Betty Blue Eyes - New Wolsey Theatre

Betty Blue Eyes

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2014 Tour Trailer

A Mercury Colchester, Liverpool Playhouse & Everyman, Salisbury Playhouse and West Yorkshire Playhouse production

The regional premiere of the smash-hit musical comedy.

Book by/ Ron Cowen & Daniel Lipman
Music and Lyrics by/ George Stiles & Anthony Drewe
Based on the Handmade film 'A Private Function'

Adapted from the screenplay by Alan Bennett

Originally produced in London by Cameron Mackintosh it’s fair shares for all in Alan Bennett’s take on Austerity Britain, but Gilbert and Joyce Chilvers are still struggling to bring home the bacon.

The only light on the horizon is a private function to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. When their invitation fails to arrive, Gilbert and Joyce resolve to get their share of the banquet’s illegal pork roast!

Betty Blue Eyes was nominated for the Olivier Award’s Best New Musical in 2011. This production is licensed by Josef Weinberger Ltd on behalf of Music Theatre International and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.

"A new smash-hit musical is born" - The Times
"This is a sensational show" - News Of The World


Cast & Creatives

Amy Booth Steel — Joyce Chilvers

Haydn Oakley — Gilbert Chilvers

Sally Mates — Mother Dear

Laura Baldwin — Veronica

Adam C Booth — Mr Lockwood / Mr Barraclough

Ricky Butt — Mrs Allardyce / Mrs Tillbrook

Rebecca Louis — Mrs Metcalf

Kate Robson-Stuart — Mrs Lester / Princess Elizabeth

Kate completed an MA in English Lit and Music at Glasgow University before going on to drama training at Guildford School of Acting.

Theatre Credits include: Blonde (Rada Festival); Crazy For You (UK Tour);  Ragtime (Charing Cross Theatre), The Likes of us (Workshop, Howard Panter Ltd.), Untold Stories (Watermill Theatre), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Sherman Theatre), Annie Get Your Gun (Theatre at the Mill), Much Ado About Nothing (Stafford Gatehouse), A Christmas Carol (Derby Theatre), Betty Blue Eyes (West Yorkshire Playhouse/UK Tour), Little Voice (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), Love, Lies and Lust (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), Craig Revel Horwood's Strictly Confidential (UK Tour), The Spring Season at the Queens Theatre Hornchurch 2012 which included Satin & Steel, Can't Pay Won't Pay, The Merchant Of Venice and Peter Pan, Chess (UK Tour and Toronto), Macbeth and Ajax (Riverside Studios), Cinderella (King’s Theatre, Glasgow), Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Landor Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice) and The Pajama Game (Union Theatre).

Kate has also worked with a variety of music artists in the UK as both a vocalist and violinist.  She co-wrote the 2013 Edinburgh Festival hit play, 'From where I'm standing', for Delirium Theatre Company.

Oliver Izod — BBC Announcer / Mr Nuttall

Joe Maxwell — Mr Metcalf / Prince Phillip

Tobias Beer — Mr Wormold

Jenni Bowden — Mrs Turnbull / Mrs Cuncliffe

Rachel Knowles — Mrs Lockwood / Mrs Roach

Lauren Logan — Kit / Betty Puppeteer

Matt Harrop — Mr Allardyce

Kit Benjamin — Dr Swaby

Anthony Ray — Mr Atlee / Sergeant Noble / Reg Bowen / Mr Sutcliffe

Daniel Buckroyd — Director

Andrew Wright — Choreographer

Richard Reeday — Musical Director

Sara Perks — Designer

Mark Dymock — Lighting Designer

Credits include: Kiss me Quickstep, Once, Rope. (New Wolsey Theatre);The Wisdom Club, (Theatre Royal BSE); Jack and the Beanstalk (Derby Arena); Soldier On (The Other Palace); Ken (Terry Johnson, Pleasance); Revenants (Pleasance, Kenwright); Measure for Measure, Alice In Wonderland, Loves Labours Lost (GSC); Dell Computers Gala (Buenos Aires); Kiss Me Quickstep, Haunting Julia, Roll Over Beethoven, Don’t Look Now (OFFIE nominated for Best Lighting Design), Return to the Forbidden Planet, Godspell, The Merchant Of Venice, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!, They’re Playing Our Song, Jack And The Beanstalk, Cinderella, Ladies Down Under, The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband (Queen’s Theatre); Cathy (Soho Theatre); East (Brighton Theatre Royal and Festival); Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin (Evolution); Meena and the Masala Queens (Rifco tour); Northanger Abbey (Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal Tour); Clybourne Park (Regional premiere tour); Return to the Forbidden Planet (25th Anniversary Tour); Cathy (Cardboard Citizens tour); Betty Blue Eyes (Regional premiere tour); Michael Morpurgo's Butterfly Lion (Kenwright, National Tour); Snow White, Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows, James and the Giant Peach, Noises Off, Friend or Foe, The History Boys, The Hired Man (Mercury Theatre); House and Garden, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Arabian Nights, Treasure Island, Wind in the Willows (Watermill); The Deranged Marriage, MummyJi Presents, Break The Floorboards and Happy Birthday Sunita (Rifco and Watford Palace); Walking the Chains (Bristol Temple Meads Passenger Shed); The Full Monty, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Oliver!,(Bermuda City Hall); working with Willy Russell on Educating Rita, Breezeblock Park(Liverpool Playhouse); Shirley Valentine (Royal Court Liverpool); Farm Boy, The Hired Man, Kissing Sid James (New York E59).

Adam McCready — Sound Designer

Anne Vosser — Casting Director

Mary Howland — Dialect Coach

Rebecca Louis — Assistant Choreographer


Reviews of Betty Blue Eyes

What the press say


musical theatre perfection

The Public Reviews

Betty Blue Eyes is like eating a hot bacon sandwich the morning after the night before.

In Suffolk

Betty Blue Eyes is a laugh-out-loud evening of entertainment

Essential Suffolk

What the public say

Loved this show - bright and so well performed. Perfect for pensioners who like to go to the matinees -there are a lot of us these days! We like a 'real' story with a beginning, middle and end.

Barbara Allen

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