25 September 2017
Newsdesk
Following the West End revival last year of The Dresser, Mark Goucher is presenting Quartet. This will be the first production that the producer will mount in his new role as CEO of the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre. This Everyman Theatre production will then be presented on a UK tour by Mark Goucher and David Ian. Paul Nicholas (The Real Marigold Hotel, Just Good Friends and EastEnders), Wendi Peters (Coronation Street and Oh What A Lovely War), Sue Holderness (Only Fools and Horses and The Green Grass) and Jeff Rawle (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Drop the Dead Donkey) star in a production to be directed by Peter Rowe and designed by Phil R Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith. The production will play at the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre from February 8th to 17th 2018 with a press night on February 13th. Tickets are now on sale.
Quartet is the charming tale of a group of ageing opera singers. Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred reside in a magnificent retirement home in Kent. The rumour circling the halls is that the home is soon to play host to a new resident. Word is it’s a star. Jean arrives and old rivalries resurface, secrets are revealed and chaos unfolds, but in true theatrical tradition – the show must go on.
Oscar-winning writer Sir Ronald Harwood has been nominated for several Tony and Olivier Awards in a long and distinguished career. His play The Dresser, recently completed a highly successful West End run and tour.
Mark Goucher said: “After The Dresser I wanted to tour another of Ronald Harwood’s plays and in my new role at Cheltenham I felt that Quartet would be a perfect show for this theatre to produce and then tour. I am delighted that I will be working with David Ian on this production.”
The tour will visit Sheffield, Ipswich, Birmingham, Salisbury, Brighton, Cambridge, Richmond and Bath.
QUARTET
Written by Ronald Harwood
Directed by Peter Rowe
Designed by Phil R Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith
Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
Regent Street
Cheltenham
GL50 1HQ
First performance: 8th February 2018
Final performance at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre: 17th February 2018
Final performance on tour: 21st April 2018
Press performance: 13th February 2018
Mondays – Saturdays 7.30pm
Matinees: Thursdays and Saturdays at 2pm
Box office details
www.everymantheatre.org.uk
01242 572 573
Prices from £22 - £32
Twitter: @Everymanchelt
Instagram: @Everymanchelt
Facebook: /EverymanTheatreCheltenham
www.everymantheatre.org.uk/
TOUR
February 19th – 24th
Sheffield Theatres
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
February 26th – March 3rd
New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
www.wolseytheatre.co.uk
March 5th – 10th
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
March 12th – 17th
Salisbury Playhouse
www.salisburyplayhouse.com
March 26th – 31st
Theatre Royal Brighton
www.atgtickets.com/venues/theatre-royal-brighton/
April 3rd – 7th
Cambridge Arts Theatre
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com
April 9th – 14th
Richmond Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/
April 16th – 21st
Bath Theatre Royal
www.theatreroyal.org.uk
CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
Ronald Harwood – Writer
Ronald’s many plays include: The Dresser, Taking Sides, Quartet, Mahler’s Conversion, An English Tragedy, Collaboration and Degenerate Art, which premiered in Berlin in October 2015. His films include: The Dresser (Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay); Taking Sides; The Pianist (Plame D’Or, 2002 Canne Film Festival and 2003 BAFTA for Best Film); Being Julia, Oliver Twist and, most recently, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (winner of the 2008 BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay and Academy Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay) and Love In the Time of Cholera. His latest film Quartet was released in 2013 and directed by Dustin Hoffman. A TV film of The Dresser screened on BBC1 in 2015.
Peter Rowe - Director
Peter is the Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre.
After training at the Thorndike Theatre, Peter became the artistic director for the Southampton-based Solent People’s Theatre and then for the London Bubble Theatre Company, touring London in a big-top tent. He has held two other artistic directorships, at the Gateway Theatre, Chester, and the Liverpool Everyman, while freelance work has included productions for regional theatres up and down the country.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Sue Holderness – Jean Horton
Sue Holderness is best known for her role as Marlene in John Sullivan's ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES, which she played from 1984 until the final episode in 2003, and then co-starred with John Challis in four series of the spin-off The Green, Green Grass which ran from 2005 - 2009.
Sue began her career with Manchester’s 69 Theatre Company in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peer Gynt and as Desdemona in Catch My Soul (Jack Good’s rock-musical adaptation of Othello). She has toured in different plays throughout India, Sweden, The Middle and Far East and Barbados. Sue has worked in many repertory companies, and it was while playing the title role in Andrew Davies’s play, Rose, at Harrogate theatre in 1981 that she met her husband, director Mark Piper. Her theatre includes many Alan Ayckbourn plays: How the Other Half Loves, Season’s Greetings, Time And Time Again, Relatively Speaking, Table Manners, Living Together, Round And Round The Garden and Joking Apart. Sue has been in national tours of You Must Be The Husband, Bare Necessities, Hay Fever, An Inspector Calls, Duet For One, The Vagina Monologues, Calendar Girls, Less Than Kind, Whingeing Women, Mrs Warren's Profession and, most recently, Out Of Order.
West End plays include The Female Odd Couple, Why Not Stay For Breakfast, The Male Of The Species and the highly acclaimed one-woman play, Our Kid.
Films include That’ll Be The Day, It Could Happen To You, Lime Street (with Robert Wagner), the low budget feature film Meat Draw, Color Blind and Out Of Sight.
Television includes: The Sandbaggers, It Takes A Worried Man, The Brief, End Of Part One, Dear John, The Cleopatras, Fly Into Danger, Tightrope, Revelations, True Crimes, Heartbeat, Cold Feet, Minder, Bless This House, The New Avengers, Thriller, Sob Sisters, Growing Pains, Doctors, Murder In Suburbia, Casualty, The Wright Stuff, Loose Women, Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, and All Star Mr And Mrs (which Sue and her husband won!).
Paul Nicholas – Wilfred Bond
Household name Paul Nicholas is often remembered for his role as Vince in the award-winning BBC television series, Just Good Friends, for which he was nominated for the ‘Best Comedy Performance’ BAFTA. He was later nominated for Best Actor after playing the leading role in major drama series Bust. Paul later returned to the BBC as EastEnders villain and series regular Gavin Sullivan and most recently joined a group of fellow celebrities in the BAFTA-nominated series The Real Marigold Hotel.
His theatrical success began in 1969 in the original London production of Hair. This was followed by the lead role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Danny in Grease with Elaine Page, Barnum, Fiddler On The Roof, Singing In The Rain and many others. Paul joined the Young Vic company where he played Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. Most recently, he played Judge Wargrave in the number one UK tour of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
Paul created the role of Rum Tum Tugger in Lord Lloyd Webber’s Cats, followed by the title role in Sir Tim Rice’s musical Blondel and Charlie Girl at the Victoria Palace with Cyd Charris. He appeared as the Pirate King in the highly successful production of Pirates Of Penzance and starred in the first ever national tour of Barnum for which he trained in all circus skills, including tightrope walking and juggling.
At the end of 1991, Paul was the subject of This Is Your Life. For his service to show business and charity, Paul was awarded a Silver Heart from the Variety Club of Great Britain.
His venture into pop singing in 1976 resulted in four top ten UK hits, including the USA two million best seller, Heaven On The Seventh Floor. Paul has since received a further four gold albums and presented his own pop series on Granada TV called Paul. His numerous television appearances also include four Royal Variety Performances.
Paul is currently co-producer of the 2017 UK Tour of Grease. He has produced many shows including Evita, Singing In The Rain Pirates of Penzance and Saturday Night Fever at the London Palladium.
His major film credits include Tommy, Stardust, Lisztomania, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The World Is Full is Full of Married Men and played Neville Chamberlain in Masaryk.
Wendi Peters – Cecily Robson
Wendi is best known for her role as Cilla Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street – a role that she played for over four years and returned to for a stint in 2014 after seven years away. Her portrayal of this much-loved character has led to appearances on numerous television programmes including Celebrity Sewing Bee for Children in Need, Pointless Celebrities, Keep it in the Family, Celebrity Mastermind, Adrenaline Junkie with Jack Osbourne, The F Word with Gordon Ramsay and Celebrity Masterchef, in which she reached the finals. Wendi plays the recurring character Cook Jenkins in Hetty Feather (BBC) and her other television credits include: Queen Shania in Hacker Time (BBC); Kelly in Sadie J (BBC); Marion in Crime Stories (ITV); 'Podger' Pam Jolly in Bad Girls (ITV); Out of the Blue and Cardiac Arrest (both BBC).
Film credits include Gyppo; Cilla in Coronation Street - Out of Africa and Emily in In Love and War.
Theatre credits include: Melissa Frake in State Fair for London Musical Theatre Orchestra (Cadogan Hall, London); Frank and Friends – A Concert with Frank Wildhorn (Palace Theatre, Manchester); Rutherford & Sons (National Tour); Kath Casey in Our House 10th Anniversary Concert directed by Matthew Warchus (Savoy, London); Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Arts Theatre, West End); Bet in April in Paris directed by John Godber (Hull Truck, National Tour); Mrs Metherall in The Game for Northern Broadsides directed by Barrie Rutter (National Tour); Grumpy Old Women Live 2 - Chin up Britain (National Tour and Novello Theatre, West End); Vagina Monologues (National Tour); Mrs Whippy - one woman play written by Cecelia Ahern (Dublin and National Tour, Ireland); Vagina Monologues (Tivoli Theatre, Dublin); Wicked Queen in Snow White (Orchard Theatre, Dartford); Children Will Listen - celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Emily in Follies in Concert (London Palladium); Mrs Brown in Me and My Girl; Louise in Murder on the Nile; Fairy Godmother in Cinderella; Poppy in Noises Off; Kate in Bedroom Farce (Palace Theatre, Westcliff); Hobby in Teechers (Hull Truck National Tour); Sally in Scarlet Pimpernel; Red Riding Hood in Into The Woods (Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich); Sue in A Slice of Saturday Night (Playhouse, Derby); Jan in Grease (Olympia Theatre, Dublin); Cindy in Sugar; Miss Electra in Gypsy (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds ); Guys and Dolls and Hello Dolly (National Tours).
Radio credits include BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night (guest soloist).
Wendi loves cooking and baking and has started a blog diary, recording her recipes and kitchen exploits: www.wendipeterspuddingqueen.blogspot.com.
Last Christmas Wendi starred in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield. For the 2014/15 Christmas period Wendi returned to the role of Martha Watson in White Christmas at the Dominion Theatre, having previously played it to great acclaim at both the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, and the Lowry, Manchester. Most recently Wendi could be seen in the National Tour of Oh What a Lovely War, as Dorothy Needham in the world premiere of Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched at the Park Theatre, London, and performing her one-woman show, Let Me Sing And I’m Happy at the St James Theatre, London.
Wendi has just finished starring as the Queen of Hearts in the National Tour of Wonderland.
Jeff Rawle – Reggie Paget
Jeff Rawle has worked extensively on stage and screen. Just a soupçon of credits are listed below:
Theatre: Saint George and the Dragon (National Theatre); Lawrence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre); Waiting For Godot (Sheffield Crucible); High Society (Old Vic Theatre); Handbagged (Eleanor Lloyd Productions/ Tricycle Theatre); Cocktail Sticks (National Theatre); The Power of Yes, Fram, Noises Off (National Theatre/ Tour/ Piccadilly Theatre, West End); Pornography (Traverse Theatre/ Birmingham Rep); King of Hearts (Out of Joint); Bottle Universe (Bush Theatre); Way to Heaven, Bent, Irish Soldier, The Arbour (Royal Court Theatre); Bent (Criterion Theatre, West End); Once a Catholic (Wyndhams Theatre, West End) and Equus (Albery Theatre, West End).
TV: Lost Sitcoms - Steptoe and Son, The Durrells, You, Me & Them (two series), The Outcast, 88 Keys, An Adventure in Space and Time, Heading Out, A Beautiful Day, Hollyoaks, The Plot, My Family, The Sarah Jane Adventures, MI High, New Tricks, Spooks, Sea of Souls, Fear, Stress and Anger, Dalziel and Pascoe, Dr Who, Microsoap (three series), Beyond the Pale, Doc Martin (three Series), Secret Diary of a Call Girl, William and Mary, Touch of Frost, The Last Detective, Death in Holy Orders, Midsomer Murders, Faith in the Future (three series), Neville's Island, Billy Liar, Life and Times of Henry Pratt and Drop the Dead Donkey (six series) for Channel 4.
Film: Peterloo, Chubby Funny, The Crucifixion, The Redistributors, Trimming Pablo, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Blackball, The Case of Marcel Duchamp and A Hitch in Time.
