FIRST CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY’S PRODUCTION OF THE BOY IN THE DRESS
Issued:
Thursday 22 August 2019
THE BOY IN THE DRESS
From the novel by David Walliams
Adapted by Mark Ravenhill
Music and lyrics by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers
Directed by Gregory Doran
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 8 November 2019 -
8 March 2020
Press night: Wednesday 27 November
Box Office: 01789 331111, www.rsc.org.uk
CLICK HERE FOR IMAGES
Casting kicks off with the first announcement for The Boy in the Dress, the
Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) new musical which runs in the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre from 8 November.
David Walliams’ heart-warming comedy telling the story of star
striker and fashion lover Dennis comes to the stage for the first time in a
musical adapted by former RSC writer-in-residence Mark Ravenhill, with new
songs from Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, directed by Artistic Director
Gregory Doran.
Rufus Hound plays Dennis’ dad; Irvine Iqbal plays Raj,
the shopkeeper; Natasha
Lewis plays Dennis’ best friend Darvesh’s mum, and Forbes Masson plays Mr
Hawtrey, the headmaster from Dennis’ school.
Rufus recently appeared with the RSC in The Provoked Wife and Don Quixote. His other
theatre work includes Dusty (Tour); Present Laughter (Chichester); Wind in the Willows (Palladium
Theatre); What the Butler
Saw (Leicester Curve); The
Wars of the Roses (Rose Theatre Kingston); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy
Theatre); Neville's
Island, Present Laughter (Chichester); One Man Two Guv'nors (National
Theatre/West End); Utopia (Soho
Theatre).
Irvine Iqbal is making his RSC debut. His
previous theatre work includes Broken
Wings (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Aladdin
– The Musical (Prince Edward Theatre); Branded (Criterion Theatre); Bend It Like Beckham
(Phoenix Theatre); World of
Walliams (Harper Collins Publisher Ltd); Mr Stink (UK tour); Little Shop of Horrors (Jersery
Opera House).
Natasha Lewis was last on the RSC stages
in 2018’s original musical Miss
Littlewood. Her other theatre includes Brassed Off (New Vic Theatre); Call Me Fury (Alchymy
Festival, Oxford); Aladdin (Hackney
Empire); Priscilla Queen of
the Desert/Cinderella (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch); Peter Pan in Scarlet (New
Vic Theatre/Oxford Playhouse); Our
House – The Madness Musical (UK tour); Dick Whittington & His Cat (Cheltenham
Everyman Theatre); Little Shop
of Horrors, Rope & Dear Brutus (Pitlochry Festival Theatre).
Forbes Masson is an RSC Associate Artist
whose previous work with them includes As
You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Ahasauerus, Morte d’Arthur, A Tender Thing, The
Grain Store, Henry V, Henry IV Part II, Henry VI Part I, II & III, Richard
II, Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Hamlet, Pilate. His
other theatre work includes Bartholomew
Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Boudica (Shakespeare’s Globe); Summer and Smoke, Doctor Faustus
(Duke of York’s); Little Shop
of Horrors (Regents Park Open Air Theatre).
Gregory said of the
production:
“It is tremendous to welcome such a talented cast of new and established RSC
company members to our new musical production of The Boy in the Dress,
particularly one with such a strong background of excellent musical theatre
performances and first-class comic talent. The cast join an already impressive
line-up of UK and international creatives, including comic writer, performer
and beloved children’s book author David Walliams and chart-topping songwriters
Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. I am excited to work together with them over
the coming weeks to bring this life-affirming, funny story to the RST stage.”
The
production is designed by Robert
Jones, an Associate Artist of the RSC whose credits include: Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant
of Venice, The Herbal Bed, Venus and Adonis, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Henry VIII (and
New York) and The Winter’s
Tale.
He
has designed more than thirty West End and Broadway productions, including:
Fiddler
on the Roof, City of Angels, Quiz, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Ragtime, The
Sound of Music (also Toronto, Paris, Tokyo, China, South Africa, New Zealand and
Australia), The Secret
Rapture, Calendar Girls (and UK tour), A Chorus of Disapproval, Much Ado About Nothing, Cyrano de
Bergerac, The Wizard of Oz (also Toronto and US tour).
Choreography is by Aletta
Collins. Formerly an Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House
Aletta has worked on a wide array of theatrical productions as choreographer
and director. Most recently as choreographer for the Manchester Royal
Exchange’s production of West
Side Story - the first professional UK staging to feature new
choreography.
Previous productions include:
The Hairy Ape (The
Old Vic/Park Avenue Armory); The
Twilight Zone (Almeida/West End); Bend It Like Beckham, Made In Dagenham, Jesus Christ
Superstar (West End); The
Effect, His Dark
Materials (National Theatre); Sweet
Charity (Royal Exchange Manchester); Anna Nicole (ROH/BAM).
Lighting is by Mark
Henderson and sound by Paul
Groothius and Tom
Marshall.
Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact kate.evans@rsc.org.uk 01789 412622
For
press tickets please contact dean.asker@rsc.org.uk 01789 412660
To
book tickets call 01789 331111 or online at www.rsc.org.uk
The
Boy in the Dress is supported by RSC Production Circle members Elizabeth
Boissevain and Andrew Jeffreys, Charles Holloway, Ms Teresa Tsai and Kathleen
J. Yoh
The
work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by The Drue and
H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
The RSC
Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
and The Kovner Foundation
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