Cel Spellman (Host of the Sunday Chart Show on Radio 1; Cold Feet, ITV; Cucumber, Channel 4), George Turvey (No Villain, Old Red Lion, Trafalgar Studios; Batman, Live arena tour; Artistic Director of PapaTango theatre company), Andy Secombe (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones; Mr Gillie, Finborough Theatre) and Molly McNerney will join Matthew Jure (Grantchester, ITV; Downton Abbey, BBC1; The Great Train Robbery, BBC1 and EIFF Best Actor in a Feature Film nominee 2017) to form the cast of Eric Bogosian's Pulitzer Prize-nominated Talk Radio, thirty years after its inaugural production in New York.
Barry Champlain is abrasive and forthright, the ultimate devil’s advocate, willing to argue just about any point. He lives for his radio show and the minor fame it brings him but his on-air persona is just that: a persona. Barry despises the people he talks to every day; he loathes their views and he abhors their adoration.
His listeners think they know him but Barry is not even sure he knows himself. He is careless and cold with his lover Linda, downright ugly to his best friend and collaborator Stu and spiteful of his producer, the man who made him, Dan. But above all, he detests himself for the lie he is living.
While freedom of the press has always been viewed as important, Bogosian’s play highlights that, in the wrong hands, this freedom can be used to baffle and create prejudice. In a post-truth age of fake news and continued attacks against the press, this landmark hit has never felt more relevant.
Director Sean Turner comments, I'm elated by the cast we've put together. Cel is an extraordinary talent and having a bona fide radio guy in the cast helps too! Matthew is going to be a phenom in the central role and I'm thrilled to be building on previous work with George and Andy. Molly is a rare find - she's going to be huge.
Performance Dates Tuesday 29th August – Saturday 23rd September 2017
Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm
Saturday and Sunday matinees, 2.30pm
Running time 75 minutes
Twitter @TalkRadioLdn @seandturner @MatthewJure
Writer Eric Bogosian
Director Sean Turner
Producer Samuel Julyan
Designer Max Dorey
Lighting Jack Weir
Sound Designer Dan Bottomley
Barry Champlain Matthew Jure
Stu Noonan George Turvey
Linda Macarthur Molly McNerney
Dan Woodruff Andy Secombe
Kent Cel Spellman
Callers David Bromley, Michael Lyle, Felix O'Brien, Elena Valentine, Debbie Bird, Stephen Omer, Kenneth Jay, Hannah Samuels, Anna Dekowski, Zachary Hart, Ashton Spear, Daniel Bottomley, Lucy Aarden-Southall
Location Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John Street, London EC1V 4NJ, www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk.
How to get there The nearest underground station is Angel (on the Bank branch of the Northern line). The nearest rail station is Kings Cross St Pancras.
Box Office Tickets are available priced £18 (£16 concessions). Available from Old Red Lion Theatre Box Office and www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk or 0844 412 4307
Sean Turner
Sean Turner trained in directing at the National Theatre and in devising with Complicite, he is also an alumnus of ALRA and East 15. He is Artistic Director of his own producing company, Turner Theatre Limited and Director of the acclaimed touring Shakespeare company Permanently Bard. In 2015 Sean discovered Arthur Miller's first play, No Villain, and directed its world premiere which later transferred to the West End (Trafalgar Studios). Sean is the Associate Director of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong. Other recent credits include; Nahda (Bush Theatre), The Crucible (ALRA), Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Twelfth Night (all UK tours), Boris Godunov (Brockley Jack), Shakespeare's Lover's (The Faction). In 2012 Sean's Edinburgh transfer of Three of Hearts was nominated for five Off West End Awards including Best Director.
Matthew Jure
Matthew Jure trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and at Bournemouth Media School, working extensively in radio before moving into theatre and screen roles. Onstage he has played Macbeth, Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and Ricky Roma in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross. His screen work includes Eddie Jones in Grantchester, Andy Kent in The Tunnel and DS Stanley Davies in The Great Train Robbery, as well as appearances in Waking The Dead, Downton Abbey and the imminent Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams opposite Timothy Spall. Matthew was nominated for the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film as boxer William McCrae in The Pugilist.
