Hold onto your top hats and get ready for the original high-speed chase as the team that brought you last year’s hugely successful production of The Wind in the Willows present a new adaptation for all the family of Jules Verne’s classic escapade Around the World in 80 days.
Adapted for the stage by Mark Powell (The Wind in the Willows, Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and performed with the River Tummel and Ben-y-Vrackie mountain as its spectacular backdrop, Around the World in 80 Days, runs at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 8 July – 17 September.
When up-tight Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg agrees to take a globe-trotting gamble, he puts both his fortune and his life on the line. Grab your passport and join the fearless adventurer and his faithful servant as they encounter a kaleidoscope of colourful characters and exotic animals on their madcap adventure around the world on a race to beat the clock.
Playwright Mark Powell said: “I had a wonderful time last year reviving Mr Toad and his companions for a modern audience. I am really excited to bring Phileas Fogg and friends to life in the coming months. There is a great freedom in Verne’s madcap mission and an equally great challenge to give any Victorian values a dramatic dust-down.
It was a joy being part of audiences of all ages on Pitlochry’s lawn last summer. As a playwright, it is a treat seeing pictures and people you never thought of when creating a new world and when the work is outdoors you see so much more than your brain ever conceived. I’m looking forward to feeling the same surprising sense of creativity and communion on the riverbank in 2022.”
The production’s exciting cast will feature Richard Colvin (Sunshine on Leith, UK tour) as Phileas Fogg; Nalân Burgess (Welcome to Iran, Royal National Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East and the forthcoming The Sandman, Warner Brothers and DC Comics) as Grandmother, Egyptian Officer, Mother Superior, Aouda; Marc Small (Barefoot in the Park, Pitlochry Festival Theatre; Richard II , Almeida Theatre and the TV series The IT Crowd and Emmerdale) as Brown, Kinnar, Butch Cassidy and Captain Cassidy); Rhiane Drummond (Dreamgirls and 9-5 The Musical, both Savoy Theatre and Heathers, UK Tour) as Queen Victoria; Connor Going (Footloose, UK tour) as Robert and Bertie; Blythe Jandoo (Wizard of Oz, Sheffield Crucible and the films Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, Walt Disney Pictures) as Jean; James Hudson (Saturday Night Fever, West End/UK) as Arthur and Jessica Brydges (Peter Pan, Maltings Theatre) as Calamity Jane.
Co-directed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman (Adventures with the Painted People and Faith Healer, Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and Associate Director, Ben Occhipinti (Blonde Bombshells of 1943 and Summer Holiday, Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Around the World in 80 Days promises to be a real treat for all the family this summer.
Get ready to take the journey of a lifetime from the banks of the River Tummel, around the world and back again on a grand adventure you will never forget.
Tickets for Around the World in 80 Days are available from the box office on 01796 484626 online at pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
