16 February – 18 March
TV favourite KRIS MARSHALL and EVE Ponsonby star in world premiere stage production of CHARLOTTE AND THEODORE opening at Bath’s Ustinov Studio
Charlotte and Theodore, starring Kris Marshall (Death in Paradise, My Family, Love Actually) as Teddy and Eve Ponsonby (The White Queen, Lady Chatterley’s Lover) as Lotty, receives its world premiere at the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath. Appearing from Thursday 16th February to Saturday 18th March, Ryan Craig’s timely new play is directed by Terry Johnson.
Lotty and Teddy are two dreamers – colleagues, lovers and then man and wife – determined to make a difference in their worlds and to keep the spark in their relationship alive. But can they do this as academics on a university campus where every well-intentioned thought, each well-meaning gesture and idealistic good deed can have unexpected and long-lasting consequences?
Ryan Craig’s latest play follows Lotty and Teddy on a decade long romance, picking their way through the professional minefield of cancel culture, gender politics and power struggles that is their very modern workplace.
Kris Marshall, who hails from Bath, has appeared in some of the most popular television series and films of the last twenty years, playing Tom Parker in Sanditon, DI Humphrey Goodman in Death in Paradise, Colin Frissell in Love Actually and Nick Harper in My Family. He is set to reprise his role as DI Humphrey Goodman in the new BBC drama series Beyond Paradise from 24th February. His stage roles include Treats opposite Billie Piper, which opened at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2007 before transferring to the West End; Ugly Lies the Bone at the National Theatre with Kate Fleetwood and Ralf Little; Fat Pig in the West End with Robert Webb and Joanna Page, and the London revival of Glengarry Glen Ross alongside Christian Slater and Robert Glenister.
Eve Ponsonby’s recent stage credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End and Shakespeare in Love at the Noël Coward Theatre. Eve has previously performed at the Theatre Royal Bath in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2016 and ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore in 2014. Her screen credits include Granchester, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The White Queen, Sliced, Carnival Row, Misfits, Above Suspicion, Frankenstein and The Unbeatables.
Ryan Craig is one of Britain’s most exciting playwrights. He was nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for his play What We Did to Weinstein, which premiered at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2005. His follow up works The Glass Room and The Holy Rosenbergs at the National Theatre earned him a reputation for probing social norms and ethical issues in his plays. Ryan was Writer in Residence at the National Theatre Studio from January 2012 to March 2013. His 2017 play Filthy Business, directed by Edward Hall, premiered at Hampstead Theatre starring Sara Kestelman. His television writing includes Saddam’s Tribe for Channel 4 and episodes of The Musketeers, Robin Hood, Hustle and Waterloo Road.
Terry Johnson is a dramatist and director who has won numerous theatre awards, including two Olivier Awards as a playwright for Best Comedy and a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical for La Cage Aux Folles. His many West End credits include The Libertine, End of the Rainbow, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Duck House, Whipping It Up and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He recently directed Uncle Vanya at the Hampstead Theatre and has previously directed The Dresser, Mrs Henderson Presents, Hysteria and The Libertine at Bath’s Theatre Royal.
Charlotte and Theodore opens at the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath appearing from Thursday 16th February to Saturday 18th March. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov
Photo credit: Alistair Muir
