Press Release : production photos : rehearsal photos
Moll Flanders
Daniel Deafoe's novel dramatised by Les Smith
With details of the cast
Friday 16th March [2001] (Press night) - Saturday 24th March
& Tuesday 10th April - Saturday 21st April
Colourful, rousing and upbeat, Moll Flanders is the second Dukes production offor the Spring season. This fast-moving dramatisation of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel shows Moll’s capricious spirit to the full and tells the incredible story of her long, wicked life with verve, plenty of songs and many adventures!
As well as delighting local audiences, the playand it is also going on tour to Manchester (The Library Theatre) and Bristol (Bristol Old Vic) so other audiences may experience the Dukes' high quality and hugely enjoyable theatre productions!
Moll Flanders is one of the earliest novels, and its heroine remains England’s most famous scarlet woman. Born in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is many things including whore, thief, married woman (several times!), and she is also transported to Virginia for eight years.
The play takes in the Old Bailey, Newgate Prison, the streets of Colchester, bedchambers, ships, inns and coaches and many other locations, together with more than 40 characters: judges, husbands, lovers, children, captains and constables to name but a few!
The Dukes production of Moll Flanders shows Moll’s capricious spirit to the full and tells the incredible story of her long, wicked life with verve, plenty of songs and many adventures! The play begins at the Old Bailey and then moves straight to Newgate Prison from there to the streets of Colchester and via bedchambers, ships, inns and coaches to many other locations to render fully Moll’s extraordinary life story to the audience. On the way she encounters many characters; judges, husbands, lovers, children, captains and constables to name but a few!
Moll Flanders is one of the earliest novels, and its heroine remains England’s most famous scarlet woman. Born in Newgate Prison, London, Moll quickly learnt the art of survival and lived a long life packed with incident, conducting her affairs with an eye firmly on business.
Moll Flanders was many things including whore, thief, married woman (several times!), a widow and she was also transported to Virginia for eight years. A group of strolling actors playing various musical instruments will burst onto the Dukes stage to tell this dramaticcolourful story, with three actresses. The production has three women to portraying Moll’s to give full justice to her long, varied and uproarious life!
Director, Ian Hastings said: "I commissioned this dramatisation for the Bristol Old Vic in 1995 and have been bursting to direct it again since the closing night. It is a story told with passion - it has Moll's hot blood coursing through its veins without it ever being gratuitous; a live lusty show that goes up and down the emotional scale without ever being a romp; often cheeky - never cheap."
The "first" Moll is played by Maeve Larkin and she also plays a prisoner and Chastity. It is Maeve is pleased to be making her’s second appearance at the Dukes, having been in Don Quixote last summer. She is pleased to be at the Dukes again. Her other theatre credits include leading roles in Rebecca (Oldham Coliseum), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Railway Children (Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich) and Mowgli in a tour of The Jungle Book. Maeve toured with the RSC in Tim Supple’s acclaimed production of The Comedy of Errors which went to India, Mexico and the US, via Kendal, Grimsby and Rotherham! TV credits include London’s Burning (LWT) and various bulletins for Newsnight (BBC).
Olwen May plays Moll number two and also a mother, nurse’s daughter and Sarah. Olwen was last seen at the Dukes in A Comedy of Errors and The Jungle Book in Williamson Park. More recent work includes Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Closer (York Theatre Royal), Elephant Man (The Swan, Worcester), A Doll’s House and Angels in America for Manchester Library Theatre, The Mikado (Bolton Octagon), All My Sons (Theatre Royal, Plymouth) and The Crucible (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Television credits include; Dalziel and Pascoe, Thin Ice, Doctors and City Central (BBC), The Bill, Coronation Street (Granada) and A Touch of Frost, Emmerdale and Just Us (Yorkshire TV).
Moll number three is played by Nora Connolly who also plays a wife, nurse and Mother Midnight. Nora trained at the Abbey Theatre and has worked extensively in theatres throughout the country. She was most recently seen at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester as Widow Quin in The Playboy of the Western World where other appearances include Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music and Maisie in Juno and the Paycock. Other theatre credits include seasons at the Royal National Theatre in Plunder and Bill Bryden’s production of The Plough and the Stars. Nora has made a number of appearances at the Bristol Old Vic including Translations, Exiles and The Playboy of the Western World. She has appeared as Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff and in Shadow of a Gunman at the Liverpool Playhouse. Nora’s many TV appearances include Sins, Always and Everyone, Teenage Kicks, Bramwell, Scarlett and Don’t Wait Up. Nora’s fFilm appearancess include Best, Parting Shots and The Witches.
Patrick Bridgman returns to Lancaster as Robin, Spendman and a Priest after appearing as the wolf (with only one tooth!) in the Dukes’ Christmas show, The Firebird. Patrick also appeared at the Dukes in The Hound of the Baskervilles and in Compass Theatre’s touring productions of She Stoops to Conquer and Twelfth Night. Having worked with Les Smith twelve years ago in The Lass at the Man and Scythe he has since appeared in many national and international tours with Vox Theatre Company, Good Company, Cheek by Jowl, Ducks and Geese and Midsommer Actors plus work in Keswick, Chester, Manchester Library and Salford Lowry. Other pieces of new writing Patrick has enjoyed performing include Gregory Motton’s Cat and Mouse in Paris and London and Rachel Ashton’s script — in — hand productions of local writers work at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston.
Francis Magee plays Will, Johnny, Mr Cashman and the hangman and it is his first time at the Dukes. He is delighted to be here and is looking forward to touring with Moll Flanders. Francis trained at the Poor School and his theatre work includes The Bench (Battersea Arts Centre), Early One Morning (Bolton Octagon) for which he was nominated for the Manchester Evening News Best Supporting Actor 1999, The Bells of Notre Dame and The Best Man (Croydon Warehouse). Francis’ TV credits include Land of Plenty, Where the Heart Is, A
Touch of Frost and Eastenders. In film Francis played the lead role in The Calling (to be
released later this year), Don Quixote, Britannic, Angela’s Ashes and he has just returned from Thailand where he has been shooting the feature Butterfly Man.
Ted Richards makes a welcome return to the Dukes after last appearing as Long John Silver in Treasure Island in Williamson Park. Ted plays Judge, Turnkey, Wiseman and Captain Hardman. Ted trained at Rose Bruford and began his career at the 1965 Edinburgh Festival as Assistant Stage Manager. He first worked at the Dukes in the Seventies appearing in Curse of the Werewolf, Dukes Jubilee and others. In the Eighties he returned to work with the Theatre-in-Education company and later appeared in Hamlet, Aladdin and others. Ted also appeared in Wind in the Willows as Badger and Merlin in Tales of King Arthur in Williamson Park. More recently Ted has been involved with the local jazz scene and has revived the Kendal Jazz Club into a weekly venue. He returned to the stage to play John of Gaunt in Richard II at Lancaster Castle. He is delighted to be working once more with Ian Hastings for whom he has appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bristol Old Vic. He has played many roles at the Library Theatre, Manchester including Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Caesar in Julius Caesar and Sam Wild in Return to the Ebro. Ted’s TV work includes most of the soaps all the way back to Z Cars.
Moll Flanders also includes four other cast members played by Charley and Eve Kondras and Corey Twyman and Becky Greenway. The roles of various boys and girls in the production will be shared by the local children Charley and Eve Kondras and Corey Twyman and Becky Greenway.
Moll Flanders will be a joyful, exuberant and celebratory work with some social conscience thrown in for good measure! A spectacular production and nNot to be missed! For tickets and information please call the Duke