16 – 21 May

A new production of the classic Broadway thriller Catch Me If You Can starring Dallas legend Patrick Duffy (The Man from Atlantis, Step by Step), Linda Purl (Happy Days, Homeland) and Gray O’Brien (Coronation Street, The Loch, Peak Practice) visits the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 16^th to Saturday 21^st May as part of a nationwide UK tour.

Inspector Levine is called to a house in the remote Catskill mountains to investigate the disappearance of newly married Elizabeth Corban. But when Elizabeth suddenly turns up, her husband seems surprised rather than relieved, unleashing an extraordinary sequence of events as the plot develops with more twists than a corkscrew.

Written by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, this highly entertaining mystery in which nothing is what it seems and no-one is as they appear, is adapted from Robert Thomas’s French play Trap For A Lonely Man. 

Patrick Duffy, who stars as Daniel Corban, is known to audiences around the world for his twelve-year role as Bobby Ewing in the CBS primetime drama Dallas. For more than forty years, Patrick has appeared in some of television’s most beloved series. An original cast member in Dallas, he starred in more than 300 episodes across all fourteen seasons between 1978 and 1991. Patrick’s many screen roles also include playing Mark Harris in NBC’s sci-fi adventure series Man From Atlantis, Frank Lambert in the ABC sitcom Step By Step and Stephen Logan in CBS’s The Bold And The Beautiful. His previous stage roles include starring as Serge in the award-winning West End production of Art.

Linda Purl, who stars as Elizabeth Corban, is also known globally for her many screen roles including Ashley, Fonzie’s girlfriend, in the much-loved series Happy Days, Elizabeth Gaines in the international hit Homeland, Helene in the American version of The Office and Charlene Matlock in the legal drama Matlock. On stage, Linda has starred in the international tour of Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, played the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at California’s Rubicon Theatre and recently starred as Rosemary Clooney in Tenderly at the New Vic in Santa Barbara.    

Inspector Levine is played by Gray O’Brien. Well known on television for his award-winning portrayal of the villainous Tony Gordon in 285 episodes of Coronation Street, he also starred as Dr Tom Deneley in Peak Practice, played Dr Richard McCaig in Casualty and appeared as Alan Redford in The Loch. His screen credits also include Taggart, the Doctor Who 2007 Christmas Special, Titanic: Blood and Steel and the film The Queen. Gray’s stage work includes Sleuth in the West End and The Sound of Music on UK tour, in which he played Captain Von Trapp. Previously at Bath’s Theatre Royal, he has starred in The Perfect Murder in 2014, Dead Simple in 2015 and The Case Of The Frightened Lady in 2018.

Ben Nealon has toured to the Theatre Royal in ten thrillers previously. A stalwart of The Classic Thriller Company and The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, Ben’s many visits to Bath have included Spider’s Web in 2009, Murder On The Nile in 2012, Black Coffee in 2014 and, most recently, The Lady Vanishes in 2019 and The Cat and the Canary in 2020. Best known on television as Second Lt/Capt Jeremy Forsythe in ITV’s series Soldier Soldier and D.I. Baxter in Doctors, Ben returns to the Theatre Royal to play the role of Father Kelleher.

The cast is completed by Hugh Futcher as Sidney, Chloe Zeitounian as Mrs Parker and Paul Lavers as Everett Parker.

Catch Me If You Can is directed by Bob Tomson, whose acclaimed production of Blood Brothers made a welcome return to Bath this March. The international hit musical, which has toured the globe, was nominated for six Tony Awards on Broadway. Bob’s many successful productions also include the West End hits Scrooge, Dreamboats and Petticoats, On The Piste and The Mysterious Mr Love. His television credits include the BAFTA-nominated Hero To Zero, Dream Team, Heartbeat and Brookside. Bob is also a regular guest director for Emmerdale, Doctors and Father Brown.

Design for Catch Me If You Can is by Julie Godfrey, whose many credits include How The Other Half Loves, Pack Of Lies and Rehearsal For Murder. Lighting is by Chris Davey, whose previous theatre credits include Witness For The Prosecution, The Car Man and Bristol Old Vic’s Touching the Void. 

Catch Me If You Can tours to the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 16^th May to Saturday 21^st May. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk

Photo credit: Jack Merriman