Laughter-loving audiences at Frinton Summer Theatre are to be treated to the UK premiere of a comedy from award-winning West End playwright Peter Quilter.
Bestseller is the story of three novelists, Maureen, Alex and Shelley, who descend on a remote writer’s retreat to try to finish their latest “masterpieces”.
Along with attempting to deal with their own versions of writer’s block, they begin to act out key sequences in their novels to huge comedic effect.
The theatre is hoping audiences will enjoy another hilarious production from Quilter having staged his uproarious comedy Glorious! about the “worst singer in the world” Florence Foster Jenkins in 2017.
Alison Reid, who directed The King’s Speech at the theatre last year, is returning to direct Bestseller.
Frinton Summer Theatre devotees who enjoyed Home, I’m Darling will be pleased to hear that Tracy Collier, who played the indomitable mother in that production, is back to play Maureen.
Producer and artistic director Clive Brill said: “We are so excited to give the country’s first showing of this hilarious play. We know audiences are going to love it.”
Frinton Summer Theatre, which is the country’s longest running professional summer repertory theatre, will kick off its season in July with the Olympic-themed play Chariots of Fire which runs from July 5th until July 13th.
Bestseller will run from July 16th to 20th with performances at the McGrigor Hall beginning at 7.30pm with an extra matinee on Saturday July 20th starting at 3pm.
In a change of genre, Terence Rattigan’s psychological family drama The Winslow Boy will hit the stage from July 23rd to 27th. This will be followed by a double bill when Constellations, the Olivier award-winning West End hit by Nick Payne, partners up with Tim Whitnall’s dark comedy The Sociable Plover between July 30th and August 3rd.
From August 6th to 10th, Anton Burge’s bittersweet portrait of the original TV chef Fanny Craddock and her eccentric last days at the BBC are depicted in Fanny’s Burning. The McGrigor Hall season is concluded between August 13th and 17th with the famously hilarious West End hit, Noises Off, by Michael Frayn.
Attention then turns to the Big Top Tent on Frinton Greensward, which this year will host Irving Berlin’s popular musical Annie Get Your Gun. Featuring the much-loved songs including There’s No Business Like Show Business and Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), performances will take place from August 20th to September 1st.
To book tickets for plays, go online at www.frintonsummertheatre.org. Please check the website for further details of cast and programme announcements.
