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8th - 17th March, 7.30pm Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson by Chris England Directed by Chris Parnell |
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By common consent, the performance of the England rugby team in the 2011 World Cup was dire, and their off-field antics deplorable. The contrast between that and the team’s excellent efforts in the triumphal 2003 World Cup campaign is stark. Chris England, author of the long-running West-End hit An Evening With Gary Lineker, also a considerable success for Medway Little Theatre, has written this play which returns us to one of the greatest days of English sporting triumph - November 22 2003, when the England team triumphed over Australia to lift the Webb Ellis trophy for the first time in history. The play is set largely in the bar of a small-time provincial rugby club, somewhere in England, where the club chairman is expecting a large crowd in to watch the final live on television. The large crowd never materialises, for reasons that become clear as the plot is revealed. The few that do turn up, however, have preoccupations of their own, quite apart from the on-screen action. The club is in political meltdown as Dave, the chairman, played here by MLT stalwart Paul Tomkies, most recently seen as the hapless puppeteer Bernard in Season’s Greetings, faces a challenge to his leadership from the brash Aussie 1st XV coach, Matt, played by Mike Dickinson (Blue Remembered Hills, The Graduate, Private Lives). Meanwhile, the Ladies XV captain, played by Jess Hayhow, graduate from the MLT Youth section and seen in her second adult section role, following her conspicuous success in the recent production of As You Like It, and the First XV captain Nigel (Mark Kitchener, the Bishop in See How They Run) have their own problems to work through. Romance is in the air too, for the club’s star player Jake, played here by new member Stuart Wilson. The cast is completed by Jules Doe, (Season’s Greetings, Single Spies, AYLI) as glamorous Australian temptress Lena and Allister Kay (The Graduate, My Boy Jack) as cynical Guardian newspaper reporter Exley, a role that was taken by the play’s author in the first production in 2006 at the Menier Chocolate factory. First-time Director Chris Parnell has appeared in Blue Remembered Hills, Quartet, Art, The Weir, Mr Wonderful, The Graduate, Single Spies and, most recently, Abigail’s Party. Although the result of the match is already known, this hilarious comedy promises to warm the cockles of the audience’s heart and allow them to leave the theatre with that feeling of satisfaction of justice seen to be done in every possible way! Please note: this play contains strong language and some scenes of semi-nudity.
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Box Office 01634 400322 or book online
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