Theatre News

Keith Allen & Denise Welch star in Bean’s Smack Family Robinson at Rose

Keith Allen and Denise Welch will star in Richard Wilson’s forthcoming revival of Richard Bean‘s 2003 comedy Smack Family Robinson at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

The production, which runs from 28 March to 20 April 2013, will also feature Harry Melling, Kate Lamb and Matthew Wilson.

The play centres on The Robinsons, who have run a successful – if completely dodgy – family
business since the 1960s. They have a comfortable house in the suburbs
and expensive cars in the drive. But the younger generation isn’t like
their dad, and the police are getting interested.

Originally set in
Whitley Bay, Richard Bean, whose other plays including Harvest, The English Game and the multi award-winning One Man, Two Guvnors has relocated the play to
South West London for the Kingston production.

Keith Allen was last seen on the stage in Comedians at the Lyric Hammersmith. Recent TV includes Bodyfarm for the BBC and Treasure Island and The Runaway for Sky. In 2012 he wrote and starred in a satirical opera about the corporatisation of the Olympics, Will Cliff Be There?.

Denise Welch is best known for her television roles as Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street and Steph Haycock in Waterloo Road. Her theatre
credits include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Royal Exchange) for
which she was awarded Best Actress at the Manchester Evening News
Theatre Awards in 2004. In 2012 she starred in a UK wide tour of Steel
Magnolias
.

Kate Lamb has recently appeared in deadkidsongs at the Ustinov Studio, After the Party at the Criterion Theatre, How to be Happy and The Conspirators at the Orange Tree Theatre, and Summer and Smoke at Southwark Playhouse.

Harry Melling played Dudley Dursley in five of the Harry Potter films. His theatre credits include I Am A Camera at Southwark Playhouse, When Did You Last See My Mother at Trafalgar Studios and Deborah Warner’s School for Scandal at the Barbican last year.

Matthew Wilson appeared in the Inbetweeners movie, while his theatre credits include The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd, (New Vic), The Gods Weep and Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Home (Peter Hall Company, Theatre Royal Bath).

Richard Wilson‘s previous directing credits include Straight, Lungs, The Pride and That Face all at Sheffield Crucible Theatre; Rainbow Kiss and The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre; and Primo at the National Theatre, starring Antony Sher (which transferred to Hampstead and Broadway).He also directed the film version for HBO/BBC. Most recently he appeared in the BBC drama Merlin as Gaius.

Wilson’s acting credits include Malvolio in the RSC’s Twelfth Night and Whipping It Up at the Bush Theatre and West End, while on screen he is best known for his portrayal of grumpy old man Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave.