Exclusive: Linda Nolan to star in new UK tour of Our House

The Olivier Award-winning musical Our House will embark on a new UK tour next year, starring singer and actress Linda Nolan as Kath Casey.

The musical, written by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls) and featuring music by Madness, will open in Crewe on 10 August 2017 before touring to Llandudno, Weston-Super-Mare, Skegness, Malvern, Swansea, Blackpool, Bridlington, Bromley, Portsmouth, Coventry and High Wycombe.

On the announcement, Nolan, whose stage credits include playing Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers, said: "I’ve always loved Madness’ music. It spreads warmth throughout the soul, and finds joy in the everyday and ordinary. It’s a perfect partner to Tim’s wonderfully madcap story of love and locals."

Firth said: "Madness are unique in that they wrote songs about home and hearth, about growing up, never growing up, having and not having, rising and falling.

They came from London but they spoke to every corner of the nation, and they certainly spoke to me, growing up in the North West… In a sense, Madness started writing a musical twenty five years ago. It was colourful, truthful, vibrant, witty and universal. It was just up to me to find it."

The show, which premiered in 2002 and won an Olivier Award for Best New Musical, centres on Joe Casey, a boy from Camden whose life is altered by a decision made on the night of his 16th birthday. It features Madness hits including "My Girl", "Baggy Trousers" and "House Of Fun".

The tour will be directed by Immersion Theatre’s James Tobias and choreographed by Fabian Aloise (Matilda The Musical).

Our House opens at Crewe Lyceum on 10 August 2017.