The Royal Exchange is reuniting stars of the hit film and TV series This Is England in Matthew Dunster‘s new production of the Alan Stilgoe‘s classic Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Chanel Cresswell (pictured, above) who plays the part of Kelly in This Is England, plays Winnie, Jo Hartley (who plays Cynthia), will be playing the part of Emler and making his Royal Exchange debut in the lead role of Arthur Seaton will be Perry Fitzpatrick, who plays Flip in the award-winning Shane Meadows dramas.
Other cast members are also familiar faces from recent TV hits. Clare Calbraith (fresh from playing Jane, the maid in Downton Abbey), Tamla Kari (appeared in this summer’s film adapation of The Inbetweeners), and Graeme Hawley, former Coronation Street serial killer John Stape – who just wanted to teach. Finally for all fans of BBC 3s Ideal, Ryan Pope (aka Psycho Paul) is also in the cast.
Alan Sillitoe’s iconic novel is directed by Matthew Dunster, whose previous successes at the Exchange include his own adaptaion of George Orwell’s 1984 and the award-winning Mogadishu, which is about to tour.
The plot follows rebellious young factory worker Arthur Seaton who has reasons to drink, reasons to fight and several girls on the go. But when the fun and risk of Saturday night turns to the hangover and bruises of Sunday morning, Arthur starts to understand the real meaning of love.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester from 1 March – 7 April, 2012.