Cast Announced For Nell Gwynn, Silver Lining

English Touring Theatre’s Artistic Director Richard Twyman today announces full casting for the tours of Jessica Swale’s Olivier Award-winning Nell Gwynn and the world première of Sandi Toksvig’s Silver Lining.

Jessica Swale’s warm-hearted, bawdy bio-drama (winner of 2016 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy) tells the story of an unlikely heroine, who went from lowly orange seller to win the adoration of the public and the heart of the King.

Joining the previously announced Laura Pitt-Pulford in Nell Gwynn, are Esh Alladi (Edward Kynaston), Nicholas Bishop (John Dryden), Pandora Clifford (Lady Castlemaine / Louise de Keroualle), Thea Collings (Ensemble), Michael Cochrane (Lord Arlington), Phillipa Flynn (Ensemble), Clive Hayward (Thomas Killigrew), Jack Helsby (Ensemble), Joanne Howarth (Queen Catherine / Old Ma Gwynn), Pepter Lunkuse (Rose Gwynn), George Jennings (Ned Spigget), Sam Marks (Charles Hart), Ben Righton (Charles II), Mossie Smith (Nancy) and Leon Stewart (Ensemble). It opens at the Lowry in Salford before performances at Theatre Royal Brighton, Malvern Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Hall for Cornwall, The Grand Blackpool, Edinburgh King’s Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath.

Also announced today is the final cast member for English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston’s world première production of Sandi Toksvig’s Silver Lining. Theo Toksvig makes his professional stage debut, having graduated from Drama Centre last year, and completes the company, joining the previously announced Rachel Davies, Kezia Josephs, Maggie McCarthy, Joanna Munro, Sheila Reid and Amanda Walker. It opens on 8 February at Rose Theatre Kingston before touring to New Theatre Royal Portsmouth, Oxford Playhouse, Cambridge Arts Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, Theatre by the Lake, York Theatre Royal and the Lowry.

On one dark and stormy night in the upper day room of the Silver Retirement Home, five elderly ladies are trading stories of their remarkable lives. With the storm floods rising and no rescue team in sight, the ladies are faced with the sudden realisation that in order to survive they are going to have to do what they have done for their entire lives – do it themselves!

Silver Lining is the new comedy by Sandi Toksvig. It tells the tale of five extraordinary yet forgotten women, who come together one treacherous night to recreate The Great Escape – senior citizen style!