Feed The Beast - New Wolsey Theatre

Feed The Beast

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New Wolsey Theatre - Feed The Beast Trailer

New Wolsey Theatre - Interview With Peter Rowe

New Wolsey Theatre - Interview With Gerald Kyd

New Wolsey Theatre - Interview With Kacey Ainsworth

New Wolsey Theatre - Feed The Beast Teaser Trailer

A poster for the new drama Feed The Beast

Presented by The New Wolsey Theatre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre

From the award-winning writer of the highly acclaimed BBC programmes, Sherlock and Doctor Who, Feed The Beast is a fiercely funny look at the rocky relations between our press and politicians.

Michael is moving into Number 10 Downing Street and there will be no charm offensives with this Prime MInister, not with a country to run, a welfare state to reform and vested interests to confront. But when his family's private life looks set to be the next big story, Michael's ruthless young press secretary tells him there's only one way to handle the Media: "Feed the beast before it turns on you".

Can Michael keep politics and policies centre stage or will he, himself, finally become the story?

As traditional political loyalties splinter, and the country's future is in the balance, Steve Thompson's new drama asks whether a good man can be a good politician . Or do we get the politicians, and the Press, that we deserve?


Cast & Creatives

Gerald Kyd — Michael Goodlad

Gerald’s film credits include “Legacy” for Black Camel Pictures, directed by Thomas Ikimi, “The Defender” for Lucky Seven directed by Dolph Lundgren, “Tombraider II” for Paramount directed by Jan De Bont and “Principles of Lust” for Channel 4 directed by Penny Woolcock.

Gerald’s television credits include, “Sherlock” for the BBC, “The Bible” for the History Channel, “The Midnight Beast” for Warp Films, “Persons Unknown” for Fox TV, “Casualty” for BBC, “All in the Game” for Channel 4, “Brief Encounters” for BBC, “The New Professional” and “Underworld” for Hatrick.

Theatre includes “Three Winters” for the National Theatre, “Richard III” for Trafalgar Studios, “Little Black Book” for Park Theatre, “Children of the Sun” for National Theatre, “55 Days” for Hampstead Theatre, “The Real Thing” for West Yorkshire Playhouse, “The Cherry Orchard” for National Theatre, “The Years Between” for Royal Theatre Northampton, “This much is True” for Theatre 503, “Blood and Gifts” for National Theatre, “The Seagull” for the RSC, “The Three Musketeers” for Bristol Old Vic, “Conversations in Havana” for Oran Mor, “Revelation” for Hampstead Theatre, “Edward II” for The Globe, “Richard II” for The Globe, “Deathtrap” for P.W Productions, “Love’s Labours Lost” for English Touring Thetare, “Prophet in Exile” for Chelsea Centre, “Ramayana” for Birmingham Rep, “Cyrano de Bergerac” for the RSC, “The Local Stigmatic” for Lyric Studio London.

Tristram Wymark — Clive / Anthony

Tristram trained at Central School of Speech and Drama.

Television Credits Include: Lucan, (ITV); Call The Midwife, (BBC); EastEnders, (BBC); Midsomer Murders, (Bentley Productions); Getting Out Alive, (Raw Television); Hollyoaks, (Lime Productions); Joe’s Palace, (Talkback Thames/BBC); Hustle, (Kudos); Nuclear Race, (BBC); Ghost Ship, (Yorkshire Television); Kavanagh QC, (Central Television); Sharpe, (Carlton); Jenny’s War, (HTV); Thin Air, (BBC); Victoria Wood Play, (BBC); Haggard, (Yorkshire Television); Mrs Warren’s Profession, (BBC)

Theatre Credits Include: This May Hurt A Bit (Out of Joint); Cause Clebre, (Old Vic); Pygmalion, (Chichester Festival Theatre); David Copperfield, (Mercury Theatre); The Fastest Clock in the Universe, (Naach Theatre); Nothing, (East 57th St Theatre); David Copperfield, (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Hamlet, (Barbican/Thelma Holt No1 Tour); The Tempest, (Barbican/Thelma Holt No1 Tour); Semi-Munde, (Lyric Theatre); Lady Windemere’s Fan, (Apollo); Midsummer Night’s Dream, (New Shakespeare Company)

For the National Theatre; The Collaborators, Phedre, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, Anna’s Room, The Duchess of Malfi, The Critic

For Glasgow Citizens Theatre; The Wild Sargasso Sea, The Tempest, The Cherry Orchard, Dance of Death, Mozart’s Nachtmusik, Two Way Mirror, Pal Joey, Macbeth, The Millionairess, Widower’s House, Hamlet, The Bar of a Tokyo Hotel,‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Phaedra, A Tale of Two Cities, Enrico IV, Mrs Warren’s Profession

Film Credits Include; The Black Prince, The Cold Room, Good and Bad at Games, Another Country

Kacey Ainsworth — Sally / Leader of the House of Commons

Kacey’s film credits include “Topsy Turvey” for Thin Man Films, directed by Mike Leigh.

Kacey’s television credits include, ”Call the Midwife” Christmas Special for the BBC, ”Granchester” for ITV “Doctors” for the BBC, “Casualty” for the BBC, “The Wright Way” for the BBC, “Holby Blue 1&2” for the BBC, “Hotel Babylon” for BBC, “Eastenders” for BBC, “Happy Birthday Shakespeare” for BBC, “Touch And Go” for Arrowhead Productions/BBC, “The Beggar Bride” for BBC and “The Moonstone” for BBC.

Theatre includes “Loughton” at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, “Calendar Girls” National Theatre Tour 2012, “Steel Magnolias” for the Ambassadors Theatre Group, “Carrie’s War” with the Novel Theatre Company, “The Exonerated” at the Riverside Studios, “Sleep With Me” for the Royal National Theatre, “The Taming Of The Shrew” With the English Touring Theatre, “Serving It Up” for the Bush Theatre and “Pale Horse” for the Royal Court Upstairs.

 

Amy Marston — Heather / Curator of Chequers

Theatre credits include: A Small Family Business, The Children’s Hour (National Theatre); Stepping Out (Salisbury Playhouse); Man in the Middle (Theatre503); Don John (BAC/ Kneehigh); Humble Boy (Northampton Theatre Royal); Enlightenment (Abbey, Dublin); After Mrs Rochester (Shared Experience); Henna Night, Sitting Pretty (Chelsea Theatre); Ghost Train Tattoo, Snake in a Fridge, Snapshots, Unidentified Human Remains (Manchester Royal Exchange); Eurydice (Whitehall Theatre).

Television credits include: DCI Banks (Left Bank/ ITV); New Worlds (Company Productions/Channel 4); Frozen Addicts (Wide Eyed Productions); Unforgettable Amnesiac (Dr Wide Eyed Productions); Toast (Ruby Films); Consuming Passions, He Knew He Was Right, Judge John Deed, The Adventures of Tom Jones, Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Over Here, Between the Lines, Bottom (BBC); Rome (HBO); Jericho, Kingdom, The Last Detective (ITV); Man/Woman (Talkback Productions);

Doc Martin (Buffalo); The Final Quest, Heartbeat, The Black Velvet Band (Yorkshire TV); Where the Heart Is (Anglia TV); Hello Girls (BBC/ Feelgood Fiction); Neverwhere (Crucial Films).

Film credits include: Personal Jesus (El Nino); Bel Ami (Redwave Films); The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Poo Poo Picture Productions); The Mascot (Eclectic Films); Charlotte Gray (Ecosse Films).

Radio credits include: Mr Spectator (BBC Radio 4); The Number of the Dead (BBC Radio 3); The Problem with Caves, The Running Lady, Couples, David Copperfield, Mr Fielding’s Scandal Shop, The Glass Wright (BBC Radio).

Paul Moriarty — Dennis the Chairman / General Hume

Paul Moriarty’s work in theatre includes, for the National,  Market Boy, Pillars of the Community, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, Macbeth, Black Snow, Murderers, As I Lay Dying, The Crucible, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War. For the RSC his work includes, King Lear, Penny for a Song, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida, Bingo, Dingo, Captain Swing, Twelfth Night and The Tempest. Other theatre includes Translations at the Leicester Curve; Nineteen Eighty-Four and Love and Money (also at the Young Vic) at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; Sus at the Young Vic; Rosmerholm, Richard II and Coriolanus at the Almeida; The Elephant Man at Sheffield Lyceum and on tour; Saved at the Abbey, Dublin; Afterbirth at the Arcola; Kingfisher Blue at the Bush; The Contractor for Oxford Stage Company; All My Sons at the Mercury, Colchester; A View From The Bridge at Sheffield Crucible; Fool for Love for ETT; Oi for England and Elizabeth I at the Royal Court, London; The Mysteries at Edinburgh Lyceum; and Serious Money (also on Broadway) and Taking Part in the West End.

His TV appearances include Ashes to Ashes, Holby City, Jack of Hearts, EastEnders, A Touch of Frost, The Knock, Murder Most Horrid, Peak Practice, Pride and Prejudice, Wycliffe, Maigret, Between the Lines, The Comic Strip Presents, The Gentle Touch, Shine on Harvey Moon, Troilus and Cressida, Saracens, South of the Border, The Bill, Paradise Club, Minder and The Sweeney. Films include Hidden Agenda.

Aimee Powell — Ellie

 

Aimee trained at Birmingham Theatre School.

Theatre credits include: Macbeth (Heartbreak Productions); The Salvagers (Tin Box Theatre Company); Arabian Nights (Blue Orange Arts); Brighton Beach Scumbags, Dracula, Macbeth, The Elephant Man, Bed, Cathy Come Home (Birmingham Theatre School); Us and Them (Letters to Eric Theatre Company).

Film credits include: Music Room (Lockwood Films); A Dream I Had (Short Night Films – winner of best short drama at the Isle of Wight Film Festival).

Aimee was named the winner of Monologue Slam at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2014.

Badria Timimi — Andrea / Priscilla

Badria trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Theatre includes: Titus Andronicus, A Mad World, My Masters and Candide (all for Royal Shakespeare Company), The House of Bernarda Alba (Almeida Theatre), Tales From The Harrow Road (Soho Theatre), Birth of a Nation (Royal Court), The War Next Door (Tricycle Theatre), The Eleventh Minute (Royal Court), 1001 Nights Now (Northern Stage)

Television includes: Hollyoaks (Lime Pictures), D.C.I. Banks (Left Bank Pictures for ITV), Killing Jesus (National Geographic/Scott Free), Drifters II (Bwark Productions), Whitechapel IV (Carnival Film & Television), Law & Order (Kudos for ITV), The Shadow Line (Company Pictures), The Little House (ITV), Doctors (BBC), Holby City (BBC), The Fixer (Kudos), Generation Kill (Company Pictures), The House of Saddam (BBC TV/ HBO), The Bill (Fremantle), Trial and Retribution (La Plante Prods), Prime Suspect (Granada),  Secret Smile (Granada), Silent Witness (BBC), Afterlife (ITV), Murder Prevention (World Productions Ltd), Spooks (Kudos), The Grid (BBC), Messiah III (BBC), Walking With Cavemen (BBC), Casualty (BBC) and I Saw You (Granada).

Film includes: Syriana (Warner Bros) and Pusher (Pusher Productions).

Radio includes: Mr Acoustic Tries To Fall In Love, On The Rob, One Night In Winter, Promenade Rock, City of Victory, The Interview, Immigration Stories, The Eleventh Minute and Baghdad Burning (all for the BBC).

Shaun Mason — Scott / Robert

Shaun’s theatre credits include: Peter Pan, Cinderella (Liverpool Empire) Macbeth, Billy Wonderful (Liverpool Everyman) Clockwork Orange (Glasgow Citizens Theatre) Macbeth, Midsummers Night Dream, Council Depot Blues and Stags and Hens (Royal Court, Liverpool) Sink Or Swim (Spike Theatre) In Wonderland, Bright Phoenix, Tiny Volcanoes (Everyword Festival) Grotesque Chaos (Nabakov) Snow White, 4 Girls And A Caravan, Night Collar, Cinderella, The Salon, Aladdin (St Helens Theatre Royal) When I wake up I want to be Famous (Fuse Theatre) Blackberry Troutface (Twenty Stories High) Gods’ Gift, King of Edge Hill, Your Breath in the Air, and Of Mice and Men (Unity, Liverpool).

Shaun was recently a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company – Credits include: Take Me To Hope Street, As You Like It, Once And Future King, Christmas Carol, A Steal, The Sound Of Roses, Whom The Bell Tolls, The Hot Kid, Love Songs Of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Rivals, and Havana Quartet.

Television Credits include: Cilla, Luther, Moving On, Scott and Bailey, The Accused, Good Cop, Line Of Duty, Shameless, Brookside, Three Minute Wonder.

Film Credits include: Kelly and Victor, Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World, The Crew, Death Defying Acts, Revenger’s Tragedy, The Pool, 3 minute wonder.

Shaun has also worked on new writing development with Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, Paines Plough, and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres.


Reviews of Feed The Beast

What the press say


Feed The Beast gives us a witty and insightful insight into the battles inside our political and media institutions. Our politicians may now shy away from ever being this honest and it’s unlikely we’ll ever know how accurate a representation this is but as a piece of entertainment it’s certainly a vote winner.

Glen Pearce, The Public Reviews

With politics likely to remain the talking point for many weeks to come, the opportunity to see an intelligent and entertaining play about what we want from our leaders, is something worth seeking out.

Andrew Clarke, EADT

Any exhaustion you may feel for the finger pointing and political posturing recently on display should not dissuade anyone from going to see this very funny and highly entertaining production.

Steve Hawthorne

What the public say

Awful show - we left half way through. I expect a comedy to be entertaining, humorous and ideally a little unpredictable. Feed the Beast is none of these - just endless shouting and swearing with very little humour or comedy. The acting was OK but the single plot line is entirely predictable and checking a couple of online reviews in the intermission confirmed my fears that the second half was just more of the same with a totally predictable ending. We left at that point, feeling rather depressed. I expect more from a comedy - Pluck, Little Shop of Horrors and dozens of other shows have impressed us at the Wolsey, but avoid this disappointing mess...

Paul Skirrow

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