Shane Richie to star in John Osborne's The Entertainer

Shane Richie is to play Archie Rice in a new touring production of The Entertainer, it has been announced.

The show will be directed by Sean O'Connor, opening at Curve in Leicester 27 August, and will tour until November.

This production of Osborne's seminal 1957 play is given a new setting in 1982 where washed up stage entertainer Rice completes a summer season and his soldier son sails with the Task Force to liberate the Falklands while his daughter Jean returns from campaigning against the war.

Richie said, "Following in the black patent shoes of Olivier, Gambon, Lindsay and Branagh, it's an incredible honour to be asked to play one of literatures greatest fictional characters, Archie Rice. In the words of the great man himself 'you're a long time dead, let's just whoop it up!'"

The actor's credits include Grease and One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest and he is currently starring in Everybody's Talking About Jamie in the West End. His TV credits include Oliver Twist (BBC), New Tricks (BBC), We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story (BBC) and What We Did on Our Holidays (ITV).

The show also tours to towns including Malvern, Plymouth, Woking, Wolverhampton, Bromley and Cheltenham.