Max Stafford-Clark to direct revival of Rita, Sue and Bob Too

A new UK tour of Andrea Dunbar's play Rita, Sue and Bob Too has been announced by Out of Joint.

The piece was first staged at the Royal Court in 1982 directed by Max Stafford-Clark. Stafford-Clark returns to the piece to direct this revival, which will run from September to January.

The show opens at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, before heading to theatres including Bristol Old Vic, Cast in Doncaster, Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse. It finishes its run at the Royal Court in January.

Dunbar's semi-autobiographical play is a portrait of best friends Rita and Sue, who get a lift home from Bob after babysitting his children and the three start a relationship. The piece was written by Dunbar when she was 19 and was her second play. It was adapted into a film by Alan Clark.

Stafford-Clark said: "Andrea wrote her first play The Arbor at 15, at the prompting of an enlightened teacher. It was authentic and autobiographical, and she wrote with the kind of natural flair that comes out of the blue once in a generation. Rita, Sue and Bob Too is equally authentic, but also shows great growth as a dramatist. I look forward to revisiting once more her characters and the world she so unforgettably depicted."

Rita, Sue and Bob Too runs at Octagon Theatre, Bolton from 11 to 23 September with previews from 6 September. It then tours the UK before a final run at the Royal Court from 8 to 27 January.