WHERE will you find a former Hollyoaks star, drama queen and comedy actress engaging in some very racy behaviour in Bolton?
While it might sound scandalous, it is all in the name of art!
The trio of James Atherton, Taj Atwal and Gemma Dobson have been cast in the Octagon Theatre’s forth coming production of Rita, Sue and Bob Too.
It is a chance for people to see the revival of the 1982 cult-classic comedy about two teenage friends who embark on an affair with a married man.
Running from September 6 to 23, it stars James in the title role of serial cheater Bob.
James is best known to television audiences as killer Will Savage in Hollyoaks as well as recently playing Jamie Bowman in Coronation Street.
Joining him is Taj known from Stella on Sky, and Kay Mellors’ In The Club on BBC1. Atwal’s co-star from In The Club, Gemma, will make her professional stage debut as Sue.
Returning to the Octagon after her role in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is Sally Bankes – playing Sue’s mother - who has also appeared in four productions for the RSC and worked with Taj Atwal in the West End production of East is East. She has extensive comedy and drama television credits.
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All aboard for a magical new season of shows at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Samantha Robinson plays Bob’s wife Michelle and has previously played Rita in Educating Rita at Colchester Mercury, and has performed for Northern Broadsides, West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Bush, Bristol Old Vic and elsewhere. Her many TV credits include Cilla.
David Walker – Sue’s father - has appeared in Emmerdale, The Royal and Coronation Street, and on stage most recently in Hangmen in the West End.
More about the production:
Rite, Sue and Bob Too is a co-production with Octagon Theatre, Out of Joint and The Royal Court Theatre, the production will open in Bolton in September and then tour the UK until February 2018.
Max Stafford-Clark directed the premiere of Rita Sue and Bob Too in 1982 at the Royal Court and returns to direct this production.
It is Andrea Dunbar’s second and most famous play, written when she was just 19. She was 15 when she wrote her first.
Max said: “When Andrea wrote her first two plays, she was a teenager from a rough council estate who’d never been to the theatre.
“Now, thirty five years after its premiere, Rita Sue and Bob Too takes its place in the Octagon and Royal Court’s seasons in the role of Classic Play.
“It’s one of the privileges of my career that Andrea’s astute, fresh and funny writing reached my desk, and it is exciting to bring her vivid, albeit alarming world to life again with these fine actors.”
Written with wicked humour and ear for dialogue, Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a startling and insightful portrait of working class teenage girls in the early years of Thatcher’s Britain.
It was inspired by Dunbar’s own life on Bradford’s Buttershaw estate. The play spawned a popular film directed by Alan Clark, featuring Lesley Sharp.
Interested? You can book your seats for the show here.
Artistic Director of Octagon Theatre Bolton Elizabeth Newman adds: “We are delighted to be making this exciting revival of Andrea Dunbar’s powerful and provocative Rita, Sue and Bob Too.
“We have a long standing relationship working with Max and are thrilled to once again be partnering with Out of Joint and the Royal Court to produce this story which is still very relevant our audiences over 30 years after it was first performed.”
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