Haunted - Jessie Wallace heads cast
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
JESSIE Wallace will head the cast of Jon Claydon and Tim Lawler’s debut play, Haunted, which receives its world premiere at the Arts Theatre where it runs for a limited season – from May 21 to June 14, 2008.
Five guests attend a dinner party at a chi-chi loft apartment in Southwark, south London. As the evening progresses, things begin to unravel and a sixth character becomes apparent – the house itself. Is it haunted? And is the lift in the living room a portal to evil spirits?
Wallace is, of course, best known for her portrayal of Kat Slater in the popular BBC soap EastEnders, a role she played for five years and for which she won two National Television Awards – Most Popular Newcomer (2001) and Most Popular Actress (2003). Her subsequent television credits include A Class Apart, The Dinner Party, Miss Marie Lloyd – Queen of the Music Hall and Wild at Heart.
And only last December, she made her West End debut in the musical Rent, taking over the role of Maureen from Denise Van Outen.
Joining her in the cast of Haunted will be Gary McDonald (Market Boy, TV’s EastEnders, The Dream Team); Hamish Clark (Donkeys’ Years, TV’s Monarch of the Glen); Caroline Catz (Shopping and Fucking, Dog’s Barking, TV’s Doc Martin, The Vice); and Sue Devaney (The Wind in the Willows, TV’s Dinner Ladies, Casualty).
Haunted, which is described as a terrifying new play, will be directed by Paul Jepson (Telstar); designed by Tim Shortall (Whipping It Up, See How They Run, Telstar); and produced by Alon Shulman for Only Hope Productions.
Tickets: Tuesday to Thursday evenings – £20, £13.50 concessions; Friday and Saturday – £25, £16.50 concessions.
Time: 7:30pm.
Also at the Arts Theatre – on Friday, June 13 (4pm), Saturday, June 14 (3pm) and Sunday, June 15 (5pm), 2008 – is Terje Vigen: The Musical, a multimedia musical based on Henrik Ibsen’s poem Terje Vigen which, in turn, is based on a real character and events in 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars.
Tickets: £30, £25.
For more information call the box office on 0844 847 1608 or visit the website.