Witty, razor sharp play What’s In A Name? is to play at Theatre Royal, Glasgow next month.
Joining Joe Thomas, best known for his role in E4’s The Inbetweeners, are Bo Poraj (Miranda, Musketeers), Laura Patch (Afterlife, Star Stories), Summer Strallen (Top Hat, Young Frankenstein) and Alex Gaumond (Company, Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, Matilda).
What’s In A Name? is adapted and directed by Jeremy Sams from the award-winning French film and stage sensation, Le Prènom, by Matthew Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière. The production will visit Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, from 5-14 September, before touring to Glasgow, York, Aylesbury, Cambridge, Windsor, Richmond and Southampton.
Father-to-be Vincent and his partner Anna are invited to dinner by his sister Elizabeth and her husband, Peter. They are joined by childhood friend Carl for a mature and sophisticated gathering.
The meal is lovingly prepared, and wine carefully selected. The friends are prepared for the usual humorous exchanges they’ve come to expect.
But tonight, a startling revelation about the name chosen for Vincent’s and Anna’s expected child becomes the catalyst for a destructive argument which spirals hysterically out of control. Tonight no one is holding back! Egos, childish resentment and unspoken feelings are relentlessly and hilariously exposed for the first time.
Playing Vincent is Joe Thomas, an actor and writer best known as Simon in the multi-award winning E4 show The Inbetweeners. Following the success of The Inbetweeners (and the two eponymous films that followed) Joe starred as Kingsley in all four series of Fresh Meat, and as George in Chickens, which he also co-wrote.
Bo Poraj is playing Peter. He is perhaps most well-known for his role as Mike in the ever popular BBC comedy series Miranda. He played a regular role in Musketeers (BBC) and has been seen in The Thick Of It and Boomers (also BBC).
The role of Elizabeth is played by Laura Patch, a comedy performer and actor known for playing various roles in Star Stories. Most recently Laura appeared in Ricky Gervais’ Netflix series Afterlife.
Playing Anna is Olivier Award-nominated actress Summer Strallen. She most recently starred as Alice in Alexis Michalik’s Intra Muros at Park Theatre. On TV, her credits include Hollyoaks in which her character Summer Shaw auditioned for and won the role of Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music which Strallen went on to play on stage.
Carl is played by Alex Gaumond, who most recently received critical acclaim for his role as Paul in Marianne Elliott’s multi-Olivier award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in the West End.
Highly respected director Jeremy Sams has adapted and directed multiple celebrated productions.
The original play premiered in 2010 at the Théâtre Édouard VII in Paris, France, where the production received six Molière Award nominations and ran for over 300 performances. Matthew Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière then wrote the screenplay for the film (2011) which played to over 3.25 million people in France alone.
It received widespread critical acclaim, and won several César awards from the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, along with the Grand Prix Hydro-Québec at the Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and the Radio Canada Audience Award at the Cinéfranco International Francophone Film Festival in Toronto. The Italian translation of the movie went on to receive several prestigious Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalist awards. The play has now been translated into over 22 languages, and has had incredible box office success around the world.
What’s In A Name? is written by Matthew Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière with adaptation, translation and direction by Jeremy Sams. Set will be designed by Francis O’Connor and lighting design is by Rick Fisher.
What’s in a Name?, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 1 – Sat 5 Octover. Tue-Sat, 7.30pm, Thu and Sat, 2.30pm. Tickets HERE.
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