6 – 10 June Read our review 8 June
Starring Jason Merrells, Richard Walsh and Reanne Farley, this is the powerful bestselling courtroom drama that inspired the multi Academy Award-Nominated film starring Paul Newman.
Frank Galvin is a washed up veteran lawyer and an alcoholic. He is presented with one last chance to redeem himself when he is given an open-and-shut medical malpractice case that no one thinks he can win. Up against the unforgiving medical establishment, he courageously refuses an out of court settlement, believing it is negligence that has condemned a young mother. Smelling a cover up, he instead takes the case and the entire legal system to court…
Jason Merrells, who stars as Frank Galvin, is known to television viewers for his leading roles in numerous prime-time drama series, including Sir Charles Fraith in Agatha Raisin, Declan Macey in Emmerdale, Martin Leach in Clocking Off, Matt Hawley in Casualty, Gavin Ferraday in Cutting It, James Dowland in Lark Rise to Candleford and Jack Rimmer in Waterloo Road. Earlier this year, Jason appeared in the final series of the hit drama Happy Valley and, last December, he won Sky Arts Celebrity Portrait Artist of the Year Christmas Special. His stage career has included productions in the West End, at the Royal Shakespeare Company and at theatres nationwide. He has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in the RSC’s production The Comedy of Errors in 2007.
Richard Walsh, who stars as Bishop Brophy and Eldredge Sweeney, is best known on television as Bert “Sicknote” Quigley in twelve series of London’s Burning, as well as roles in The Crown, Rosamund Pilcher, Midsomer Murders, Doctors and Heartbeat. Richard began his career in musical theatre. His numerous stage credits include productions in the West End, at the National Theatre and many tours with Middle Ground Theatre.
Reanne Farley, who appears as Donna St Laurent, is best known on screen for her role as Annie Sobacz in River City. Her television credits also include Crimes, Shetland, Coronation Street, Eve, The Last Detective, and she is set to appear in the hit drama Outlander this summer. On stage, she has performed in The Comedy of Errors at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre and Cinderella at Salisbury Playhouse. She also toured the UK in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace, which visited Bath’s Theatre Royal in 2005.
The company also features Vincent Pirillo as Moe Katz, Nigel Barber as J. Edgar Concannon, Okon Jones as Lionel Thompson MD, Michael Lunney as Eugene Meehan and Dr Crowley MD, Sarah Shelton as Mrs McDaid, Jason Wilson as Rexford Gilbert Towler MD, Teresa Jennings as Mary Rooney, Holly Jackson Walters as Natalie Stampanatto, James Morley as Bailiff Thomas Lauridsen, Bruce Chattan as Jeremy Callahan, Anna Arthur as Nurse, Court Stenographer, Waitress and Jury Foreman and Dave Speck as Michael Madden.
Barry Reed’s best-selling novel The Verdict inspired a multi Academy Award-nominated film starring Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling and James Mason. Filmed in 1982 by director Sidney Lumet, with a script adapted by David Mamet, The Verdict was nominated for five Academy Awards and is ranked in the top 100 screenplays ever written by the Writers’ Guild of America.
Born in California, author Barry Reed served in the US army during the second world war, before becoming a lawyer. He was awarded the Clarence Darrow Award for trial excellence, and was a president of the Massachusetts Trial Lawyers Association, a governor of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Lawyers and co-founder of the American Society of Law and Medicine. He used his experience of the justice system to write a number of novels including The Choice (1991), The Indictment (1994), The Deception (1997), and The Verdict, published in 1980, which was an international bestseller and arguably his best-known work.
Director and designer of The Verdict, Michael Lunney also plays the roles of Eugene Meehan and Daniel Jonathan Crowley MD in the production. Michael co-founded Middle Ground Theatre Company in 1988. He has directed more than 25 productions over the past three decades. He has also performed in many Middle Ground productions, as well as playing roles on television in series including Dream Team, Doctors, Coronation Street and Crossroads.
Middle Ground Theatre Company was founded in 1988. Today it is one of the UK’s most prolific and acclaimed production companies, having mounted more than 50 productions over the past 35 years.
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Photo credit: Middle Ground Theatre Company Ltd.
