OnBook Theatre presents a unique double bill featuring Red Peppers by Noël Coward and Aged in Wood by Cian Griffin, directed by Jason Moore. This intriguing pairing uses the same cast of six actors to portray backstage comedy dramas set 90 years apart in the same theatre dressing room.
Red Peppers showcases a faded music hall double act, a husband and wife team, who perform musical numbers punctuated by backstage bickering and quarrels with colleagues. Fast forward 90 years to Aged in Wood, and leading lady Deena Ames faces similar backstage drama, battling agents, directors, her leading man, an ex-husband, and a willful son.
The productions star Jessica Martin (Spitting Image, West End credits include Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard), alongside Jon Osbaldeston, Emma Vansittart, John Craggs, Dominic McChesney, and Rhys Cannon.
Director Jason Moore said, “Aged in Wood is the first original play to be produced by OnBook Theatre. It is always very exciting to direct a new play and bring it to life for the first time with the actors and creative team. This play is very much a modern play set in current time, yet it also celebrates the traditions of a golden age of comedy and farce. Red Peppers by Noel Coward was a huge inspiration for this play where backstage antics can be ridiculous and funny. Aged in Wood combines comedy and pathos to give the audience a great deal of laughs and some tender heartfelt moments. I am looking forward to audiences falling in love with this wonderful double bill.”
OnBook Theatre was founded by partners Jason Moore and Ian Nicholas to produce quality productions by established and new playwrights. Their previous productions have included Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage (OSO Arts Centre), Joe Penhall’s Landscape with Weapon (Cockpit Theatre), and Neil Simon’s California Suite (OSO Arts Centre). In 2023, they presented The Elephant Song at Park Theatre, and will return to the venue in September 2025 with Lee, a new play about Lee Krasner, painter and wife of Jackson Pollock also written by Aged in Wood writer Cian Griffin.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
