Rehearsal images have been released for the first major revival of Stephen Jeffreys’ Valued Friends. Michael Fentiman directs Natalie Casey (Sherry), Ralph Davis (Scott), Sam Frenchum (Paul), Michael Marcus (Howard), Catrin Stewart (Marion) and Nicolas Tennant (Stewart). The production opens at Rose Theatre Kingston on 26 September, with previews from 20 September, and runs until 12 October.
It’s 1980 London and change is happening. The city is ablaze with social, political and cultural upheaval and, in a basement flat in Earls Court, four friends in their mid-thirties are scrabbling to keep their heads above water.
Housemates for more than 10 years, Sherry is a hapless, quirky comedian; Paul, a keen music journalist; Marion, a straight-talking realist; and Howard, an earnest academic writing about the corruption of capitalism. The friends are thrown unexpectedly into a battle of nerves when a young, confident property developer offers them a substantial fee to vacate their home in West London.
