Or will her deception scandalise the town and wreck any future with the man she loves?

Quality Street will tour to Halifax, Salford, Liverpool, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Newcastle- under-Lyme, Hull, York, Lancaster, Bury St Edmunds, Guildford, Derby, Scarborough and Harrogate. Tickets are on sale now from www.northern-broadsides.co.uk

Quality Street is directed by Laurie Sansom, with design by Jessica Worrall, lighting design by Joe Price and sound design by Nick Sagar.

- ENDS - For further information please contact The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 Laura Myers or Natasha Krstic-Howe

LISTINGS

QUALITY STREET Director: Laurie Sansom Designer: Jessica Worrall Lighting Designer: Joe Price Sound Designer/Composer: Nick Sagar Casting Director: Sarah Hughes CDG Puppet Maker: Beka Haigh

UK TOUR 2020 The Viaduct Theatre, Halifax Fri 14 – Sat 22 February Press night: 19th February 01422 849 227

The Lowry, Salford Tue 25 – Sat 29 February 0343 208 6011

The Dukes, Lancaster Tue 3 – Sat 7 March 01524 598 500

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds Tue 10 – Sat 14 March 01284 769 505

Liverpool Playhouse Tue 17 – Sat 21 March 0151 709 4776

Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne Tue 24 – Sat 28 March 0191 230 5151

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford Tue 7 – Sat 11 April 01483 44 00 00

Derby Theatre Tue 14 – Sat 18 April 01332 59 39 39

Leeds Playhouse Tue 21 – Sat 25 April 01132 137 700

New Vic Theatre Tue 28 Apr – Sat 9 May 01782 717 962

Stephen Joseph Theatre Tue 12 – Sat 16 May 01723 370 541

Harrogate Theatre Tue 19 – Sat 23 May 01423 502 116

Hull Truck Theatre Tue 2 – Sat 6 June 01482 323 638

York Theatre Royal Tue 9 – Sat 13 June 01904 623 568

NOTES TO EDITORS

LAURIE SANSOM Director

Laurie took up his new role as Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Northern Broadsides in June this year. Between 2012 and 2016 Laurie was Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Theatre of Scotland for whom he directed The James Plays trilogy by Rona Munro. They premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2014, where he won a Herald Angel, before transferring to the National Theatre in London, where they won the Evening Standard and Writers’ Guild Awards for Best Play. They were then seen internationally in Adelaide, Auckland and Toronto.

Also for NTS he directed his own adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat, and The 306:Dawn, a new site-specific piece of music theatre telling the stories of the 306 British soldier executed for cowardice in the First World War.

Previously he was Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, Northampton where he directed the European premiers of Tennessee Williams’ Spring Storm and Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon, both transferring to the National Theatre, London, and winning him the 2010 TMA Award for Best Director, and a nomination for Best Director at the Evening Standard Awards. He also directed new versions of The Bacchae, Blood Wedding and Hedda Gabler as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Frankenstein (with Frantic Assembly), The Duchess of Malfi, Follies and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

He has directed for theatres around the UK including the Traverse, Birmingham Rep, Salisbury Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, New Vic, Stoke, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the National Theatre, London, where he directed the world première of The Holy Rosenbergs.

At the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, where he was the Associate Director to Alan Ayckbourn, he directed over twenty new plays including Villette (with Frantic Assembly) and a micro-musical season comprising three new musicals. His Watford Palace production of Dangerous Corner was re- mounted at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and transferred to the Garrick theatre, West End in 2002.

Most recently he has directed Kiss of the Spiderwoman at the , Nightfall at The Bridge Theatre, and Genesis Inc. at Hampstead Theatre.

JESSICA WORRALL Designer

Recent Work: Henry IV parts 1 & 2, Henry V (Shakespeares Globe), After Edward, Edward II, The Treason Trial of Walter Raleigh (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Educating Rita (Dukes Theatre), They Don’t Pay, We Won’t Pay (Northern Broadsides) Other Theatre includes: Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeares Globe), The Captive Queen (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), For Love or Money, When We Are Married, She Stoops to Conquer, Love’s Labour’s Lost, We Are Three Sisters, Lisa’s Sex Strike, Wars of the Roses, School for Scandal, The Bells, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Oedipus, The Cracked Pot, King John, Anthony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III and The Merry Wives (Northern Broadsides, National Tours), Rites (National Theatre Scotland), Grit (Tramway, Glasgow), The Knitting Circle (Vital Xposure), Alice Through the Looking Glass (Egg Theatre, Bath), Huxley’s Lab (Grid Iron, Edinburgh). As a member of the performance group, People Show, Jessica has designed, devised and occasionally performed in around 30 productions, including The Last Straw no.130 (Summerhall, Edinburgh & Ovalhouse, London), Hands Off no.127 (Toynbee Studios, London), Fallout no.124 (CCA, Glasgow), The Ghost Sonata no.119 (Sefton Park Glass House, Liverpool), The Birthday Show no.120 and Baby Jane no.113 (UK Tours).

JOE PRICE Lighting Designer

Joe trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and is now based in Bristol. He received the 2015 Francis Reid Award for Lighting Design.

Credits include: My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Young Vic), The World's Wife (Welsh National Opera), Redefining Juliet (Barbican), Rapunzel (The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath), Heads Will Roll (Told by an Idiot), Heather (Bush Theatre), Ask Me Anything (Paper Birds), Kite (The Wrong Crowd), Conditionally (Soho Theatre), Mrs Dalloway (Arcola Theatre), Box Clever & Killymuck (Bunker Theatre), Fossils (Brits off Broadway NYC), Frankie Vah (Luke Wright), This Must Be The Place (VAULT Festival), Let The Right One In (Arts Ed), Magnificence (Finborough Theatre), Father Figurine (Wardrobe Theatre), Some Girl(s) (Park Theatre), Around The World in 80 Days (Theatre Royal Winchester), Alternative Routes (National Dance Company Wales), Animal/Endless Ocean (Gate Theatre) and Y Twr (Invertigo).

NICK SAGAR Sound Designer/Composer

Recent work include: Robert Wilson’s Jungle Book (Théatre de la Ville - Paris/Lyon/Luxembourg), Mary Said What She Said (Théatre de la Ville - Paris/Lisbon), Robert Wilson’s Das Dschungelbuch (Schauspielhaus - Dusseldorf), Billionaire Boy (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour 2019/20), Tom Gates (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour 2019/20), Tree of Codes (Manchester International Festival - Paris/Hong Kong/Sydney), Horrible Histories ‘Barmy Britain 4’ (Birmingham Stage Company - Apollo Theatre, London), Horrible Histories ‘Tudors & Egyptians’ (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour 2019/20), First Snow/Premiére Niege (National Theatre of Scotland - Montréal/Edinburgh) Other notable work includes: Awful Auntie (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour 2018/19), Autobiography (Company Wayne McGregor - International Dates), Gangsta Granny (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour 2017/18), Tree of Codes (Manchester International Festival - Manchester/New York/Aarhus/London/Melbourne), The James Plays (National Theatre of Scotland/National Theatre London - International Tour), Robert Wilson’s Letter To A Man (Change Performing Arts - New York, San Francisco, LA, Madrid & 2017 International Tour), Life & Death of Marina Abramovic (MIF - New York, Toronto, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Madrid, Manchester), A Doll’s House (NTS - Edinburgh Lyceum), Men Should Weep (NTS - Glasgow ), Young@Heart Chorus - End of the Road (No Theatre - Oslo, Singapore, New York, Manchester), Running Wild (Children’s Theatre Workshop - UK Tour), Tom’s Midnight Garden (Birmingham Stage Company - UK Tour) and Appointment With The Wicker Man (NTS - Edinburgh Fringe Festival).

Notable Composer credits include: First Snow/Premiére Niege (National Theatre of Scotland - Montréal/Edinburgh), A Doll’s House (NTS - Edinburgh Lyceum), Men Should Weep (NTS - Glasgow Citizens)

Associate Sound Design credits include: Robert Wilson’s Old Woman (CPA - Athens), Krapps Last Tape (CPA - Beijing), Peter Pan (NTS - UK Tour), Blackwatch (NTS - Pitlochry),Wolves In The Walls (NTS - New York), Gangsta Granny (Best Family Show) and Tree of Codes (Best Dance) were both nominated for Olivier Awards.

When not travelling the world working on theatre productions, Nick writes and produces in his ‘boutique’ recording studio 3507 Studio Recording in Lancashire, where he also helps develop new and emerging artist and bands.

SARAH HUGHES Casting Director

Sarah Hughes is Alan Ayckbourn’s casting director and has also freelanced extensively for the Entertainment Department of the BBC and in TV comedy. Other theatre work includes plays for the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Stafford Shakespeare Festival, Out of Joint, and Theatre Royal Northampton, and many projects for Graeae and for Frantic Assembly. She was a Senior Cast Co-ordinator for the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies and is often involved with casting large outdoor site-specific projects. She has worked for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for a number of years as the SJT’s casting director. She is a member of the Casting Directors’ Guild, and also works as a teacher and lecturer.

FROLICKED

Frolicked is a theatre company specialising in the creation of highly visual, interactive experiences for outdoor and other unusual locations. We make unique, beautifully illustrated, hand-made characters, performances and games that engage and captivate audiences of all ages and nationalities. Our skill is in creating memorable, intimate moments with strangers across the continents.

Frolicked is led by Director and Puppet Maker, Beka Haigh. Beka has spent more than fifteen years devising, making and performing for theatre companies and cultural organisations across the country. Beka is a member of British Unima, the international puppetry body, and she sits on the steering group of the National Association of Street Artists in the UK. To find out more about Frolicked, please visit www.frolicked.co.uk