The Silver Gym - Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THIS Spring, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is presenting the world premiere of The Silver Gym. Described as a rip-roaring new comedy written by and starring Olivier Award-winning actress Nichola McAuliffe, it runs from April 15 to May 7, 2016.
Ex-Army captain Stella Silver is starting afresh and has just bought herself a gym. Well, it’s a building. With running water. Sometimes. Stella’s regulars are mostly in the autumn of their years, they don’t know their bench presses from their bus passes, dumbbells from digestives. The will is there but in the way is a good cup of tea and the desire to have a laugh.
Enter a crew of dodgy developers trying to get their hands on the place in their drive to make a fast buck. Faced with this bunch of unscrupulous cowboys, can Stella get it together to whip the gym and her motley crew into shape?
Playwright and actress Nichola McAuliffe has worked extensively on both stage and screen, winning an Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role in the musical Kiss Me Kate. She is well known as Sheila Sabatini in ITV’s Surgical Spirit and has appeared on Coronation Street.
Her high-profile TV and film credits include the Bond classic Tomorrow Never Dies, Doctor Who and the hugely popular comedy My Family. She has also worked alongside Martin Sheen and Michelle Pfeiffer, written several plays and is a successful novelist and journalist.
Joining her in The Silver Gym are actress and stand-up comedienne Pauline Daniels, Susan Aderin, Suzanna Bygrave, Kim Ismay (star of the West End’s Mamma Mia!), Houmi Miura, Carol Sloman and Peter Straker. And there will be a vocal cameo by entertainment icon Christopher Biggins.
Pauline Daniels is an award-winning actress and comedienne who has performed across the UK and West End including at The London Palladium. TV viewers will know Daniels from her time as Maria in Brookside and her many other appearances which include Bread and Wogan.
The Silver Gym is directed by Glen Walford, who has an international reputation as a wonderfully inventive theatre-maker. At the Queen’s, she directed a critically-acclaimed production of Women on the Verge of HRT and a casino-inspired Merchant of Venice. She has also worked around the world on a wide variety of projects – from Shakespeare in Kyoto to HMS Pinafore in California.
The Silver Gym is designed by Amy Yardley, with musical direction by Carol Sloman and lighting design by Mark Jonathan.
Tickets: £12.50 – £27 – available from the box office on 01708 443333 or online at queens-theatre.co.uk/.
Times: Evenings at 8pm; matinees (April 21 and 30) at 2.30pm; Press Performance Night (April 18) at 7.30pm.
NB: Hornchurch is easy to get to on The District Line.