Phillips, Rowe, Cox & Bennett Play Frantic Lovesong

Sian Phillips will be joined by Sam Cox, who will play her husband, and Leanne Rowe and Edward Bennett, who will play the same couple as their younger selves.

Directed by Frantic Assembly’s artistic directors Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett, the production kicks off its UK tour on 3 October 2011 (previews from 30 September) at the Drum Theatre, Plymouth, and includes a three week London run at the Lyric Hammersmith from 11 January 2012.

Lovesong, billed as “a new play about lifelong love”, intertwines a couple in their 20s with the same man and woman a lifetime later. Their past and present selves collide in a “haunting and beautiful tale of togetherness”.

Sian Phillips’ recent stage work includes the role of Juliet in Juliet and her Romeo (Bristol Old Vic), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Broadway) and Calendar Girls (West End/tour). Her screen work includes her BAFTA-winning role in I, Claudius as well as appearances in acclaimed films including Goodbye Mr Chips, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Dune.

Edward Bennett recently came to prominence when he received rave reviews for taking over the lead role from David Tennant in the RSC’s Hamlet in 2009. His other stage credits include Plenty (Sheffield Crucible), As You Like It, The Tempest (Bridge Project, Old Vic), Hay Fever (Chichester Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love Labour’s Lost (RSC) and Othello (Donmar).

Sam Cox’s recent stage work includes Anne Boleyn, All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare’s Globe), Inherit the Wind (Old Vic), Arcadia (West End), God in Ruins (RSC/Soho), Macbeth and King John (both RSC).

Leanne Rowe’s theatre credits include Dirty Dancing (West End), Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Mysterious Skin (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh).

Writer Abi Morgan’s screen work includes The Invisible Woman, Margaret Thatcher film Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, BBC drama The Hour and the BAFTA award-winning drama Sex Traffic (Channel 4). She previously worked with Frantic Assembly on the Tiny Dynamite, and her other previous writing for the stage includes The Night Is Darkest Before The Dawn (part of the Tricycle Theatre’s Great Game season), Fugee (NT New Connections), Tender (Hampstead) and Splendour (Paines Plough).

 

In addition to previously announced tour dates at Warwick Arts Centre (18-22 October), West Yorkshire Playhouse (9-12 November) and Chichester Festival Theatre (15-26 November),  new dates have been added at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow (7-11 February).