Hannah Yelland
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Daisy Confirms Full Cast & Lyric Opening, 29 Apr

A new revival of Denise Deegan's Daisy Pulls It Off is now confirmed to open at the West End's Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on 29 April 2002, following previews from 18 April.

The cast of the girls' school comedy will be headed by Hannah Yelland (pictured) as Daisy. Daughter of actor David Yelland (currently appearing in Lady Windermere's Fan at the Haymarket), Hannah's stage credits include Beatrice and Benedict (RSC), while on TV she's been seen in Micawber, Poirot and A Touch of Frost.

Stage regular Anna Francolini will play school toady Monica Smithers. Her many recent London credits include Mahler's Conversion, Merrily We Roll Along, Dick Whittington and numerous musicals at the Bridewell Theatre.

Also in the cast of Daisy Pulls It Off are Katherine Heath (as Daisy’s best friend Trixie), Katherine Igoe (Clare), Emma Stansfield, Amber Edlin, Gailie Morrison, Helen Brampton, Louise McCarthy, Jenni Maitland, Maxine Gregory and Jane Mark. Charlotte West-Oram and Roger Heathcott will reprise their roles - as the headmistress and Russian music teacher respectively - from the original production.

The revival will also reunite Daisy's original creative team, headed by director David Gilmore, with design by Glenn Willoughby (recreated by Terry Parsons) and lighting by Brian Harris. It is produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and David Ian for Clear Channel Entertainment.

Daisy Pulls It Off was first seen in the West End in 1983, when it ran at the Gielgud Theatre for three years, ahead of a two-year UK regional tour. Since then, it has also proved a perennial favourite for amateur dramatics societies and, unsurprisingly, girls schools' drama departments.

Set in 1927, the comedy explores class struggles and coming-of-age pangs, as it follows the trials and tribulations of young Daisy Meredith. The girl from a working class family has won a scholarship to Grangewood School for girls but has to battle against her upper-crust peers to stay in the school and on the hockey team.

Currently at the Lyric Theatre, Olaf Olafsson's new play The Feast of Snails, starring David Warner in his West End comeback after 30 years of stage fright, has pulled forward its closing date following poor reviews. Originally booking up to 4 May, The Feast of Snails announced just days after its 18 February opening that it would instead be closing on 23 March. That closure date has now been brought forward by a week, to 16 March.

- by Terri Paddock

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