‘…pushed into a far corner behind a dog-eared packet of desiccated coconut, I come across a little cylinder in clear plastic that is still clean and is quite new.
It is a tube of cocktail sticks.’
Warm, witty and poignant, Untold Stories is a double bill of memoirs from one of the nation’s most successful yet self-effacing playwrights, whose work for the stage includes The History Boys and The Madness of King George.
In Hymn, a play set to live music by George Fenton, Bennett recalls the hymns and music that underscored his childhood and, with great affection, his father, violin playing butcher, who in an effort to earn a few extra bob, upgrades to a double bass, but is thwarted when it won’t fit through the doors of the tram.
Glimpses of his early life with Mam and Dad are shared in Cocktail Sticks, with Mam seeking enlightenment from the pages of Woman' Own.
Humorous and touching, Untold Stories, the recollections of the multi-award winning playwright, was a recent hit at the National Theatre and in the West End.
See pictures of the cast in rehearsals here
Act One: 35 minutes
Interval: 20 minutes
Act Two: 1 hour 10 minutes
Directed by Tom Attenborough
Musical Supervisor and Sound designed by Simon Slater
Designed by Francesca Reidy
Lighting designed by Colin Grenfell
Assistant director Amy Wicks
Richard Gibson
Dad
Theatre: Free As Air (Finborough, London), Stepping Out (Sonning), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Bristol Old Vic) The Winslow Boy (Lyric Hammersmith), She Stoops To Conquer (Leicester), Dogg’s Hamlet (Watford), French Without Tears (Greenwich), Crooked Wood (Guildford), Follow the Star (Chichester), Don’t Look Now (Southwold), Blue/Orange (Tour), Allo! Allo! (London Palladium).
Film: The Go-Between, England Made Me, Omagh, The Key to Rebecca, The Legend of St Patrick, The Birthday.
Television: Toast of London, ’Allo! ’Allo!, The Gate of Eden, The Tempest, The Coral Island, Children of The New Forest, My Father’s House, Wainwright’s Law, Prospects, The Upper Hand, Park Ranger, Hadleigh, Poldark, Penmarric.
Harry Napier
Ensemble
Theatre includes: Carmen Disruption (Almeida), Macbeth (Arcola), Canterbury Tales (Southwark Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (Nuffield), As You Like It (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Othello (Ludlow Festival), Richard III (Northcott Theatre), Richard III (Globe Players), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall), The Tinderbox (London Bubble), Tom Thumb (Forest Forge), Chekhov's Sister (Frome Festival), The Winter’s Tale (Creation), The Madness of George Dubya and Guantanamo Baywatch (New Players).
TV includes: Bedlam (History Channel), Londoners (Polish TV Drama), The Real Hustle (BBC 3), King James Bible (Discovery) Titanic: Case Closed (National Geographic) and Six Queens (Channel 5).
Roger Ringrose
Alan Bennett
Theatre includes: Each his own Wilderness (Orange Tree), Travesties and The Importance of Being Earnest (Birmingham Rep), Burnt by the Sun and Never So Good (The National Theatre), Woman in Black and Dial M for Murder (Vienna English Theatre), The Picture (Salisbury Theatre), Henry VI Part 3 (The Globe), Vincent (Harrogate Theatre), Jeanne d’Arc (Avignon International Festival), The Tempest (York Theatre Royal/Sprite), The Shattered Vessel (Riverside Studios), Man and Superman (Richmond Theatre), Copenhagen (Tabard).
TV includes: Berlin Station, Call the Midwife, Mr Selfridge, Broadchurch, The Musketeers, Doctors, The Bill, Eternal Law, Waking The Dead, Silent Witness, Marchlands, Spooks, Is This Love and Sherlock Holmes.
Films include: Moscow Siege, Red Canopy, Love/Loss and The London Sonnet.
Kate Robson-Stuart
Ensemble
Kate trained at Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre includes: Mrs Beaver in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff), Dolly in Annie Get your Gun (Theatre at the Mill, NI), Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing (Stafford Castle), Mrs Cratchitt in A Christmas Carol (Derby Theatre), Mrs Roach/Princess Elizabeth in Betty Blue Eyes (UK Tour), LV in Little Voice (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), Singer/Violinist in Craig Revel Horwood's Strictly Confidential (UK Tour), Black Pawn in Chess (UK Tour and Toronto), Witch 2 in Macbeth (Riverside Studios), the title role in Cinderella (King’s Theatre, Glasgow), Dawn in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Landor Theatre, London), Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice) and Virginia in The Pajama Game (Union Theatre, London).
Kate has worked with a variety of music artists in the UK as both a vocalist and violinist.
Lucy Tregear
Mam
Lucy recently toured UK with The Silver Sword.
Theatre includes: seasons at the RSC; West End, Royal Exchange, Chichester and regional rep. Favourites include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester), Flora in Flora The Red Menace, (Orange Tree), Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC) and The Country Wife (Haymarket).
TV and film includes: The Robinsons, Footballers Wives, Family Affairs, Between The Lines and House of Knives.
Radio includes: The Decameron and Patricia’s Progress.
'Complementary autobiographical pieces, tenderly performed and imbued with Alan Bennett’s characteristic wry wit.' **** The Stage
Read The Stage review
‘funny and moving’ Newbury Theatre
Read the Newbury Theatre review
'Ringrose...nails the mixed, sometimes contradictory emotions involved with sure-fire accuracy.' ****The Oxford Times
'Bennett’s superb writing is beautifully conveyed by a very accomplished cast. ' ****The Reviews Hub
'Roger Ringrose IS Bennett, but not in some sort of superficial tribute act way. His performance is so convincing that he achieves the impossible, and we have Alan Bennett in the room.' ****The Reviews Hub
Read the Reviews Hub review
'Director Tom Attenborough's superb cast make this rather different sort of evening one which is particularly enjoyable.' The Newbury Weekly News