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Bush’s Whipping up Transfer to New Ambassadors

As previously tipped (See The Goss, 10 Nov 2006), Steve Thompson’s Whipping It Up - which has been nominated for Best New Comedy in this year’s Whatsonstage.com’s Theatregoers’ Choice Awards (click here to vote now!) - will transfer to the West End next month. It opens for a limited run, initially booking from 22 February to 16 June 2007, at the New Ambassadors theatre.

The political satire premiered on 10 November 2006 (previews from 8 November) at west London’s 100-seat Bush Theatre (See News, 12 Jul 2006), where it had an extended, sell-out pre-Christmas run. Its all-star cast at the Bush – including Richard Wilson, Robert Bathurst, Lee Ross and Helen Schlesinger (who is up for a Whatsonstage.com Award of her own for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for her West End run last year’s in the RSC revival of The Crucible) – is expected to accompany the production to the West End.

It's a week before Christmas, and the new Tory government is facing dissent over its latest bill. With a majority of only three, the Whip's office is out in full force, and they'll stop at nothing to keep the strays in line. But they're in for a long night: boy scouts are rioting in Whitehall, the PM's golfing with the President, five Tory rebels are on the loose and the Chief Whip's playing at Santa. Could this be the beginnings of a leadership challenge?

Steve Thompson’s last play, Damages, which premiered at the Bush, won the 2005 Meyer-Whitworth Award. Whipping it Up is directed by Terry Johnson, whose credits include many of his own plays, including Hitchcock Blonde, Dead Funny and, most recently, Piano/Forte, as well as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the West End. It’s designed by Tim Shortall, with lighting by Simon Corder and sound by Fergus O’Hare.

Currently at the New Ambassadors, the European premiere of another comedy, American John Kolvenbach’s Love Song - starring Hollywood’s Neve Campbell, Kristen Johnston, Michael McKean and Irishman Cillian Murphy – will now finish on 17 February (See Today’s Other News).

- by Terri Paddock

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