Gradgrind

Wednesday 5th March 2008 7.30pm

£10.00 (£6.00 U16)

Pretty Witty Nell

Friday 14th March 2008 8pm

£10.00 (£9.00 conc)

Theatre lovers will be flocking to the Marine Theatre in the next weeks to see two professional theatre shows performed by highly talented actors who are touring England with their successful plays. Both deal with Britain’s history; the first, Gradgrind, is an inventive adaptation of Hard Times. With buckets of energy, original new music, mime, movement and puppetry, Icon Theatre bring Dickens' classic novel to life in a fast paced, touching - and at times very funny - innovative stage adaptation. This production is on Wednesday 5 March at 7.30pm with tickets  at £10 / £6 U16 from TIC 01297 442138.

At age 18, the beautiful Louisa is forced to marry a man she detests, while watching her brother descend into a gambling addiction.  Factory worker Stephen Blackpool hides the endless repercussions of a shameful early marriage, while his factory co-workers bay for his blood.  The arrival of handsome James Harthouse unleashes the desires of these isolated lives, casting them from the dark mills of Coketown into the high spirited world of the Victorian circus. Fast, furious - and with a very Dickensian sense of grotesque - this exuberant production celebrates the classic novel in Icon Theatre's distinctive, engaging style.

Pretty Witty Nell is a one-woman play about the life of Nell Gwyn, the most popular mistress of Charles II.  “The king may be your Charles II, but he’s Charles III to me - I had a couple of Charlies before him”says Nell of her famous lover. The play is on Friday 14 March at 8pm £10  with £9 Concessions, all tickets available from Lyme TIC.

With the King on his death bed, and creditors knocking on her door, Nell recalls her radiant life.  Born in the gutters of Covent Garden, by sheer force of wit and charm, she became the most glittering actress, and best loved character, of her day.  Surviving the Plague and the Great Fire (but not quite the Pox), Pepys adored her, and Dryden wrote plays for her. The people were entranced by her.  Nell Gwyn’s life with Charles lasted for 18 turbulent years.  The king’s last words were of her.

Pretty Witty Nell is written and performed by Caroline Harding and directed by Chris Gascoyne  who has also directed Coronation Street,.The play is presented by TWO FRIENDS PRODUCTIONS which was  founded in 2000 by Caroline along with Candida Gubbins, actresses who met way back in the mists of time at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The company has been highly praised by the national press “Exquisite………..small but perfectly formed”  The Times - critic’s choice. “Delightful surprises like this is what the Edinburgh festival’s all about”  Daily Mail

Along side Caroline’s performances in The Plantagenets, Much Ado, Mary and Lizzie, King John, Some Americans Abroad at the Royal Shakespeare Company she has been on all the major stages in London, including the highly praised All God’s Chillun Got Wings at the Almeida She has also appeared on television in  the renowned Life on Mars, Emmerdale, Eastenders, Juliet in the series Fish, Doctors, Casualty, Dangerfield, Touch of Frost, Degrees of Error, Waiting for God, Old Boy Network, Strictly Confidential, The Royal, The Bad Mother‘s Handbook.