Alistair McGowan will return to the London stage to star as the eponymous disgraced entertainer in Jonathan Maitland’s new play An Audience With Jimmy Savile when it premieres at the Park Theatre in June.
Drawing on material from interviews, transcripts and television shows, An Audience With Jimmy Savile (10 June to 11 July) will take audiences back in time to 1991 as a TV show celebrates the life of the once iconic presenter. But while the great and the good praise him in the studio, a starkly different story unfolds in the shadows.
McGowan, who is best known for his impersonations of some of Britain’s most iconic figures in his TV show The Big Impression, will take on the role of Savile following stage roles in productions including Pygmalion and The Mikado.
Exploring the most shocking sex abuse scandal of our time, the play follows in the footsteps of Maitland’s current hit Dead Sheep, which sheds light on the historic speech that saw Geoffrey Howe bring down Margaret Thatcher.
The playwright’s controversial piece joins a new season of work that sees eight new writing premieres arrive at the Park Theatre in celebration of its second anniversary.
Andrew Keatley’s The Gathered Leaves (15 July to 15 August) will follow the Pennington family, who haven’t been in the same room for more than 17 years, as all three generations gather on the eve of William’s 75th birthday to try to put their past behind them.
The family drama will be followed by Craig Baxter’s new Anthony Trollope-inspired play Lady Anna: All At Sea (19 August to 19 September), which is staged to coincide with Trollope’s bicentennial.
Exploring how power and prejudice act as a crucible of corruption and how an intolerant society too easily becomes a dangerous thing, the production follows the author of a very British scandal involving fraud, bigamy, a disputed title, a legal case, madness and, ultimately, attempted murder.
Steve Thompson’s Roaring Trade, a witty and uncompromising play about power, lust and ambition, will play from 23 September to 24 October. Set in Canary Wharf, the show charts the story of four wildly different bond traders – Donny, Jess, Spoon and PJ – as their limits are put to the test.
From 27 October to 28 November, Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Dinner With Friends will bring its tantalising and witty portrayal of relationships to the venue. The critically acclaimed piece explores our dependency on friends and loved ones through the story of four pals, whose lives, once inextricably linked, begin to come undone.
Everyone’s favourite long-locked damsel Rapunzel (3 December to 2 January) will entertain the Park Theatre’s audiences during the festive season. Featuring a book, music and lyrics by Jez Bond and Mark Cameron, the Christmas show follows Jack & The Beanstalk and Sleeping Beauty to tell the highly anticipated third chapter in the The Chronicles Of Waa…
While all that will be going on the venue’s largest auditorium, Park200, the Park90’s season will welcome Nick Darke’s comic and darkly original The Dead Monkey (9 June to 4 July) and Shaun Kitchener’s tale about the outdated stigma surrounding HIV, Positive (9 July to 1 August), alongside Julia Pascal’s Crossing Jerusalem (4 to 29 August), Hatched ‘N’ Dispatched (1 to 26 September), Dark Tourism (29 September to 24 October), Grounded (27 October to 21 November) and The Knight From Nowhere / The Bells (24 November to 19 December).