Robert Bathurst and Hermione Norris will play husband and wife once more when the Cold Feet duo reunite for Thea Sharrock’s production of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit at the Apollo theatre next year.
Bathurst and Norris played David and Karen Marsden in the hugely popular drama which ran from 1997 to 2003. Centring on the lives of three couples, it made stars of its ensemble cast, which also included James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale.
In playing Ruth Condomine in Coward’s ghostly comedy Norris makes a rare return to the stage. Since the end of Cold Feet the actress has continued to forge a successful career in television, with ongoing starring roles in Wire In The Blood and Spooks. However the LAMDA-trained actress has previously appeared on stage in September Tide at the Comedy theatre back in 1994 and, more recently, took part in the 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic.
Bathurst is a more regular face on the London stage, where his credits include Whipping It Up at the Bush and New Ambassadors theatres, Members Only at Trafalgar Studios and Alex at the Arts and Leicester Square theatres. In addition to Cold Feet, Bathurst’s screen credits include My Dad’s The Prime Minister, Coup!, The Stepfather and the recent BBC adaptation of Emma.
In Blithe Spirit Bathurst and Norris join the already cast Alison Steadman, who plays an eccentric medium invited to entertain the dinner guests of Charles and Ruth Condomine. But when Madame Arcati manages to conjure the ghost of Charles’s neurotic first wife, Elvira, visible only to Charles and determined to sabotage his current marriage, things start to get a little out of hand.
Sharrock’s production for Theatre Royal Bath plays at the Apollo theatre from 2 March to 18 June 2011 following a regional tour.
Currently playing at the Apollo theatre is Howard Davies’s revival of All My Sons, which is followed by Rufus Norris’s production of The Country Girl.
CB