Principal cast announced for Lyric Hammersmith's Tipping the Velvet
© Jay Brooks
Sally Messham and Laura Rogers will lead the cast of Tipping the Velvet, which opens at the Lyric Hammersmith next month.
The production is adapted from the bestselling book by Sarah Waters by playwright Laura Wade, best known for Posh.
Directed by Lyndsey Turner, who worked with Wade on Posh and is currently directing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet, it runs from 28 to 24 October 2015 (previews from 18 September).
Messham, a recent RADA graduate, and Rogers, whose stage credits include The 39 Steps and Hampstead Theatre's 55 Days, will star as Nancy 'Nan' Astley and Kitty Butler, two would-be lovers in straitlaced Victorian England.
According to press material:
It's 1887 and Nancy Astley (Sally Messham) sits in the audience at her local music hall: she doesn’t know it yet, but the next act on the bill will change her life. Tonight is the night she’ll fall in love… with the thrill of the stage and with Kitty Butler (Laura Rogers), a girl who wears trousers. Giddy with desire and hungry for experience, Nancy follows Kitty to London where unimaginable adventures await.
Tipping the Velvet is designed by Lizzie Clachan, with choreography by Alistair David and music by Michael Bruce.
