23 – 27 May Read our review here
New play STUMPED stars STEPHEN TOMPKINSON and ANDREW LANCEL as cricket-obsessed Nobel prize-winners
With a game of cricket and two of the greatest playwrights at its heart, the stage premiere of Shomit Dutta’s witty new play, Stumped, tours to the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 23rd to Saturday 27th May, starring Stephen Tompkinson (DCI Banks, Wild at Heart, Brassed Off, Drop the Dead Donkey) as Samuel Beckett and Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street, Cardiac Arrest, The Bill) as Harold Pinter.
Before Samuel Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer, and remains the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter, whose famous works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, described cricket as “the greatest thing that God created on earth”. Stumped explores what the friendship between these two playwrights may have looked like.
Shomit Dutta, the author of Stumped, is a writer, translator and teacher, who also reviews books on cricket and the classics. A member of Harold Pinter’s cricket team Gaieties CC for over twenty years, Shomit was captain during Pinter’s final years. Shomit’s previous plays include Changing of the Guard and War Song.
Star of stage and television Stephen Tompkinson appears as Samuel Beckett. On television, Stephen’s many starring roles include DCI Alan Banks in five series of DCI Banks; Danny in seven series of Wild at Heart; Brian in four series of Trollied; Damien Day in six series of Drop the Dead Donkey, for which he won Best TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards, and Father Peter Clifford in three series of Ballykissangel. More recently, he appeared in BBC One’s acclaimed 2022 drama Sherwood, played George Torvill in ITV’s Torvill & Dean, and appeared as Davey in the hit BBC One series The Split. His film roles include playing Phil in Brassed Off. His many West End theatre credits include Art, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Rattle of a Simple Man and Arsenic and Old Lace, and Cloaca at London’s Old Vic. Stephen has previously appeared at the Theatre Royal Bath in Tartuffe in 1998, Charley’s Aunt in 2007, Art in 2018 and Educating Rita in 2019.
Andrew Lancel, who plays the role of Harold Pinter, is best known on television as the villainous businessman Frank Foster in more than 130 episodes of Coronation Street; DI Neil Manson in over 270 episodes of The Bill; Dr Andrew Collin in Cardiac Arrest alongside Helen Baxendale, and Ian Callaghan in Liverpool 1. Earlier this year, Andrew appeared in the ITV series Unforgotten, playing Steve James, as well as roles in Bolan’s Shoes and Wings. He also played DS Paul Sampson in ITV’s mini-series The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe. His many theatre credits include starring as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music on UK tour, and as Brian Epstein in Epstein – The Man who made The Beatles in Liverpool and the West End; a role he also played in Cilla the Musical. He starred as Brian Clough in The Damned United at Leeds and Derby Playhouses, Inspector Vetch in A Judgement in Stone and Dr Hartz in The Lady Vanishes. Andrew has previously performed at the Theatre Royal Bath in Conduct Unbecoming in 1996 and Twelve Angry Men in 2015.
Both actors appeared in a shorter digital version of Stumped, which Original Theatre streamed online last year. The production is directed by Guy Unsworth, with set and costume design by David Woodhead.
Original Theatre’s Artistic Director Alastair Whatley said: “I’m delighted that Shomit Dutta’s new play Stumped will make the transition from a digital to live performance with a short tour and then a run at London’s Hampstead Theatre. Hampstead is just a short hop from Lord’s cricket ground where the show began its life last year. This once again highlights the potential for digital work to seed and feed live performance. After the success of our digital production, I cannot wait to finally see the show in front of live audiences in Bath, Cambridge and London.”
Director Guy Unsworth’s credits include Bring It On at the Southbank Centre; The System on screen; My Fair Lady at Grange Festival Opera and The Liceu, Barcelona; Being Mr Wickham on UK tour and on screen; Julius Caesar at Fort Canning Park, Singapore; UK tours of Of Mice and Men and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em; Hand To God for Singapore Repertory Theatre and The Food of Love at Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall.
Original Theatre have toured extensively across the UK since 2004. Original’s current stage productions also include the premiere of Steven Canny and John Nicholson’s adaptation of The Time Machine, which visited Bath in April, and the record-breaking tour of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. Since March 2020, Original Theatre have also produced 14 digital theatre shows that have been streamed over 54,000 times collectively online and viewed in 60 countries. In 2022, Original Theatre were awarded a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for exceptional theatre-making during the Covid lockdowns. In February 2023, Original Theatre won The Offie Award for Best Online Production for their production of Into the Night by Frazer Flintham.
Stumped appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 23rd to Saturday 27th May.
To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk
Photo credit: Micahel Wharley
