20 – 25 November
James Graham’s hit play QUIZ tours to Bath starring RORY BREMNER as Chris Tarrant alongside Emmerdale’s Charley Webb and TV’s Lewis Reeves and Mark Benton
In a shockingly shameless scam, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was duped out of £1,000,000. Or was it? Quiz is the thrilling and entertaining ride through the infamous Coughing Major scandal which engulfed the world’s most popular TV quiz show and remains a mystery to this day. Now, uncovering new evidence, it’s time to ask the audience, to put fingers on keypads and answer the ultimate 50/50: guilty or not guilty?
Nominated for two Olivier Awards, including Best New Comedy, James Graham’s smash hit play, Quiz, transferred to London’s West End with sensational reviews in 2018, following a sold-out run at Chichester Festival Theatre. A three-part ITV drama followed in 2020, adapted by James Graham and starring Michael Sheen, Matthew Macfadyen and Sian Clifford, which had over six million people glued to their screens. This autumn Quiz returned to Chichester with the cast led by Rory Bremner, before embarking on a UK tour which concludes at Bath’s Theatre Royal.
Widely regarded as Britain’s top satirical impressionist, Rory Bremner has provided definitive impersonations of Prime Ministers and Presidents from Major, Blair, Cameron and Brown, to Clinton, Bush and Trump. As himself, he’s been a presenter, writer, quiz-show host, actor, translator and even (briefly) ballroom dancer in 2011’s Strictly Come Dancing. In 2013, he made his acting debut at the Theatre Royal Bath in Noël Coward’s Relative Values alongside Patricia Hodge and Caroline Quentin, directed by Trevor Nunn, before a West End transfer. In a TV career of over 30 years, he has won numerous awards, including three BAFTAs for his long-running Channel 4 satire series Bremner Bird & Fortune, featuring Rory and the two Johns. He retraced his family history for Who Do You Think You Are? and travelled all over Britain for ITV’s series Rory Bremner’s Great British Views, with one episode devoted to Bath. In 2018, he was a team captain on ITV’s weekly show, The Imitation Game. He has guested on many comedy shows including Whose Line is it Anyway?, Spitting Image, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week, where he was team captain for two series, and also frequently appeared on Radio 4’s The News Quiz, The Now Show and, his own shows, Tonight and Bremner’s One Question Quiz.
Having started her career in Emmerdale as Debbie Dingle in 2002 at the age of 14, Charley Webb was nominated at the British Soap Awards for Best Female Dramatic Performance in 2014. Since leaving the series in 2021, after 19 years, she has appeared in Better for the BBC and The Long Shadow on ITV this autumn. Trading the drama of the Dingle family and stepping into the scandal of the Ingrams, Charley takes on the role of wife and accomplice, Diana Ingram.
Lewis Reeves starred in the hugely popular black comedy-drama I May Destroy You which was nominated for nine Emmys in 2021, and has recently appeared alongside Keeley Hawes in the Sky science fiction series The Midwich Cuckoos. He is best known for his role as DC Jake Collier in the ITV drama Unforgotten, appearing in four series of the show. Having performed in the West End multiple times in acclaimed shows like My Night with Reg and Our Boys, Quiz is Lewis’ first UK tour and sees him in the hot seat as ‘The Coughing Major’, Charles Ingram.
A beloved television and stage star, Mark Benton is no stranger to touring life, having recently appeared on stages up and down the country in critically acclaimed productions including Glengarry Glen Ross, which toured to Bath in 2019, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Village Idiots. He has also been a regular on our television screens since the early 90s, starring in roles including Eddie in Early Doors, Howard in Northern Lights, Martin Pond in Barbara and Daniel ‘Chalky’ Chalk in Waterloo Road. Most recently, he has been seen in BBC One’s Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators. In Quiz, he swaps his police badge for the gavel as Judge Rivlin, alongside other roles.
In addition, playing multiple roles are Leo Wringer, whose prolific career on stage spans over four decades; comedian and actress Sukh Ojla, whose recent screen credits include the streaming phenomenon Bridgerton, and Marc Antolin whose stage career has seen him perform in West End musicals and plays, most notably Little Shop of Horrors at Regent’s Park Theatre, for which he was Olivier nominated. The cast also features Stefan Adegbola, Danielle Henry, Jay Taylor, Valarie Antwi, Dean Graham and Simon Victor.
Playwright and screenwriter James Graham’s wrote Sherwood, which was broadcast on BBC One in 2022 to rave reviews, and will return for a second series. Following its stage premiere in 2017, James adapted his hit play Quiz for broadcast as a three-part drama on ITV, directed by Stephen Frears; it was one of the most watched UK television dramas of the year. He also wrote Brexit: An Uncivil War, which garnered huge public attention and critical acclaim in 2019, broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO, it starred Benedict Cumberbatch, and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie and a BAFTA for Single Drama. His many plays include the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award-winning Best of Enemies, which opened at the Young Vic in 2021, followed by a West End transfer. His new musical, Tammy Faye, with music by Elton John and lyrics by Jake Shears, opened at the Almeida in 2022. Ink, opened to huge praise at the Almeida before transferring to the West End in 2017, where it played in the theatre next door to James’ other new play, Olivier Award-winning Labour of Love. His play Privacy premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014 before transferring to New York, starring Daniel Radcliffe. His first musical, Finding Neverland, ran for 18 months on Broadway in 2015 before touring America. His breakout play This House premiered at the National Theatre in 2012 before transferring to the West End in 2017. James received an OBE in 2020 for services to drama and young people.
Quiz is directed by Daniel Evans and Seán Linnen. Daniel Evans is Co-Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company alongside Tamara Harvey. He is also a double Olivier Award-winning actor and director, and was Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre from 2016 to April 2023. Seán Linnen is the Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse and previously trainee Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres and Paines Plough.
QUIZ appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 20th to Saturday 25th November.
To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or book online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk
Photo credit: Johan Persson
