The Original Theatre Company is delighted to announce that, due to popular demand, its production of Torben Betts’s critically acclaimed INVINCIBLE will tour the UK for a second time, directed by Stephen Darcy. The 2017 tour will open at Royal & Derngate in Northampton on 24 January 2017.
Alastair Whatley, Emily Bowker and Graham Brookes will reprise the roles of Oliver, Emily and Alan respectively. Elizabeth Boag joins the 2017 tour as Dawn.
Artistic Director of The Original Theatre Company, Alastair Whatley, said of the second UK tour:
“We are delighted to be taking Invincible back on the road in 2017. Torben’s state of the nation comedy reached out to audiences across the UK in 2016 with his vision of a nation divided, cleft in two down the Watford Gap. We look forward to navigating the play through post Brexit Britain in 2017.”
With the recession biting hard, Emily and Oliver have decided to downsize and shift their middle-class London lifestyle to a small town in the north of England. One night, they open their doors to their next door neighbours, Dawn and Alan. Over the course of a disastrous evening of olives, anchovies, Karl Marx and abstract art, class and culture collide, resulting in consequences that are both tragic and hilarious.
INVINCIBLE had its world premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond in 2014 and transferred later that same year to St James Theatre, London. Invencible, a Spanish version of INVINCIBLE, has just begun a nine-month tour of Spain, starring Spanish film actress Maribel Verdu.
Torben Betts was born in Lincolnshire and studied at Liverpool University. He became the resident dramatist at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1999. Poet and dramatist Liz Lochhead said Betts “is just about the most original and extraordinary writer of drama we have.” His play The Unconquered won Best New Play 2006/07 at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland. 2015 saw a revival of his acclaimed 2012 play Muswell Hill at London’s Park Theatre, his latest work, What Falls Apart, opened at Newcastle’s Live Theatre, and his version of Chekhov’s The Seagull was staged at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. In February 2016, Betts adapted Get Carter for Northern Stage in Newcastle.
INVINCIBLE is designed by Victoria Spearing, with lighting by Andy Purves and sound by Max Pappenheim. The national tour is produced by Tom Hackney for The Original Theatre Company, Adrian Grady for Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and Ghostlight Theatre Production (a Bob and Co Company).
Photography by Manuel Harlan
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Thelma Ruby is no ordinary 91 year old. With over 60 years spent on stage, treading the boards with the likes of Orson Welles, Dame Judi Dench, Chaim Topol and many more, this luminary entertainer is sure to surprise and delight audiences with her return to the King’s Head Theatre on Valentine’s Day.
An evening of songs, sketches, dance and dazzling entertainment, Thelma Ruby’s one-woman show ‘That’s Entertainment’ tells the story of her remarkable life in the spotlight, with tales to make you laugh, cry and hide behind your hands.
Thelma says:
‘It’s delightful to be celebrating Valentine’s Day at the King’s Head Theatre. When they first asked me to perform my one-woman show last summer, little did I know I’d be playing to packed out houses and that they were going to ask me back! It’s turned out to be one of the loveliest jobs of my career.’
Superstar Thelma was born in Leeds in 1926 and trained as an actress in New York during World War Two. From entertaining wounded troops in hospitals in wartime to starring in Chimes at Midnight with Orson Welles, she has lived a glittering life on and off stage and for one night only is returning to The King’s Head to recount her tales. This will be one Valentine’s Day you won’t forget in a hurry.
