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Goodall's Days of Hope Receives King's Head Run

Howard Goodall’s 1990 musical Days of Hope will be revived next month at north London’s King’s Head Theatre. The production, starring West End regulars David Burt and Siobhan McCarthy, opens on 21 March 2007 (following previews from 13 March) for a limited six-week season to 22 April 2007.

In Days of Hope, which has a book by Renata Allen, ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances find the dignity to survive when hope appears lost. Set in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War, on the eve of a flight to freedom, Sofia and her family prepare for one last meal. Over the course of the evening, truths are exposed, loyalties tested and lives changed forever.

Days of Hope was first performed at the Newman Rooms in Oxford in 1990. It was revised and produced again at Hampstead Theatre in April 1991, subsequently touring England. Not a conventional through-composed musical, it’s more of a play punctuated by songs, with characters singing directly to the audience.

Goodall's other stage musicals include The Hired Man (which won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Musical and received four Olivier nominations), Girlfriends, Silas Marner and Two Cities, premiered last year at Salisbury Playhouse. His TV work includes theme tunes for Blackadder, Mr Bean, Red Dwarf, The Catherine Tate Show, Q.I. and The Vicar of Dibley, as well as the score for the BAFTA-nominated The Gathering Storm.

In the Days of Hope, Burt (whose recent credits include The Woman in White and Show Boat) and McCarthy (Evita) are joined by Aimie Atkinson (BBC Voice of Musical Theatre winner), Simon Thomas, Matt Cross, James Russell and Victoria Yeates.

Days of Hope is directed by Russell Labey, with musical direction by Kelvin Thomas, musical staging by Tara Wilkinson and lighting by Mike Robertson (who earlier this week won the Olivier for Best Lighting Design for Sunday in the Park with George, along with Natasha Chivers). It’s presented by Milton Morrissey Productions in association with Andy Barnes Productions, Jason Haigh Ellery, Sally Humphreys and Stuart Piper for Cole Kitchenn.

- by Caroline Ansdell

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