Dukes Gets Happy with Little Voice

Following huge success in the West End, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice returns to its Northern roots next month.

The Dukes production will see the return to Lancaster of director Amy Leach who directed the recordbreaking run of Sabbat, a new play about the Pendle Witches;  My Mother Said I Never Should; and Peter Pan, last summer’s outdoor walkabout show.

Playing the lead role of Little Voice will be Rebecca Hutchinson, originally from Darwen, Amy Leach’s home town in East Lancashire.

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice premiered at the Royal National Theatre in 1992 with Jane Horrocks in the lead role and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 1993. She recreated the role for the big screen version in 1998.

The play focuses on the life of a painfully shy young woman who disappears into a world of music to escape the chaotic life of her fun-loving drunken mother. Surrounded by vinyl and memories of her father, Little Voice imitates the great divas: Bassey and Monroe, Garland and Holliday.

But this Lancashire fairytale takes a dramatic twist when Little Voice is overheard by wannabe talent scout Ray Say.

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice will be performed in The Rake at The Dukes in Lancaster from March 24-April 16.