Boeing-Boeing - Jean Marsh takes on Bertha
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ON OCTOBER 1, 2007, Emmy award-winning actress Jean Marsh will join the cast of Boeing-Boeing as Bernard’s long-suffering housekeeper Bertha, the role currently being played by Rhea Perlman.
Marsh is probably best known for her Emmy award-winning portrayal of parlour maid Rose in the hugely popular series Upstairs Downstairs, which she co-created with Eileen Atkins. Her other extensive television credits include The House of Elliott (which she also co-created with Atkins), Bremner, Bird and Fortune, Sensitive Skin and the forthcoming Sense and Sensibility.
Her theatre credits include The Old Country (Trafalgar Studios), On the Rocks (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Hamlet (Oxford Playhouse and West End); as well as Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, Uncle Vanya, Twelfth Night and Whose Life is it Anyway? (all on Broadway).
On the big screen, she has appeared in Cleopatra, Frenzy, The Eagle Has Landed, Fatherland and The Heavy.
Previously Posted: Matthew Warchus’ critically acclaimed production of Boeing-Boeing has extended its booking period at the West End’s Comedy Theatre until January 5, 2008. And from October 1, 2007, Jennifer Ellison and Tracy-Ann Oberman will join the cast.
In Marc Camoletti’s 1961 French comedy, Bernard, a successful architect living in Paris, has an insatiable appetite for beautiful women. His three girlfriends are air hostesses working for different airlines, and each believes she is his one true love.
To ensure they never meet, Bernard has devised a sophisticated timetable so they can each spend the night at his apartment whenever they stop over in Paris. Everything proceeds like clockwork, thanks to the assistance of Bertha, Bernard’s long suffering and faithful housekeeper – until the arrival of the new ‘Super (fast) Boeing’ which changes the airline schedules and leaves Bernard with a lot of explaining to do!
And with the arrival of his old school friend Robert, mayhem and matchmaking ensue…..
Ellison, who began her television career playing Emily in C4’s long running soap Brookside, will play American air hostess Gloria. Her other television credits include New Street Law and Hotel Babylon. On stage, she has appeared in Chicago (as Roxie Hart), both in the West End and on tour; while her film work includes The Cottage and The Phantom of the Opera (as Meg Giry).
Oberman will play German air hostess Gretchen. Although probably best known as EastEnders‘ Chrissie Watts, the murdering wife of Den, she has also appeared in Sorted, Doctor Who, Where The Heart Is, Happiness and Kiss Me Kate (TV); and The Early Days, Killing Time and Hope Machine (film).
Her theatre credits include Edmond (National Theatre), The Oak Tree and School Play (Soho Theatre), Loot and Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Chichester Festival Theatre), Love for Love (Hampstead Theatre), and The Changeling, The Beggar’s Opera and Macbeth (Royal Shakespeare Company).
Elena Roger will continue in the role of Italian air hostess Gabriella and Neil Stuke as Bernard’s old school chum Robert. Further casting will be announced shortly.
The current cast includes Adrian Dunbar, Doon Mackichan, Amy Nuttall, Rhea Perlman, Elena Roger and Neil Stuke. Kevin McNally will play Bernard from September 3 to September 29, 2007.
Read more
Translated by Beverley Cross from Camoletti’s original, Matthew Warchus’ production of Boeing-Boeing opened at the Comedy Theatre in February 2007. Designed by Rob Howell, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone, original music by Claire van Kampen, sound by Simon Baker and a curtain call devised by Bruno Tonioli, it is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, Act Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert G Bartner and Bob Boyett.