Theatre News

Maureen Lipman directs & stars in Barefoot in the Park tour

| London's West End |

9 March 2012

Maureen Lipman will direct and star in a new production of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, which kicks off a national tour at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford from 28 March to 7 April 2012.

Simon’s 1963 romantic comedy was a hit on Broadway and subsequently received the Hollywood treatment in 1967 starring original cast member Robert Redford alongside Jane Fonda.

The play follows the lives of newlyweds Paul and Corrie Bratter as they adjust to married life in a tiny New York apartment. Paul is a straight-laced lawyer, whilst Corrie is a free spirit who won’t let anything disturb her romantic bliss. But will love survive in the face of bad plumbing, a leaky skylight, five flights of stairs, eccentric neighbour Victor and, to top it all, Corrie’s well-meaning but batty mother?

Lipman, who describes directing Barefoot in the Park as “a long-held ambition”, has previously starred in Bath in Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers as well as Re:Joyce!, Peggy For You and Glorious! She won an Olivier Award for her performance in Oklahoma! at the National Theatre.

She’ll be joined in the cast of Barefoot in the Park by Oliver Cotton, Dominic Tighe and Faye Castelow.

Following its run in Guildford, the production will visit: Malvern Theatres (9-14 April), Theatre Royal, Bath (16-21 April), The Playhouse, Oxford (23-28 April), Richmond Theatre (30 April-5 May) and the Arts Theatre, Cambridge (7-12 May).