Further casting has been announced for Kirk Jameson’s highly anticipated Off-West End revival of Peter Nichols’ Olivier Award-winning PRIVATES ON PARADE at the Union Theatre, which runs from 22 November to 16 December 2017, with a press night on Friday 24 November. Have you booked your tickets yet?
Set during the Malayan Emergency of the late 1940s, we follow the exploits of a song and dance unit during their tour of South East Asia as they provide light entertainment for the British Army. Private Steve Flowers is posted to join the small show, which is conceived by and very much starring the wonderfully flamboyant Captain Terri Dennis, whose cross-dressing antics are the talk of the barracks.
Drama Desk award winner Simon Green stars as Captain Terri Dennis. 2017 Drama Desk Award winner Green’s myriad stage credits include Titanic, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Life is for Living: Conversations with Coward, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunday in the Park with George, Anything Goes, Noel and Gertie, Passion, Beauty and the Beast, and in 2014, The World Goes ‘Round, which was also directed by Kirk Jameson for the Union Theatre at its original address.
Parading their privates at the Union Theatre
Green is joined in the PRIVATES ON PARADE cast by Sam Curry (as Private Steve Flowers), Martha Pothen (Sylvia), Tom Pearce (Charles), Paul Sloss (Len), Matt Hayden (Eric), Matt Beveridge (Reg), Mikey Howe (Lee) and Tom Bowen (Kevin), with further casting to be announced.
Director Kirk Jameson most recently helmed Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun at the Union. He’s joined on the creative team by musical supervisor Nick Barstow, designer Mike Lees and assistant director Phil Croft.
Cast announced today for Privates on Parade
The piece received its world premiere in Stratford-upon-Avon care of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977 when Denis Quilley starred as Captain Terri. That production transferred to the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre in 1978 and had its US premeire in 1979. Quilley reprised his role in the 1983 film, which also featured John Cleese.
This revised and rewritten version of PRIVATES ON PARADE was first presented at the Donmar Warehouse with Roger Allam as Terri and was revived in the West End by former Donmar artistic director Michael Grandage with Simon Russell Beale.
The ‘new’ Union Theatre in Union Yard Arches
About the Union Theatre
Get social media for all of the Union’s musicals on www.stagefaves.com
Since it was founded by artistic director Sasha Regan in London SE1 in 1998, the multi-award-winning Union Theatre has developed a reputation for reinventing well-known musical titles on an intimate studio scale. Hits over the years have included all-male Gilbert & Sullivan operettas HMS Pinafore and The Mikado, The Pajama Game and Sweeney Todd.
After 18 years located in a disused paper warehouse on Union Street near Southwark Tube station, the theatre faced closure when its site was sold to developers. A campaign was started to save the Union. Last year, it reopened in a purpose-built facility under the railway line in the new Union Yard Arches corridor across the road from its original home. Since reopening, the Union has staged productions including The Fix, Children of Eden, Moby Dick, Soho Cinders, Anyone Can Whistle, Honk!, Blondel, The Hired Man, Salad Days, Lucy Stiff and, currently, Imagine This.
