Adam Rickitt & Charlie Brooks for Office Games
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Soap Stars Play Office Games & Tend Stage Wound

Soap stars Adam Rickitt and Charlie Brooks (pictured together) team up this month to star in Trevor Baxter's new civil service comedy, Office Games, which runs at London's Pleasance Theatre from 24 April to 25 May 2003 (previews 23 April).

At the foreign office, during peace negotiations after the Great War, the imperious Charles Raven oversees a team of men who like to engage in petty one-upmanship and bullying, mostly at the expense of their meek and fervently religious colleague Wilkes. When an error is made in an important cabinet briefing document, blame is shifted to typist Rose, who proves desperate to rescue her job. Blackmail, adultery and suspected espionage ensue as the office's innocent horseplay turns nasty.

Adam Rickitt is best known for playing Nicky Tilsley in Coronation Street and has previously starred in Rent in the West End and on tour. Charlie Brooks, who will make her London stage debut, is a familiar television face from her role as Janine in EastEnders.

The pair are joined in the cast of Office Games by Richard O'Callaghan, Mel Raido, Adam Croasdell and Robin Brown. The production is directed by Guy Retallack and designed by Christopher Richardson, with lighting by Douglas Kuhrt. It's presented at the Pleasance by West End producer Bill Kenwright.

Meanwhile, at the Royal Court, another EastEnders star, Tamzin Outhwaite (who plays Mel in the BBC soap), has signed up to appear in the upcoming premiere of Che Walker's Flesh Wound. Walker's second play for the Royal Court is set in London, where young Vincent is trying to extricate himself from trouble with the infamous Calderazzos and save his family.

Outhwaite is joined in the cast of Flesh Wound by Andrew Tiernan. The production is directed by Wilson Milam (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, A Lie of the Mind) and designed by Dick Bird, with lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Ian Dickinson. It runs at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs from 15 May to 7 June 2003 (See News, 1 Apr 2003).

- by Terri Paddock

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