From the beloved writer of Peter Pan, the delicious farce Quality Street has been revived to tour the UK next year.
Having been Laurie Sansom’s directorial debut production as Northern Broadsides’ Artistic Director, the original acclaimed run in 2020 was cut short by the pandemic.
The popularity of J.M. Barrie’s romantic comedy was such a sensation in its day that it gave its name to the UK’s most loved chocolates: Quality Street™.
In a co-production with New Vic Theatre, Northern Broadsides is reviving their delectable production of Quality Street, stirring in a good helping of Yorkshire wit in a new version for 2023. This sweet and sumptious show was created with a team of retired workers from the Halifax factory where Quality Street™ chocolates have been proudly made since 1936, wrapping the action in their witty and outrageous observations.
Laurie Sansom, director of Quality Street and Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides comments, I can’t wait to share this charming re-discovered play with audiences up and down the country who we didn’t get to in 2020. It has the customary wit and boldness of Broadsides’ best work, and has been given an irreverent spin by the wonderful women of Halifax who shared their stories with us and gave us their take on Barrie’s sparkling period comedy. It also has one of the greatest comic parts ever written for a woman in the shape of the spirited Phoebe Throssel, finding her own unconventional way in a Regency world of fans, balls and uniforms.
We hope we can bring some brightly coloured joy to audiences looking for some warmhearted entertainment in difficult times. Theresa Heskins, Artistic Director of New Vic Theatre, says, Way back in ‘The Before’, we and our audiences were so looking forward to Quality Street. It’s a tribute to Broadsides’ tenacity that, three years later, we’ll finally get to unwrap it on the New Vic stage.
This time we’re enjoying a bigger share of the tin, as we’re making the show with Broadsides, in our workshops and rehearsal rooms, and opening it here before sending it off on tour.
Phoebe Throssel runs a school for unruly children on Quality Street. Ten years on after a tearful goodbye, her old flame returns from fighting Napoleon. But the look of disappointment on Captain Valentine’s face when he greets an older, less glamorous Phoebe, spurs our determined heroine to action, becoming the wild and sparkling Miss Livvy, a younger alter-ego who soon beguiles the clueless Captain.
As their romance is rekindled, and Miss Livvy melts the Captain’s heart, Phoebe must juggle both personas while trying to avoid scandalizing the town with her deception, or wrecking her future with the man she loves.
Quality Street will open in March at the New Vic Theatre and then visit Devonshire Park Theatre, Royal & Derngate, Richmond Theatre, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Leeds Playhouse, York Playhouse, Crucible Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Theatre by the Lake, Blackpool Grand Theatre and The Victoria Theatre, Halifax. The tour will conclude on World Chocolate Day. The full cast and creative team will be announced in due course.
Tickets are available from the theatre websites with full details here.
