The Birthday Party - New Wolsey Theatre

The Birthday Party

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Presented by London Classic Theatre

By Harold Pinter

“There’s a gentleman living here. He’s got a birthday today, and he’s forgotten all about it. So we’re going to remind him. We’re going to give him a party.”

A shabby boarding house in a small English seaside town. An elderly couple take care of a solitary guest, who rarely ventures out. The arrival of two enigmatic strangers seems to offer a welcome distraction from their mundane existence. But when an impromptu, seemingly innocent birthday party abruptly turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse, there are horrifying repercussions.

By turns, cryptic thriller and macabre comedy, The Birthday Party was Harold Pinter’s first major work and is among the most unusual and absorbing of his plays. London Classic Theatre presents the first significant touring revival of the twenty-first century, promising to bring this ground-breaking classic to fresh and exhilarating life.

‘A consistently impressive touring company’
The Stage


Cast & Creatives

Jonathon Ashley — Goldberg

Jonathan Ashley - Goldberg
Training: Webber Douglas Academy.
For London Classic Theatre: Waiting for Godot, Entertaining Mr Sloane, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Double Inconstancy.
Other theatre includes: The Tempest and Hansel and Gretel (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds), Abigail’s Party, Arsenic and Old Lace, Dick Barton and the Secret of the Pharoah’s Tomb, One for the Pot, Ladies in Retirement, Hay Fever and Salad Days (Southwold Summer Theatre), Mansfield Park (Redgrave Theatre, Farnham), Arms and the Man (Cambridge Theatre Company), The Hooligan Clown (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), Scapin’s Tricks and The Winter’s Tale (Wimbledon Studio Theatre), Waiting for Godot and The Dumb Waiter (Albany Empire) and Landscape (Finborough).
Film and TV includes: Dead Man’s Cardy, Digital Gothic, Petite, The Score, Divine Magic and Flying Colours.

Gareth Bennett-Ryan — Stanley

Gareth Bennett-Ryan - Stanley
Training: Birmingham School of Acting.
Theatre includes: The History Boys, Macbeth (Mercury Colchester), Michael Morpurgo’s Farm Boy (New Perspectives), As You Like It, Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Generation of Z Apocalypse (Royale Productions), Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra (Cambridge Shakespeare Festival), Dick Whittington, Mother Goose (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), The Mermaids Curse (SKiP), The Shoemakers Holiday (The Rose) and NewsRevue, the world’s longest running comedy sketch show!
Screen credits include: Shakespeare Uncovered, Word on the Street (BBC), Arthur & Merlin (Movieworks), Woodfalls (Tales from the Motherland), Mercenaries (ABC), 7th Soldier, From This Day (Fireinthehole Productions), Wounded (Bigview Films), Dead Unicorns (Luxurious Dread). He was also one of the team behind the online series The Anticlimax Shorts.

Cheryl Kennedy — Meg

Cheryl Kennedy - Meg
Cheryl began her career at Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop.
West End credits include Polly in The Boyfriend, Martha Jefferson in 1776, Joan in Time and Time Again, Evelyn in Absent Friends, Miss Kinnean in Flowers for Algerson and Miss Casewell in The Mousetrap. She toured America playing Eliza in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison. Amongst roles she has played in regional theatres are Elizabeth Bennett in First Impressions, Gloria in You Never Can Tell, Agnes in Brand, Maggie in Teeth N’ Smiles, Kay in Time and the Conways, Vivie in Mrs Warren’s Profession, Moll in Moll Flanders, Miss Haversham in Great Expectations, Mary and Teresa in How the Other Half Loves, Trudie in Man of the Moment, Hesione Hushabye in Heartbreak House and Phyllis in Season’s Greetings.
TV credits include: The Sweeney, The Professionals, What Every Woman Knows and Brookside.

Ged McKenna — Petey

Ged McKenna - Petey
Theatre includes: A Skull in Connemara (Nottingham Playhouse), Inherit The Wind, Kes, Toad of Toad Hall, Big Maggie, Second From Last in The Sack Race, Translations and Cleo Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme), Much Ado About Nothing, Hercules (Chester) Hysteria (English Theatre of Frankfurt), Faith Healer (Library Theatre, Manchester - Nominated M.E.N Best Actor 2008), To Kill A Mockingbird, Wuthering Heights (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Katherine De Souza, Forward (Birmingham Rep), The Lonesome West (Hull Truck), Strangers On A Train, Ghosts, Sailor Beware! (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick), Iron (Traverse, Edinburgh/Royal Court, London), The Farmer’s Bride by Ged McKenna (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough/Tour), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Oldham Coliseum/Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds/Derby Theatre), Kes (Oldham Coliseum), Things We Do For Love (Salisbury Playhouse), The Tempest, Desire Under The Elms (Shared Experience), Macbeth (Cheek By Jowl) and Yard (Bush).
Ged has also worked extensively in TV and appeared in the films Shirley Valentine and Awaydays.

Declan Rodgers — McCann

Declan Rodgers - McCann
Theatre includes: I'm With The Band (Traverse Theatre & UK Tour), Can't Forget About You (Lyric Theatre), Shoot The Crow (Trafalgar Studios), Carousel (Bush), Service (Nilon Productions/Theatre 503), Hope Dies Last (Arcola Theatre) and City (Encounter Productions).
Television includes: Six Degrees, Holby City, In Cold Blood (all BBC), Ashes To Ashes (Kudos Television/BBC), Maru (TG4)
Film includes: Shooting For Socrates (New Black Films), You Looking At Me? (Besom/Channel 4), The Minnits of Annabeg (Krown Films).

Imogen Wilde — Lulu

Imogen Wilde - Lulu
Training: Drama Studio, London.
Theatre includes: Scrooge (Bill Kenwright Productions), Punk Rock (D&M Productions), Puss In Boots and White Feathers (Bread & Roses).
TV and Film includes: Imogen has appeared in a film for the charity Plan UK and Licence To Cheat (ZDF).
Imogen is also a regular reader for audio books.

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