Touring production will honour Worthing dates despite blaze which destroyed the set

A revival of a poignant play about mother-daughter relationships will go ahead despite a devastating fire.
Felicity Houlbrooke as RosieFelicity Houlbrooke as Rosie
Felicity Houlbrooke as Rosie

On New Year’s Eve a blaze destroyed the entire set of the touring production by London Classic Theatre of Charlotte Keatley’s My Mother Said I Never Should.

But the tour will continue as planned.

It plays Worthing’s Connaught Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19 and 20.

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Kathryn Ritchie returns to play Jackie Metcalfe and will be joined by Rebecca Birch (Rosie Metcalfe), Lisa Burrows (Margaret Bradley) and Judith Paris (Doris Partington). Artistic director of LCT Michael Cabot directs the production, which tours to a further 14 venues in 2019.

Set in Manchester, Oldham and London, My Mother Said I Never Should is a poignant, bittersweet story about love, jealousy and the price of freedom. The play details the lives of four women through the immense social changes of the 20th century. Using a kaleidoscopic time structure, Charlotte Keatley’s story focuses on four generations of one family as they confront the most significant moments of their lives.

Keatley is an award-winning playwright and My Mother Said I Never Should is the most widely performed play ever written by a woman, having now been translated or produced in 31 countries from Japan to Peru. Other credits include The Iron Serpent, An Armenian Childhood, Waiting for Martin, Fears and Miseries in the Third Term, The Ringing Singing Tree, The Sleep of Reason, Our Father and I am Janet.

Rebecca Birch plays Rosie Metcalfe. Her theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lyric Hammersmith/UK tour), Pygmalion and The Master Builder (Chichester Festival Theatre).

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Lisa Burrows plays Margaret Bradley. For the company her credits include Love in the Title and Absent Friends. Her other theatre credits include Drowning on Dry Land and Humble Boy with the National Theatre.

Judith Paris plays Doris Partington. For the company her credits include The Importance of Being Earnest. Her other theatre credits include As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Theatre) and television credits including Doctor Who and A Touch of Frost.

Kathryn Ritchie plays Jackie Metcalfe. For the company her credits include After Miss Julie and Absent Friends. Her other theatre credits include Tess of the D’Urbervilles (UK tour) and Measure for Measure (Courtyard Theatre).

Michael Cabot is the founder and artistic director of London Classic Theatre. He has directed all thirty-nine LCT productions since their debut in 1993 including Private Lives, Hysteria, The Birthday Party, Betrayal, The Importance of Being Earnest and After Miss Julie. He has overseen the company’s rise to become one of the UK’s leading touring companies.

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London Classic Theatre was launched in 2000 as a touring theatre company with David Mamet’s Oleanna and is now an established part of the commercial UK touring theatre scene.

Tickets for My Mother Said I Never Should are available on 01903 206206 and online at http://worthingtheatres.co.uk.

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